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Reading a book is always a great way to spend the afternoon, but between classes or work, cooking or commuting, cleaning or being stuck in traffic, who has the time anymore? We guess that's why there's such a proliferation of audio books and eBooks now.

Rather than going on a scavenger hunt for the book you're currently reading, eBooks make it easy to have all your reads in one place, so you can just grab and go right before a spontaneous trip. Audio books also make it easy to "read" while on the road, so you don't have to skip out on a book just because you spend lots of time commuting or in traffic.

So, let's talk about these alternative forms of reading, shall we? Do you buy eBooks often? When's the last time you listened to an audio book? And would you want to switch back-and-forth between the two without losing your spot? Answer these questions and more in our alternative reading survey!

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39 Answers

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Actually, I've already got a form of such technology on my Kindle Fire.

I've bought several eBooks for the Kindle which came with both text and audio. In fact, the first one I ever had, I didn't even know it was audio too until one day I cranked up the Kindle volume.
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Again..

You don't have to convince me.

Convince YOU.
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My thoughts also.

I know lots of people with migraines and they can't put two and two together that they use their pads and phones too much
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7 inches?
Seriously?
that's crap.

that is zombie hipster BS you are buying.

35 inch monitor, 6 **** AMD
Nvidia 690 32 gigs of memory
4 tb storage

and it all cost possibly 100-200 more than your icrap.. at the most

If I need to leave the house, I have a phone people can call me.
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7 inches is perfect for me. Great for surfing the web, making spreadsheets, listening to music. It fits in my pocket, I can take it anywhere very easily. iCrap? Its an android. £160, including 20% sales tax, last November, now £130. Are you going to try and start a spec war? How do having 32GB of RAM and a hex **** ever help you further than for bragging value? And are you really comparing an ultraportable tablet with a fully fledged desktop that can't be moved at all? That's pathetic.
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It's expressing that I have 100% control of my machine.

Enjoy your apps and 2 gigs a month bandwidth limit.
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Bandwidth limits? No idea what you're talking about. You'd Change your mind if you had one.
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You are a consumer at it's finest. Your freedom is compromised by your desire to fit in. You give up all reasonable ability to be yourself for the ease of an app that expresses it for you.

Envy sells.

for proof, look at your phone and explain to yourself why you got that specific model.

Don't explain to me... I don't envy you.
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My current phone is an old galaxy Apollo, with cyanogenmod flashed on it. I got it because I needed a cheap but usable phone. I'm about to buy a Nexus 4 because it's very good value for the price. I bought the Nexus 7,my tablet, as a replacement for my old iPod touch, to play music on the go, go on the internet, play games, eMail, etc., and again because it's excellent quality for the price. Now, why don't you explain to me why you put 32 GB of RAM in your computer, when you would never need that much? I would guess it's for completely superficial reasons, bragging rights, boost your feeling of self worth, etc. Tad hypocritical to complain I'm a consumer.
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Hearing could give clarity to some difficult passage.
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I have a 7 inch tablet, pretty much an ereader with apps and internet. I use it instead of a laptop, and a lot more than my phone. Its powerful and big enough to function as my main computer. Definitely not useless. And it can fit in my pocket as well.
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Actually, I've already got a form of such technology on my Kindle Fire.

I've bought several eBooks for the Kindle which came with both text and audio. In fact, the first one I ever had, I didn't even know it was audio too until one day I cranked up the Kindle volume.
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Really? I don't think I have bought a book with audio good to know.
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Actually, I didn't even realize it played audio for books, as I usually keep the speakers turned off.
But one day I was reading a book on it, and I noticed that it seemed to be "automatically" and very slowly scrolling though the pages. I usually read fairly quickly, but this day I was frequently being distracted, and when I came back it had moved. Finally realized that the book had come with an "audio" track (I hadn't bought an actual audiobook, but an e-book which included an audio track). With headsets, I could listen to the book being read to me, instead of me reading it. Neat feature, though I'm not likely to use it often.
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It would be handy if you had a headache or something.
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Not at all likely because I wouldn't even buy the eBook
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I already have an e-reader as well as a Kindle Fire so I wouldn't follow the same path immediately!
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I don't listen to audiobooks.
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Fast forward 30 years - glasses with lenses like coke bottle bottoms.
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Buy a laptop. buy a pc.

buy a phone. either do the exact and so much more.



EBOOK readers are for hipsters and puds with great excuses to have useless items.
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Not just "not at all likely". No, it just won't happen at all unless I go blind. Period.
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I prefer reading an actual book. "Virtual" anything is not my cup of tea.
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That sounds very convient!
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I prefer to read, being read to tends to make me lose interest and tune it out.
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I would rather read a REAL book where the reader in my mind can sound like anyone.
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I don't get the idea of having to listen to books from a robot. I'm a speed-reader. If I can read through a book quickly and get all its content as opposed to listening through a lecture-like reading from a robot, I'll choose the first option.
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sounds great to me
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you people do realise this is the kind of question that companies ask to get to you and that they usually pay you. stop answering qiestions about aoudio and ebooks
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Read while on the throne in the morning, listen in the car on the way to work. Get through books/mags faster and have something better than the morning talk shows on the radio.
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I prefer to listen, reading makes me really sleepy.
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Not a big reader.
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I prefer **** copies to ebooks. And I don't use audiobooks at all. Great idea to combine the two, but not one relevant to me.
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As long as I can set the audio read back to the pace of my reading .... I'm in.
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Iv'e always read by myself. And I'm not changing that jus because of technology-_- I will always stick with the original way.(I know technology was invented after books, people reading it themselves, instead of having some computer thing reading it for them).
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I say not to likely, but do it on Amazon sometimes, they have the option to add the other version for a few bucks, it works fairly well, I'd rather read for myself, but during my commute it's nice to continue the story while driving. I wouldn't give a lot for the ability, but I'll pay 10% or so extra for the convince.
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I will not ever be so lazy that I need a book to read for me. however, it would be good for people with vision problems.
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And if your 'one place' suffers a catastrophe? How easy are books to 'back up' - are they like my digital movies - only work on the machine that I originally downloaded them on and when that one fails or goes obsolete I lose my library?
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sad
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What? Did my tablet not already come with that feature? Are they ripping us off yet again? That feature should be standard. Every ebook should have at least text-to-speech technology in the reader programs. Sure, paid reader voices sound better.

I am still trying to figure out why I want ebooks rather than real books? So far, all my ebooks have been FREE. That could be a good reason.
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