Abstract

The electronic publishing sector has experienced a slowdown over the past two years; however, one segment has grown. The audiobook has seen extraordinary growth in all advanced countries. It is not a new genre, since it dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, but audiobook producers have exploited the audiobook’s maximum possibilities by optimizing the benefits for very diverse contexts, for all kinds of daily activities. Research into audiobooks raises some important points for discussion that are analyzed in this article, such as the relationship between comprehension and hearing, the differences between auditory and print environments, quality control systems in relation to their presentation, and dissemination systems. An analysis of these points also includes the read-listen dilemma as measurement parameters from the point of view of the consideration of this new genre as a part of the reading concept.

Abstract

Introduction of the Daisy multimedia book format, which integrates text, sound, images and video in a synchronized sequence. Daisy presents a high usability for digital reading thanks to its advanced navigation through text or audio. The article also describes DTBook, the text component of Daisy, which is a highly structured xml format ideal to create alternate format editions. The article sets out the differences between Daisy and other audiobooks and presents the most common Daisy players and Daisy market adoption. The format has good potential for becoming a flagship format in ebook publishing if costs of playing devices decrease and a solution is found for digital rights management.

Abstract

Over the course of history, the book and its environment have been in permanent transformation, undergoing changes that have affected its format, textual arrangement, form of reading, and production and distribution systems, as well as its social consideration as an instrument for the transmission of knowledge. One of the greatest changes has taken place in the 21st century with the emergence of digital formats throughout the publishing value chain. If in previous eras the transformations had affected one or other of the mentioned elements, the digital revolution has impacted on all of them simultaneously, as it has modified the ways in which works are created, produced, distributed, and consumed. Also, it has introduced for the first time an element of intermediation between the reader and reading: the device, which, in its different varieties, implies an element of additional complexity. At the present time, and after almost two decades, we can see the advances and setbacks that have occurred on this journey; the achievements and shortcomings from the publishing point of view, in which a strengthening of the big companies can be appreciated; and the emergence of a system of self-publishing that represents a rupture with traditional systems. From the point of view of authorship, the value of the brand, of charisma and prestige, has been emphasised, while a movement of creation is taking place on the fringes of the system that renounces posterity and recognition in favour of visibility. This approach to authorship is also subject to the influx and influence of social networks with their positive effects, in the form of projection, and negative ones, in the form of new ways of censure. Finally, in terms of reading, there is an ambivalent route that runs between the paths of a very strong tradition, linked to the printed book, and digital reading, established from the point of view of practices, but in its more conservative and imitative side with respect to analogue formats; in the digital sphere, new proposals and more innovative initiatives which are attracting the attention of growing but still minority sectors of society are emerging. The digital environment is progressing and consolidating, but it has not yet taken advantage of all the potential that technological advances could provide.