Audio books vs Classic Pages

Audio Books vs Classic Pages

The camaraderie of Humans and books dates long back. The love of flipping those thin pages and bringing to life the imaginary characters in our heads, is a powerful feeling. As time progressed, the books transformed into various forms like, Audio books and E-books. Yet the love for those yellow pages was preserved by those few who had experienced its wonders.

Now, if one asks, which is better, the Audio or the regular bonded version? Which one would you prefer?

In a blink, my reply forever would be, “Of course, the classic version, the typewritten one!”

Comparing the two versions of the same entity mentioned here is not a fair task in my opinion. We must acknowledge that both aim at achieving a similar goal through different means. There are people who are differently abled and the Audio books would be of great help to them. And then are folks who love to hear rather than read and flip pages. Books like, educational, self-help, biographies and cook books, travel logs could be pleasant in the form of audio. For the people who can’t read, the audio versions of story books and religious books would be quite advantageous, no doubt. And also, these books are not bulky and can be stored easily. The portable version can prove very beneficial for students as well.

However, nothing beats the good old classic pages. Reading a book page after page and paragraph after paragraph and word for word transforms one to an imaginary space unique to an individual. Classics and fictions like Tom Sawyer & The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Kidnapped, Kim, The Jungle Book, Stories by Rabindranath, Ruskin Bond books like the Room on the roof and other stories, once picked up for a read it’s difficult to put down. Intense books like Mother(Maxim Gorky), and science fictions by HG Wells, or for that matter the Harry Potter series, all from different genres, and yet recommended to be enjoyed reticently. Here, the characters as they appear in my head will never be the same as they are in your head. It all happens quietly inside the imaginary space in our brains. A young girl would never fall in love with a book like Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) when it’s in audio form simply because impact of the word changes. Moreover, one simply can’t live through that heavenly experience of night reading. It’s impractical to listen to an audio late into the night and disrupt everyone’s slumber in the house (unless of course you are a lonely soul living alone). I am sure a lot of avid readers have snuck in a book in bed and hid under the covers with a flashlight to finish off those remaining pages. They would have also experienced the short fling with the bonded paper sheets. Sometimes, the magnetic influence it has on us which results in clinging to the book lest someone else grabs it before we are able to read till the last word. How would one say then, “Hey I read it too!” It has a completely different impact than “Hey, I heard it too!” The various emotions of love, lust, insecurity, calm, secrecy and enlightenment can’t be felt through an audio book without a noiseless ambience, that only a regular book can provide. Even if one uses the headphones, the orator's voice and intonation should be perfect with impeccable intonation and indepth knowledge of what s/he is talking about!

They might be bulky to store, they might be tough to preserve, yet I feel privileged to still be able to hold close the precious editions and hop in and out of the imaginary world of words without disturbing the peace of others. Hence, my vote goes to the Classic Pages!