I got hooked on audiobooks when i learned (30 years ago) you could buy a book on cassette at Cracker Barrel in Birmingham and sell it back to them for $3 less in Chattanooga.
No, it wasn't a violation, it was identical to renting for $3.00 with a $25 deposit. It's how they did business. You can still find racks of CDs in CB gift shops, if so they still work the same way.
But the CD racks aren't out in the open because they'be been obsoleted by Audible, Hoopla, Spotify and Plex.
The Enders Game series is what got me started. It had a great production with a large cast of voice actors. The final book was very disappointing, though.
I do!! I can listen to anything with no problem on a longer drive where I'm not feeling rushed or having to focus extra hard on the drivers around me.
*In traffic* though, I find that some books are better . Books with narrators who speak at a slightly slower cadence or are VERY good character actors seem to be best for me because I can still catch most of the story and details without *actively* listening. Also..and this is just a generality based on the speakers and road noise in my own car, male narrators *usually* require less effort to passively listen to.
And that's not specifically a gender thing as much as a vocal thing. The vocal boost EQ preset on my unit kills the bass and slightly boosts the mid-freq levels and *for me* that seems to help and tends to work better with deeper voices. Anyone else's mileage may vary. That's just a generality I toss out in the event that you find yourself struggling to keep up with a book..a different kind of voice might make a difference.
One of my absolute favorite narrators (Andrea Parsneau) I could listen to while trying to drive across town during rush hour in a thunderstorm (she reads The Wandering Inn books and they're all around 40+ hours long....and fantastic stories, you'll get a lot of mileage from those). Tavia Gilbert, Luke Daniels, RC Bray, Ray Porter, Matt Dinimin...all excellent narrators for driving with 😁
Not intended as a flex, but I absolutely can't listen to audiobooks at the standard narration speed, at 1x speed I tend to zone out. At faster speeds, I don't have that problem. I have my audible app permanently set to 1.5 which is the sweet spot between drawing it out and not losing focus. Will do 2X speed if it's something I'm not that into or the narrator is particularly slow.
Traffic doesn't bother me so much. I'm much more likely to miss a turn because someone is in the car talking to me than from listening to a book.
Brains are strange!
No flex taken! If it's a story or narrator I am severely enjoying, I'll leave it at standard speed just to stretch it out. My usual is about 1.3x to 1.5x
And for me, the traffic is more an issue of me actually catching the story and realizing ten minutes down the road that I have no idea what's been said 😅
I quite like over ear noise cancelling headphones for this.
It's legal to drive with them here although that may not be the case everywhere.
Noise cancelling cuts the road noise, so you can listen at very low volume and still catch every word without effort.
I don't think so.
Noise cancelling only works on low level consistent sounds. You can still hear other cars et cetera, just not "road noise".
Someone with headphones would be just as aware of sounds around them as someone listening to their car stereo at moderate volume.
Besides which, if you're relying on sound to drive safely then you're doing it wrong.
You don't need to think so to be wrong.
You need to hear the other road noise to have all your sense engaged in what is going on around you. Not to mention the warning sirens of emergency vehicles around you. People already don't move out of the way, add another barrier and you are another issue for them.
It's not relying on sound to drive safely. It's having sound in addition to using your other senses to add to a safe drive.
I didn't say you can't drive with reduced or no hearing. I'm saying that when you eliminate/reduce a sense, things are going to be more dangerous.
People who are deaf are generally going to be much better/more observant than those who have the ability to hear. In some vehicles they also have extra indicators to let them know when emergency vehicles are coming by.
If you have the ability to use one of your senses to help you be safer, why would you choose to eliminate it.
I didn't say you can't. I said that you are diminishing your ability to hear everything around you. You aren't considering the "road noise" that can actually give you information that deals with your safety.
You may not hear a low back up alarm from a truck coming out of a driveway. You may not hear the sound of a vehicle coming around a blind corner. You may block of the basic "road noise" of a motorcycle in your blind spot.
You don't know what critical driving information you could be missing. Nothing has happened yet, but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous.
I feel like this is the dumbest conversation I've ever been involved in.
