I was reading an online article and they talked about somebody who made audiobook recordings for the blind.
That seemed to me a strange distinction to make. Don’t all audiobooks work equally well for blind people? Is there anything that distinguishes a regular audiobook from an audiobook for the blind?
I assume the packaging is different but I’m asking about the recording.
Or is the writer (and that phrase) just really outdated?
When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, the only audiobooks I heard about were “Books for the Blind”.
I mean, how many people nowadays still refer to “Books on Tape”?
I just heard a 50-ish neighbor talking about his family’s upcoming road trip: “And we’ve downloaded a couple of Books on Tape that everyone’ll like, so that’ll be fun!”
(Notice he skipped CD’s, so his terminology was two generations of technology behind… I resisted saying 'Books on Tape? You sure you wouldn’t rather take Books on Edison Cylinders?")
Google is failing me, but I think I’ve heard of programs where the blind can request readings of books that aren’t actually commercially avilable “on tape”, and they make what ones they can.
Although even that may have been superseded now that reasonably good text-to-speech software is available.
I work in the post office and see these all the time. They’re called “Free Material For The Blind” or something and come in these cassette shaped packages with tbe book name on the spine but that’s probably a legacy thing since the books they claim they hold are far too long for a single cassette for an example an entire copy of The Shining.
They also do the “non-commercially available” thing too since I once saw “Tom Clancy’s EndWar” as the title and that’s a novelization of a video game, and looking it up it’s never been commercially available either on Audible or the book publishers website which makes me think it was a special request.
Audiobooks for the blind were originally on LPs, though they were a special size and ran at 16 rpm. There are also differences in how they are distributed. Audiobooks for the blind were provided free of charge. Since no royalties were paid to the authors, their use was restricted to just those who needed them.
I would assume that the differentiation today is between a book that is licensed, with payment to the publisher, and those that are licensed for the blind, where there it no royalty and only a nominal fee, paid once and not for each copy.
So it’s a royalty issue. This raises two follow-up questions.
How do they keep sighted people from claiming that they’re blind in order to scam low-cost audiobooks? Is there some vetting process?
Who decided blind people didn’t have to pay royalties? Were the individual authors consulted or do publishers just make a blanket policy that covers everyone? Or does this program only cover works in the public domain?
Speaking from my limited experience (the times I’ve borrowed a neighbor’s dog, painted a cane, and stumbled into a New Releases display or two), the librarians are trained to stick their tongues out and wiggle their ears. I had to train myself not to giggle.
.
Sorry, just kidding! Thought I’d lighten up an absurd situation… I would HOPE the librarian would take a blind person’s word for it.
This is what I had … years and years ago:
You had to be certified as visually impaired (or blind) by a physician.
The narration was done by volunteers – Jebus bless their hearts – some of whom were 80+ years old, smoked like chimneys, had COPD, and would go on coughing jags without hitting pause.
It was … interesting.
From there, I sashayed over to one of these bad mamba-jambas:
It’s a standard clause in book contracts. Audio books for the blind are exempt from paying royalties. It does cover copyrighted material.
I’m sure it was originally a good will gesture.
I believe the audio books for the blind aren’t sold, but rather leant out. So it would work just like a library book.
To be clear, when I said that they can request books and they make what they can, I mean somebody says “I want to read the latest Pounded in the Butt book by Chuck Tingle” and they put that on the list of things for one of the (mentioned in the thread) volunteers to read. It isn’t commercial releases by professional readers.
So jokes aside, the program is administered through libraries? I guess I was thinking it worked off the internet. Seems kind of unfair to require blind people to have to travel somewhere to have access to a service like this.
Side question:
I’ve been looking for the best places to volunteer to read books for the blind (and otherwise disabled … I’ve noticed that many audiobook programs are for the blind, AND those with a reading problem or physically unable to hold a book).
Does anyone have organizations or links for a volunteer narrator of books? Thanks!
Years ago I had a friend whose mother did a lot of volunteer reading for this program, which meant he could get copies of the book cassettes.
They were standard commercial cassette tapes, but recorded in a special format: The speed was half the commercial standard (15/16 ips, instead of 1+7/8) and the two tracks which normally were stereo left and right were instead used separately. This put 400% of the normal recording time on each cassette. They always came in green plastic shipping boxes, as pictured in the link.
My friend prevailed on me to modify a cassette player to play these tapes (he could get the cassettes from his mother and copy them, but did not qualify for a modified player). I figured out how to do this, so he and I could listen to what tapes he was able to get.
I made the playback speed variable, so it was possible to listen at higher than normal talking speed, though I wasn’t able to shift the pitch. But with some practice we found we could listen at about 160% of normal speed, which sounded absurdly squeaky to anyone who wasn’t used to it. Once accustomed to this (which is about normal text-reading speed), it was excruciating to listen at normal speed - it felt hopelessly slow.
This was a plot point of an episode of Seinfeld, where George claimed to be blind in order to get a risk management textbook recorded on tape.
So the thread should be retitled “What’s the deal with audiobooks for the blind?”
But can you specifically request books read by Edmund Kemper?
And what about talking books for the deaf?
Was that the link you meant to post?
My father was registered blind and the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) sent him free books on cassette. I just checked and they still do it:
Our Talking Books service is absolutely free. Giving you access to over 34,000 fiction and non fiction books for adults and children.
Talking Books has been one of our most loved services for more than eight decades, and we now offer more formats and titles than ever before.
Formats available
- You can choose to receive your Talking Books by digital download, and we also have a range of titles available to buy from our online shop.
- Or you can now get your books through an Alexa enabled device such as your smart speaker, tablet or phone.
- You can also get your books on DAISY CD (one book per disc) or USB stick (three books per stick) depending on your personal taste.