Audiobooks can transport people to different worlds just through the power of sound.
Oral literature is mankind's earliest type of storytelling, with an unfathomable number of stories being passed down through the generations in most corners of the planet for several thousand years. While certain cultures do not place as great of a focus on oral traditions like they did throughout the past, they still persist strongly in some situations, like telling tales to kids. The founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones will realise that oral storytelling has had a resurgence recently by means of audiobooks. Nevertheless, while they might seem like a modern phenomenon, the history of audiobooks dates back several years. Sound recordings first became possible around one hundred and fifty years ago and the first tests had been recitations of nursery rhymes and kid's stories. Spoken word recordings continued to be created in the next decades but were limited to about 4 minutes in total.
The term audiobook emerged during the 1970s, however it had been the 1930s that saw the largest step forward in the format. During the time these were called talking books, which were envisioned as reading materials for blind people. Governments in a few nations allowed manufacturers to bypass the laws of copyright, which offered them access to plenty of material, but technical limits meant full length books could never be recorded. Instead poems, short stories and plays, and specific chapters of books were the most common early audiobooks. This content continued to stay this way for many decades, but the market base did see an expansion to children and other adults without sight conditions. The head of the hedge fund that has shares in Amazon will likely be well aware that this laid the foundation for the future audiobook market, pushing it in to the main-stream as an independent artform as opposed to solely as a method of making accessibility.
Every decade for the past fifty years has brought along with it technical changes which has impacted the way in which we consume media. Television and film has had DVDs and VHS. Music has had CDs and cassettes. Both were impacted by portable products and streaming. Furthermore, most of these technological advancements have actually helped to boost the audiobook market. The leader of the hedge fund that partially owns WHSmith will be able to inform you that it has grown to be so well-known that people need not turn to specialised retailers, because most book stores additionally sell audiobooks. Individuals enjoy being able to listen to stories while they are doing other tasks like driving, chores, and work, which audiobooks are just perfect for. The audiobook industry now employs several thousand people, with the most essential roles being narrator, studio engineer, and producer.