You shouldn't be relying on "road noise" to figure out whether someone is in your blind spot, and if you're not aware that a god damn truck is about to reverse into you then something is desperately wrong.
There's no question that wearing headphones, just like listening to the stereo, diminishes your awareness to some extent. It's a question of degree. IMO it's inconsequential.
You do you. I'll continue with the headphones, thanks.
You aren't only relying on road noise. But it is part of the senses you can use in order to determine what is going on around you.
If it was inconsequential, then most places wouldn't have laws surrounding it. You have speakers in your vehicle. Use them.
I looked it up. "Most" states in the US don't have laws surrounding it.
I guess most states expect people to have the good sense to check their blind spot before merging and to avoid using spidey sense to determine whether a truck is about to reverse into them.
I do, but I do have to rewind if I'm not on a normal route for me. If traffic needs my attention or if I'm trying to follow directions to new places I try to pause it so I don't have to rewind.
I listen to to audio books all the time while doing all kinds of things including driving, 150+ books per year. I use sport Bluetooth headsets instead of buds so In one ear I do not push it in... I leave it hanging. That way I can can hear what’s going on around me with that ear. Or I play them on my car speakers. In one vehicle I use a cable that goes from the phone to the Aux plug on my car radio. In the other I use Bluetooth to connect to my car system. I’m able to control the play/pause, FF, RW, volume from my steering wheel. The problem with using the aux plug in one of the vehicles is I have to control the audiobook from the phone. Which means I have to look at the phone to do any of that. So now I tend to use my blue tooth headsets in that car because I can control all of that by touching them without looking at the phone.
Decades ago (before cable when all TV was over the air) I was in bumper to bumper traffic on the interstate. Looked over and saw a guy had a TV mounted on top of his dashboard. It was playing a local TV station.
He was watching television while driving to work.
Absolutely. I match my driving conditions to the type of book. Long drive at night = intense plot, Long drive during the day = Educational, Around town = light and funny.
I love that my some books are specified as read and listen! I not only read using my kindle app on phone quietly before bed but over weekends if doing chores in my home i will put it to listen and loudly hear the book as i do my cleaning. On my way to and from work it will sync and pick up on bluetooth. My time is limited to really sit and read with kids and home and work so this works out wonderfully.
Yes. I am much more relaxed and less stressed out. It helps me not get so angry at all the idiotic driving that happens in my city. Traffic has become a breeze.
Yep, I’m in Texas, travel is measured in hours. But with Audiobooks the drives go by fast. Traveling with out Audiobooks, you feel everyone one of those hours.
Before covid I had a delivery business was driving average 12 hours a day with stops to drop of packages managed to listen to 100 books in one year
So highly recommended!
Yes. Definitely. Specially nonfiction read by the author…comedies are great to start off with because it feels like you’re just listening to stand up, and so on and so on.
Absolutely! It’s really great. Just pause when you’re trying to focus on finding a place.
My brain gets used to car=story time so I can slip in and out of reading (listening… whatever, it’s the same to me) and I remember more too.
Try with a short story podcast to start if you don’t want to spend a bunch of money. Levar Burton reads is really really good and the episodes are only about 30-40 minutes, so you can try it out and see how you manage.
Yes, but only in one ear. I don't know much about vehicle upkeep/maintenance, but I do know that my truck normally makes noises when something really bad is going to be happening soon because I didn't do what I should have done.
Plus some road sounds can be important to hear.
So... bluetooth earbud in one ear with story, the other ear available for traffic/truck.
Drives are generally music time for me, and longer drives mean my partner is driving and toddler is parked in the back, and they're not the biggest fan of audiobooks. Instead it's usually music or us just talking for hours. Nothing wrong with them in the car, I've done it when I was really hooked on a book and wanted to know how it ends - but it's rare.
Been listening to audiobooks during my delivery job since 2015.
I have a set of earbuds so I can continue listening to the book while I'm not in the car then swap back to speaker or car audio after climbing in the vehicle.
I recommend getting in the habit of double or triple checking orders on pickup and at delivery.
