Audiobook Tipping Point?
Posted by: Mary
Read Happy Birthday! The Walkman Turns 30 and see this quote from Martyn Williams on the PCWorld website:
Sony introduced its Walkman portable cassette player thirty years ago this week, kicking off a revolution in the consumer electronics industry by changing the way people enjoy music.
I’d add audiobooks to the revolution, and believe that the combination of Walkman plus car cassette players opened the world of great books to a huge segment of the population. I still have my trusty Walkman, and sometimes wish for the good old days of cassette tapes. You could use the variable speed knob on that Walkman to make the audiobook zoom by 30% faster, with NO chipmunk effect! Thank heavens, I listened to the first five Harry Potters on cassette. I’ve tried the “faster” setting on my iPod, but hate the clipped, echo-y sound. Sigh. Ah, remember the times…
