When is a book not a book? When it is performed by a starry cast of hundreds. Except it has always been more complicated than thatNews this week of a 17% hike in the UK’s audiobook sales might seem like a niche business story, but it raises an existential question. What exactly is an audiobook today? Is it a book? Is it a play? Or is it becoming something else entirely? What is clear is that a jostle for market dominance is driving it into new dimensions. The streaming platform Spotify followed its move into podcasting two years ago with the launch of an audiobooks business. Though it has yet to start making its own recordings, last autumn it made a deal for 200,000 audiobooks to be available to its premium users.Not to be outdone, Amazon-owned Audible – accustomed to being the market leader – upped its game, hiring the Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes to record multi-voice versions of the Dickens novels Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, and announcing last month that it had reached an agreement for a recording of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, voiced by more than 100 actors and featuring a “groundbreaking new soundscape”. The new Potter audiobooks, it said, would not usurp but “sit alongside and complement” conventional recordings by Stephen Fry and Jim Dale, which Audible also hosts. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-05-10 17:25:03 UTC ]
The Super Nintendo World theme park in Orlando is nearly ready for visitors. Universal Orlando Resort just announced that the Mario-friendly attraction will open its doors on May 22, 2025. That gives you over six months to find the perfect Goomba costume to wear on opening day. This is the third... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-17 16:45:06 UTC ]
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Spotify has expanded its audiobook service to four new non-English speaking markets: France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The localized catalog includes 15,000 titles in French and 15,000 in Dutch and Flemish. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-10-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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October Prime Day may have come and gone, but you can still save on Lego sets at the moment. While you may think it's early to think about holiday shopping, these kits make amazing presents — for the young and full-grown adults alike. At Engadget, we're most interested in specific sets from... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-11 14:13:50 UTC ]
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Another October Prime Day is on the books, but all of the deals haven’t disappeared from Amazon’s site just yet. This year’s Fall Prime Day brought a bunch of discounts on smartphones, speakers, wearables, robot vacuums and more tech, and you can still grab some of the sale prices right now even... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-10 14:00:36 UTC ]
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October Prime Day 2024 has given Prime members another opportunity to save one some of our favorite tech and maybe even snag some holiday gifts early and for less. If you checked out Amazon's site yesterday or today, you may have quickly gotten overwhelmed by the volume of deals — we wouldn't... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-09 23:00:18 UTC ]
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October Prime Day 2024 is half over but you can still save thanks to a slew of deals across the entirety of Amazon’s online storefront. Props to you if you came prepared with a wishlist of items you hope to buy on sale, because it can be easy to get distracted by the thousands of other deals... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-09 15:14:28 UTC ]
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Gravity, Children of Men, the best Harry Potter movie—and now a seven-part miniseries? With Disclaimer, director Alfonso Cuarón has set out to conquer TV in the name of cinema. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2024-10-09 10:00:00 UTC ]
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October Prime Day is here, and we're seeing great deals on tech devices — but we also wanted to point out a few choice Lego deals we've had our eye on as well. You could use this as an opportunity to kickstart the holiday shopping season — even if you haven't even thought about the holidays yet,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-08 23:27:33 UTC ]
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The deals are flying fast and furious this Prime Day, and there's plenty to be had from within Amazon's own ecosystem. Right now, you can snag three months of an Audible Premium Plus subscription for just a dollar a month. It's not quite as good a discount as it was earlier this year (free!),... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-08 19:11:31 UTC ]
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Amazon Prime Big Deal Days is back this year, returning on October 8 and 9. The “fall Prime Day” of sorts has served as the online retailer’s unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season for the past few years. We expect most of the deals to be Prime exclusives, meaning you must be an... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-07 21:00:14 UTC ]
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With October Prime Day just a few days away, we're starting to see more and more early deals pop up each day. While it might be too early for your liking to think about holiday shopping, you might want to after you check out the latest Prime Day Lego deals. A number of Lego sets from the Super... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-06 14:23:10 UTC ]
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The Amazon Prime Big Deal Days event is coming up in a few days, so it’s time to start thinking about what you may want to snag at a discount during the sale. Some may shudder at the thought of holiday shopping already, but if you pay the $139 annual fee for Prime, these sale events are a great... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-06 13:12:09 UTC ]
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With October Prime Day just around the corner, we're starting to see more and more early deals pop up each day. While it might be too early for your liking to think about holiday shopping, you might want to after you check out the latest Prime Day Lego deals. A number of Lego sets from the Super... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-04 14:30:08 UTC ]
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The real-life dame and on-screen dowager countess, who has died aged 89, earned fame in her 70s and 80s for blockbuster roles. But her early work at the National Theatre marked her out as a talent for the agesDame Maggie Smith’s trophy cabinet reflected her extraordinary achievements across... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-27 13:37:47 UTC ]
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In a career that began in the 1950s, her roles ranged from Desdemona to Miss Jean Brodie, Virginia Woolf and Minerva McGonagall• Mark Lawson: Maggie Smith was a magisterial star with the courage and talent to do absolutely everythingMaggie Smith, the prolific, multi-award-winning actor whose... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-27 13:17:05 UTC ]
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The main event of the global book publishing calendar is upon us, and this year’s professional program will feature a strong slate of panels and conversations about such issues as AI, the booming international audiobook market, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Plus: Meta’s AI scrapes the UK, Google digitizes your passport, Chrome syncs your tabs everywhere, and (have you heard?) Apple announces some new iPhones. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2024-09-14 14:30:00 UTC ]
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The inaugural International Summit of Audio Publishers held September 10 in New York City drew 137 participants who discussed current market conditions, the impact of AI, and what is coming next for the booming industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Translating image to sound is a difficult task, but a necessary one for some readers. The team behind the audiobook adaptation of Darrin Bell's acclaimed 2023 graphic novel 'The Talk' explains how it's done. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Studio advertises for British and Irish children aged 9-11 to play Hogwarts heroes in ‘decade-long’ TV adaptationsHBO has kicked off its search for the next Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, with the studio posting an open casting call for its forthcoming TV adaptation.The casting... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-10 22:39:27 UTC ]
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