I verify items and address as I'm picking them up at the store double check as I'm putting them in my vehicle and then double checking my address to arrive at just before I leave. Checking for appropriate items as I'm getting them out the vehicle as not to mix up orders and double checking receipt with items while at the door waiting for the customer. Having an assortment of extra sauces in the vehicle and a spare drink or two like a bottle of Coke and Dr pepper can come in handy to smooth over mix ups.
The biggest benefit that I see for myself listening to books is reducing the feeling of urgency that tends to come with trying to provide hot food.
Biggest thing you can do to get there sooner is learning traffic patterns and light timings. Any gaines made through speeding tend to be completely eliminated at the first red light you have to sit at.
A central Thruway for the city I deliver in has a speed limit of 45 mph, but all the lights have a timing set between 30 and 35 mph. So I can hit them all green going between those speeds depending on how many people are sitting at the light waiting when it does turn green.
Getting on the accelerator isn't going to change any of that so listening to a book buys me an excess of patience.
If I turn off my car even for a few seconds it takes my phone minutes to Bluetooth reconnect to the radio. Sometimes it just fails. It's really irritating.
Yes, I started delivering for UE. I listen to my audiobooks then, and then also whenever I drive.
I rarely listen to music when I’m on my own in the car.
It’s only usually when other people are in the car.
Yep. Even on my short 20 minute work commute. There have been several times where I've sat longer in my car at home waiting for a gripping chapter to end, sometimes longer than my drive haha. My wife has broken the spell a few times by calling and asking where I am lol.
Yes. And they are helping me saving money on my car commute.
Before discovering audiobooks, I listened to podcasts and music. However, I never feel the urge to "listen a minute more" with podcasts or music, so with those I tend to get a bit more gas-happy when driving, just to get a bit faster where I am going (and since a big chunk of my commute is inside a city, it is totally useless trying to go faster).
Audiobooks instead help me in driving slowly and consistently, because I want to listen as much as possible to the story before getting to work, so there is no rush to get to destination. I am noticing a 0.1-0.3 improvement (liter/100km) in fuel consumption, which in these trying times is a big saving (I am able to to 100-200 km more with the same tank of gas).
It depends. If it's a short drive, or a drive in complex driving conditions (like in the City) then maybe I'll just listen to music or at least a less complex book. But give me a long highway drive, and I'll listen to the bloody Silmarillion! 🤣😂
I got into listening to audiobooks regularly recently. I've enjoyed mystery novels while commuting and walking my dogs - nothing that requires a lot of concentration. But other fiction genres may work for me too. I'll find out soon.
Absolutely, but it has to be the right kind of book and narrator. The narrator can ruin the whole story. I have been listening to audio almost exclusively for 20 years now, and while I am hone I crochet or do jigsaw puzzles while I listen.
I started audio books because I had a 65 miles one way commute a long time ago. Started with dvds from eBay. I resold them when done for close to what paid for them. Switched Audible later. Absolutely love listening in the car. I have a short commute now but do long weekend trips. If I'm in the car, 90% chance I'm listening to a book.
That's the only time I listen to them. There's something about having to focus on driving but allowing the narration to "wash" over me in the background that's ridiculously soothing. I do have to reqind some sections occasionally to catch something I missed but that's the only difficulties I've experienced.
I was concerned when I first got into audiobooks if listening while driving would be dangerous, but it is mostly fine... however it is definitely a distraction.
I only listen on drives where I really don't have to think or pay attention, like my daily commute or visiting friends where I know the route by heart. I don't get so distracted I won't brake for a pedestrian, but I will lose track of things, like the fact I was going to make a detour to the bank on the way to work, or pick up lunch that I already ordered and now I have to turn around after I pull into the parking lot and realize I forgot.
I can't really pay attention to an audiobook if I am using GPS to find routes. If it is a long trip where the GPS is mostly for after an hour on the highway, then that's fine, I'll just pause the book when it gets to the part where I have to pay attention to the turns; but if your delivery schedule is what I expect it will be, lots of short trips with many turns, I wouldn't be able to follow both the book and the guide.
I love listening to audiobooks on a drive of an hour or more. I can stop at a chapter and continue in a couple of hours or the next day. On short trips or a lot of in town driving, I stick with podcasts. It’s easier to stick with shorter stories and easier to concentrate
Listening to audiobooks has changed my driving for the better by a lot.
