[Jahdu]

I was thinking if anyone would be interested in a hybrid book of both Audio and printed format.
I was thinking along the lines of a book that you read in conjunction with the audio, say something
like you start reading the printed book then play a track of the audio where one of the protagonists
in the book gives you some musings/ideas/thoughts of what you've just read.

Personally I'd love something like that so I'd like to hear your thoughts about it even the ones
who think that it would be a non starter.

I'd love it if someone like Erikson, Rothfuss, Lynch or Abercrombie did something like this.

[worry]

I think it's a neat idea and may attract some voice talent, but the audio has to be on wax cylinders for that old timey vibe or I'm out.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Make it a cassette tape that you can play in Teddy Ruxpin, and I'll give you your first dollar of venture capital.

 eyes-dollar.jpg (6.32K)
Number of downloads: 0

For the non-jokey portion of my comment... This sounds like the book equivalent of in-movie DVD extras, so it probably would work better in e-book format, since you already have similar things like whispersync which allows you to switch back and forth between reading and audio.

[Binder of Demons]

Mike Oldfield did an album based on the book "Songs of Distant Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke, which is probably the closest I can think of to what you're saying.
The album was alright, some ok tunes but ultimately quite bland. But then again, so was the book (and I was a huge Arthur C. Clarke fan).


To be any more interactive, you'd really have to nail the timing of reading with the audio, and I don't see a good way for that......yet.

[worry]

Well wouldn't it just be something like "Play track 1 now" written on the page of the book? Seems kinda easy, and kid books actually do this with those push-button sound effects.

[Binder of Demons]

The difficulty as i see it, with just a "push button at start of page" set-up, is that it can't really account for the speed at which a person reads.

Lots of people I know seem to take ages to read a page, let alone a book. Whereas I will often average about 1 page/minute, unless the prose is particularly dense. When I'm enjoying the book, the pace can even increase a bit.

Difficult then to reliably be having 2 different readers having the same experience with the music that way. Would need to be another way of syncing music to text as you proceed.

[worry]

I'm not sure I get what you're saying, unless you're really overcomplicating the idea. Who said anything about music? And what does it matter how fast you read? You finish Chapter 5, the book says "Play track 5 on the cd," and then you listen to one (or more) of the book's characters talk for a while. When that track ends, you press stop, and then start reading Chapter 6. I don't think it's that much different than cut scenes in a game. Or if it's a third-person perspective book, you might get occasional audio of first-person musings in between chapters or whenever, w/ a voice actor in character.

[worry]

Oh, I see you thought I meant "top of page". Quite the opposite, I assure you.

[Binder of Demons]

Ok, I see that I misinterpreted the OP's suggestion a bit. My brain defaulted immediately to the "songs of Distant Earth" example since it was something i had actually seen which was a combo of complimentary audio and text.

Not sure if I'd be as keen on the idea of stopping reading to play an audio track, which then refers back to what i just read. A bit stop/start for my liking.

I can see a variant of this becoming available soon enough as technology improves. E-readers could probably do this already with an audio track being triggered by the turn of a page (or something like that). You could then format the pages to account for optimal timing of the audio?

[HiddenOne]

yes, let's dispense with all use of the imagination, it's bad for the environment


If one were rolling in wealth, one could hire a troupe of actors to play out the scenes as narrated by professional voice talent while a chamber orchestra improvises theme music - all supervised by the author who will sit by your side enjoying Cristal and gold plated hookahs and occasionally commenting about his/her thought processes during particularly philosophical passages

[Binder of Demons]

HiddenOne, on 24 January 2014 - 05:35 PM, said:

yes, let's dispense with all use of the imagination, it's bad for the environment


If one were rolling in wealth, one could hire a troupe of actors to play out the scenes as narrated by professional voice talent while a chamber orchestra improvises theme music - all supervised by the author who will sit by your side enjoying Cristal and gold plated hookahs and occasionally commenting about his/her thought processes during particularly philosophical passages

I detect sarcasm

[Jahdu]

@HiddenOne

I did say audio not visual...
But then again I didn't realise that for some hearing something would dispense them with all use of their imagination

This post has been edited by Jahdu: 24 January 2014 - 06:55 PM

[worry]

Dang, that is an old fuddy duddy complaint anyway. "You'll rot yer brain reading them mixed media novels!"

[HiddenOne]

my solution is 100% valid - the actors are for the dialogue mostly - just close your eyes. Also I did not specify before, but the consumables are for the pleasure of the reader because everybody knows that writers are already buzzed when they arrive

I saw that on a History Channel special once

[Jahdu]

I was thinking of something that would add to the enjoyment of a book rather than detract from the story.
I'm using the following example as it's a story we all know well...

Steven Erikson is a new author on the block and has just had his book GotM published.
You happen across it in a bookstore and buy it. Now instead of having some of the snipets at the
start of each chapter in printed form, they are in audio format. So you have some of the poetry, readings of
Gothos' Folly, musing of Fisher etc in audio.

Would that have detracted from the actual story and put you off buying another Erikson book again?

[HiddenOne]

No, if that was way to move to a new POV, or introduce a setting or something it would be cool. But I would miss the handmaidens with grapes & palm fans

see, I can be supportive too.

But in my mind, every time I open any volume of MBotF I hear the choir of angels singing a chord or two