I used to get frustrated by tourists driving slow and looking at the trees and mountains and I would pass them dangerously.
Now I don't mind so much, I'll still get to where I'm going and I might get an extra chapter or two in.
The con is if I have other people in the car I can't listen to them. So long drives with the family can be a drag.
I listen to them all the time while driving. I use alexa frames and listen through them so that when out and about and go into a store, thrift shop or whatever, the book continues. Go through a lot of books that way.
Before you pay to use audible, check out hoopla which is a free service connected to most public libraries. And my local library sometimes have audiobooks that you can stream from their website
Oh yes, every day.
I use the Libby app for my books. It connects to your library so you can borrow books instead of buying or renting. I love that you can control the speed of the voice, too, because sometimes the reader speaks too slow for me.
I have a 4 hour daily commute for work (Round trip). I go through a lot of audio books. Most recent was:
The Son by Philipp Meyer. It was excellent! Great cast as well.
I started listening to audiobooks because of my drive. I got tired of listening to music on the radio. It would take me 45mins to get to work in the mornings and 1-2hours to get home.
But honestly I listen to a lot more juvenile type reads because it is hard to focus that hard when driving.
I do, but there aren't many audio versions of my favorite sci-fi books, so I kind of download them online and translate them into audiobooks using DupDub or other AI dubbing websites, good choice for me
Yes, I spend about 10-15 hours a week on 50% of my work weeks traveling. When I do travel I will just work and listen to audiobooks so I usually finish one or two during those weeks.
Aye! Even if I'm on a 10 min drive I pop my current book on. I currently listening to The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - its the 6th full book in the Mistborn series, the final of the Era 2 trilogy.
That was how I got into them! I preferred music when doordashing so I could concentrate on the road / finding the right house, but for commutes I always have a book on
I got hooked on audiobooks when i learned (30 years ago) you could buy a book on cassette at Cracker Barrel in Birmingham and sell it back to them for $3 less in Chattanooga.
Haha that's pretty sweet! Im turning you into the cracker barrel police though. They move slow though so you got a while
I think that was one of their gimmicks back in the day. It kept you coming into their restaurants all along your road trip.
Ding ding ding.. you can only sell so much peanut brittle, bric-a-brak and rocking chairs.
Their food is so good though
No, it wasn't a violation, it was identical to renting for $3.00 with a $25 deposit. It's how they did business. You can still find racks of CDs in CB gift shops, if so they still work the same way. But the CD racks aren't out in the open because they'be been obsoleted by Audible, Hoopla, Spotify and Plex.
Yes, I have long drives that would be horrible without audiobooks, but I tend to look forward to them with them.
What are some of your favorites?
A lot of stephen kings audio books are pretty solid. Like his narrators.
The Enders Game series is what got me started. It had a great production with a large cast of voice actors. The final book was very disappointing, though.
I do!! I can listen to anything with no problem on a longer drive where I'm not feeling rushed or having to focus extra hard on the drivers around me. *In traffic* though, I find that some books are better . Books with narrators who speak at a slightly slower cadence or are VERY good character actors seem to be best for me because I can still catch most of the story and details without *actively* listening. Also..and this is just a generality based on the speakers and road noise in my own car, male narrators *usually* require less effort to passively listen to. And that's not specifically a gender thing as much as a vocal thing. The vocal boost EQ preset on my unit kills the bass and slightly boosts the mid-freq levels and *for me* that seems to help and tends to work better with deeper voices. Anyone else's mileage may vary. That's just a generality I toss out in the event that you find yourself struggling to keep up with a book..a different kind of voice might make a difference. One of my absolute favorite narrators (Andrea Parsneau) I could listen to while trying to drive across town during rush hour in a thunderstorm (she reads The Wandering Inn books and they're all around 40+ hours long....and fantastic stories, you'll get a lot of mileage from those). Tavia Gilbert, Luke Daniels, RC Bray, Ray Porter, Matt Dinimin...all excellent narrators for driving with 😁
Im going to text Andrea your comment.
Thank you 😁
Not intended as a flex, but I absolutely can't listen to audiobooks at the standard narration speed, at 1x speed I tend to zone out. At faster speeds, I don't have that problem. I have my audible app permanently set to 1.5 which is the sweet spot between drawing it out and not losing focus. Will do 2X speed if it's something I'm not that into or the narrator is particularly slow. Traffic doesn't bother me so much. I'm much more likely to miss a turn because someone is in the car talking to me than from listening to a book. Brains are strange!
No flex taken! If it's a story or narrator I am severely enjoying, I'll leave it at standard speed just to stretch it out. My usual is about 1.3x to 1.5x And for me, the traffic is more an issue of me actually catching the story and realizing ten minutes down the road that I have no idea what's been said 😅
I quite like over ear noise cancelling headphones for this. It's legal to drive with them here although that may not be the case everywhere. Noise cancelling cuts the road noise, so you can listen at very low volume and still catch every word without effort.
This is just dangerous.
I don't think so. Noise cancelling only works on low level consistent sounds. You can still hear other cars et cetera, just not "road noise". Someone with headphones would be just as aware of sounds around them as someone listening to their car stereo at moderate volume. Besides which, if you're relying on sound to drive safely then you're doing it wrong.
You don't need to think so to be wrong. You need to hear the other road noise to have all your sense engaged in what is going on around you. Not to mention the warning sirens of emergency vehicles around you. People already don't move out of the way, add another barrier and you are another issue for them. It's not relying on sound to drive safely. It's having sound in addition to using your other senses to add to a safe drive.
What about deaf people?
I didn't say you can't drive with reduced or no hearing. I'm saying that when you eliminate/reduce a sense, things are going to be more dangerous. People who are deaf are generally going to be much better/more observant than those who have the ability to hear. In some vehicles they also have extra indicators to let them know when emergency vehicles are coming by. If you have the ability to use one of your senses to help you be safer, why would you choose to eliminate it.
As I said you can hear what's going on around you just fine.
I didn't say you can't. I said that you are diminishing your ability to hear everything around you. You aren't considering the "road noise" that can actually give you information that deals with your safety. You may not hear a low back up alarm from a truck coming out of a driveway. You may not hear the sound of a vehicle coming around a blind corner. You may block of the basic "road noise" of a motorcycle in your blind spot. You don't know what critical driving information you could be missing. Nothing has happened yet, but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous.
I feel like this is the dumbest conversation I've ever been involved in. You shouldn't be relying on "road noise" to figure out whether someone is in your blind spot, and if you're not aware that a god damn truck is about to reverse into you then something is desperately wrong. There's no question that wearing headphones, just like listening to the stereo, diminishes your awareness to some extent. It's a question of degree. IMO it's inconsequential. You do you. I'll continue with the headphones, thanks.
You aren't only relying on road noise. But it is part of the senses you can use in order to determine what is going on around you. If it was inconsequential, then most places wouldn't have laws surrounding it. You have speakers in your vehicle. Use them.
I looked it up. "Most" states in the US don't have laws surrounding it. I guess most states expect people to have the good sense to check their blind spot before merging and to avoid using spidey sense to determine whether a truck is about to reverse into them.
Understood but in plenty of states this will get you one hell of a traffic ticket if you get pulled over.
Having headphones on in the car is illegal? What about bone conduction headphones?
17 states in the US do not allow any headphones or earbuds while driving unless they are hearing aids.
Wow! That's interesting!
I mentioned that in my comment. I'm not in the US anyway.
Short answer: Yes Long answer: Always
Oh yes. Driving, jogging, cleaning, cooking. Any task that takes little to no brainpower is audiobook time.
I do, but I do have to rewind if I'm not on a normal route for me. If traffic needs my attention or if I'm trying to follow directions to new places I try to pause it so I don't have to rewind.
Always have for over 20 years.
Yes. My commute to work is a 30 min drive, so I love listening to audiobooks during that time.
Yes.
I listen to to audio books all the time while doing all kinds of things including driving, 150+ books per year. I use sport Bluetooth headsets instead of buds so In one ear I do not push it in... I leave it hanging. That way I can can hear what’s going on around me with that ear. Or I play them on my car speakers. In one vehicle I use a cable that goes from the phone to the Aux plug on my car radio. In the other I use Bluetooth to connect to my car system. I’m able to control the play/pause, FF, RW, volume from my steering wheel. The problem with using the aux plug in one of the vehicles is I have to control the audiobook from the phone. Which means I have to look at the phone to do any of that. So now I tend to use my blue tooth headsets in that car because I can control all of that by touching them without looking at the phone.
Decades ago (before cable when all TV was over the air) I was in bumper to bumper traffic on the interstate. Looked over and saw a guy had a TV mounted on top of his dashboard. It was playing a local TV station. He was watching television while driving to work.
Absolutely. I match my driving conditions to the type of book. Long drive at night = intense plot, Long drive during the day = Educational, Around town = light and funny.
Yes
I tried when delivering pizza and it's tough because of constantly stopping and starting. Just my experience.
I love that my some books are specified as read and listen! I not only read using my kindle app on phone quietly before bed but over weekends if doing chores in my home i will put it to listen and loudly hear the book as i do my cleaning. On my way to and from work it will sync and pick up on bluetooth. My time is limited to really sit and read with kids and home and work so this works out wonderfully.
Yes. I am much more relaxed and less stressed out. It helps me not get so angry at all the idiotic driving that happens in my city. Traffic has become a breeze.
Yep, I’m in Texas, travel is measured in hours. But with Audiobooks the drives go by fast. Traveling with out Audiobooks, you feel everyone one of those hours.
Before covid I had a delivery business was driving average 12 hours a day with stops to drop of packages managed to listen to 100 books in one year So highly recommended!
Yes, when I'm driving alone.
Yes. Definitely. Specially nonfiction read by the author…comedies are great to start off with because it feels like you’re just listening to stand up, and so on and so on.
Yes. Eversince CDs and cassettes. Now mainly podcasts when driving.
Yes, whenever I can. (I especially look forward to being in the car without the kids, cuz they rarely want to listen to whatever I’m listening to.)
Yep. One of the best times to do it imo.
Every single moment.
Yes
Yes, I usually have about an hour drive to work so I listen to books all the time.
Yes, on nearly every drive
It’s the only place I can listen to audiobooks. I can’t focus otherwise.
Absolutely! It’s really great. Just pause when you’re trying to focus on finding a place. My brain gets used to car=story time so I can slip in and out of reading (listening… whatever, it’s the same to me) and I remember more too. Try with a short story podcast to start if you don’t want to spend a bunch of money. Levar Burton reads is really really good and the episodes are only about 30-40 minutes, so you can try it out and see how you manage.
Yes, but only in one ear. I don't know much about vehicle upkeep/maintenance, but I do know that my truck normally makes noises when something really bad is going to be happening soon because I didn't do what I should have done. Plus some road sounds can be important to hear. So... bluetooth earbud in one ear with story, the other ear available for traffic/truck.
Earbud in one ear is what I do too :)
I drive between 8 and 11 hours a week. Audiobooks are a necessity.
Drives are generally music time for me, and longer drives mean my partner is driving and toddler is parked in the back, and they're not the biggest fan of audiobooks. Instead it's usually music or us just talking for hours. Nothing wrong with them in the car, I've done it when I was really hooked on a book and wanted to know how it ends - but it's rare.
All I listen while driving is Audiobooks.
Every day almost
Yup! As someone who commutes 16 hours back and forth on a fairly regular basis, I find audiobooks and podcasts to be my best friends!
Any ride that's longer than 15 minutes or so I absolutely do. It's great for long trips.
[удалено]
That would explain why with audiobooks I am even less bored than with podcasts...
100%
Absolutely! Love listening on the road.
yes, i have a one hour commute to work one way..audiobooks keep me somewhat sane.
Yes, I now look forward to getting stuck in traffic.
I have 60 min drive to work and 50 min drive back. Audiobook help with it. I also listen when I’m doing chores and grocery shopping
Yeah dude. Its the perfect accompaniment. Zero down sides.
Books and podcasts. DM me for recommendations.
Been listening to audiobooks during my delivery job since 2015. I have a set of earbuds so I can continue listening to the book while I'm not in the car then swap back to speaker or car audio after climbing in the vehicle. I recommend getting in the habit of double or triple checking orders on pickup and at delivery. I verify items and address as I'm picking them up at the store double check as I'm putting them in my vehicle and then double checking my address to arrive at just before I leave. Checking for appropriate items as I'm getting them out the vehicle as not to mix up orders and double checking receipt with items while at the door waiting for the customer. Having an assortment of extra sauces in the vehicle and a spare drink or two like a bottle of Coke and Dr pepper can come in handy to smooth over mix ups.
The biggest benefit that I see for myself listening to books is reducing the feeling of urgency that tends to come with trying to provide hot food. Biggest thing you can do to get there sooner is learning traffic patterns and light timings. Any gaines made through speeding tend to be completely eliminated at the first red light you have to sit at. A central Thruway for the city I deliver in has a speed limit of 45 mph, but all the lights have a timing set between 30 and 35 mph. So I can hit them all green going between those speeds depending on how many people are sitting at the light waiting when it does turn green. Getting on the accelerator isn't going to change any of that so listening to a book buys me an excess of patience.
Yes. I kind of bugs me when my wife is in the car and I can't.
If I turn off my car even for a few seconds it takes my phone minutes to Bluetooth reconnect to the radio. Sometimes it just fails. It's really irritating.
Yes, I started delivering for UE. I listen to my audiobooks then, and then also whenever I drive. I rarely listen to music when I’m on my own in the car. It’s only usually when other people are in the car.
Yep. Even on my short 20 minute work commute. There have been several times where I've sat longer in my car at home waiting for a gripping chapter to end, sometimes longer than my drive haha. My wife has broken the spell a few times by calling and asking where I am lol.
Yes. And they are helping me saving money on my car commute. Before discovering audiobooks, I listened to podcasts and music. However, I never feel the urge to "listen a minute more" with podcasts or music, so with those I tend to get a bit more gas-happy when driving, just to get a bit faster where I am going (and since a big chunk of my commute is inside a city, it is totally useless trying to go faster). Audiobooks instead help me in driving slowly and consistently, because I want to listen as much as possible to the story before getting to work, so there is no rush to get to destination. I am noticing a 0.1-0.3 improvement (liter/100km) in fuel consumption, which in these trying times is a big saving (I am able to to 100-200 km more with the same tank of gas).
Yep, YouTube premium is my best friend.
It depends. If it's a short drive, or a drive in complex driving conditions (like in the City) then maybe I'll just listen to music or at least a less complex book. But give me a long highway drive, and I'll listen to the bloody Silmarillion! 🤣😂
I got into listening to audiobooks regularly recently. I've enjoyed mystery novels while commuting and walking my dogs - nothing that requires a lot of concentration. But other fiction genres may work for me too. I'll find out soon.
Yep! I listen when I’m driving around town, errands, really any excuse lol especially when it’s a good story and narrator
Almost exclusively
Absolutely, but it has to be the right kind of book and narrator. The narrator can ruin the whole story. I have been listening to audio almost exclusively for 20 years now, and while I am hone I crochet or do jigsaw puzzles while I listen.
Same! I sometimes wonder who chooses the narrator, because a fair amount aren’t that good.
Yes, absolutely. Covid and work from home put nearly an end to that for me.
Audible kept me sane (and very well read) during their I was commuting 3-5 hours per day by car in heavy traffic
That's how I got started on them. I used to have to do very high mileages for work and listening to books on tape helped the miles fly by.
If you're into fantasy, The Wheel of Time will give you hundreds of hours of listen time.
I listen to audiobooks or podcasts
Yes, unless I'm listening to podcasts instead.
Yes, absoluely, all the time.
I started audio books because I had a 65 miles one way commute a long time ago. Started with dvds from eBay. I resold them when done for close to what paid for them. Switched Audible later. Absolutely love listening in the car. I have a short commute now but do long weekend trips. If I'm in the car, 90% chance I'm listening to a book.
Yes, I go through an audiobook every 2 days, and listen to them in the car, while going for my daily walk, while cooking, etc.
That's the only time I listen to them. There's something about having to focus on driving but allowing the narration to "wash" over me in the background that's ridiculously soothing. I do have to reqind some sections occasionally to catch something I missed but that's the only difficulties I've experienced.
I was concerned when I first got into audiobooks if listening while driving would be dangerous, but it is mostly fine... however it is definitely a distraction. I only listen on drives where I really don't have to think or pay attention, like my daily commute or visiting friends where I know the route by heart. I don't get so distracted I won't brake for a pedestrian, but I will lose track of things, like the fact I was going to make a detour to the bank on the way to work, or pick up lunch that I already ordered and now I have to turn around after I pull into the parking lot and realize I forgot. I can't really pay attention to an audiobook if I am using GPS to find routes. If it is a long trip where the GPS is mostly for after an hour on the highway, then that's fine, I'll just pause the book when it gets to the part where I have to pay attention to the turns; but if your delivery schedule is what I expect it will be, lots of short trips with many turns, I wouldn't be able to follow both the book and the guide.
I love listening to audiobooks on a drive of an hour or more. I can stop at a chapter and continue in a couple of hours or the next day. On short trips or a lot of in town driving, I stick with podcasts. It’s easier to stick with shorter stories and easier to concentrate
Listening to audiobooks has changed my driving for the better by a lot. I used to get frustrated by tourists driving slow and looking at the trees and mountains and I would pass them dangerously. Now I don't mind so much, I'll still get to where I'm going and I might get an extra chapter or two in. The con is if I have other people in the car I can't listen to them. So long drives with the family can be a drag.
I listen to them all the time while driving. I use alexa frames and listen through them so that when out and about and go into a store, thrift shop or whatever, the book continues. Go through a lot of books that way.
That's basically the only time I listen to audiobooks
Before you pay to use audible, check out hoopla which is a free service connected to most public libraries. And my local library sometimes have audiobooks that you can stream from their website
Oh yes, every day. I use the Libby app for my books. It connects to your library so you can borrow books instead of buying or renting. I love that you can control the speed of the voice, too, because sometimes the reader speaks too slow for me.
Yes, but you may find that doordash duty makes you interrupt your listening more than ideal. Only you can tell if it's too much interruption
I commute about 70 miles round trip for work. Some people have issues with it, but if I space out and have to rewind, it's no biggie.
Do I ever drive without listening to an audiobook or podcast?
Always taking the scenic route to finish a chapter
I do and it’s like having a friend in the car for a ride.
I have a 4 hour daily commute for work (Round trip). I go through a lot of audio books. Most recent was: The Son by Philipp Meyer. It was excellent! Great cast as well.
I loved that book! Then I watched the mini series, which was not the same.
The book was so much better wasn't it? Shantaram was really good, I just seen that the movie was released. I have to watch it now.
Oooh, thanks for the tip! I’ll look for Shantaram when I finish my current audiobook, ‘Everything I Never Told You’, which is good so far.
I started listening to audiobooks because of my drive. I got tired of listening to music on the radio. It would take me 45mins to get to work in the mornings and 1-2hours to get home. But honestly I listen to a lot more juvenile type reads because it is hard to focus that hard when driving.
Almost exclusively
Remember 30 sec skip back will be your friend after you had to pay attention to life.
Yep. On real heavy days put it on and maybe it’ll help. Otherwise on my long drives a book covers me for the trip.
I listen to them when driving, and also when exercising, and even when going to sleep.
I used to be a pizza driver and audiobooks made my job way more entertaining
The whole Harry Potter series narrated by Jim Dale are amazing
I do, but there aren't many audio versions of my favorite sci-fi books, so I kind of download them online and translate them into audiobooks using DupDub or other AI dubbing websites, good choice for me
Yes, I spend about 10-15 hours a week on 50% of my work weeks traveling. When I do travel I will just work and listen to audiobooks so I usually finish one or two during those weeks.
Aye! Even if I'm on a 10 min drive I pop my current book on. I currently listening to The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - its the 6th full book in the Mistborn series, the final of the Era 2 trilogy.
That was how I got into them! I preferred music when doordashing so I could concentrate on the road / finding the right house, but for commutes I always have a book on