I've been turned off by a monotone reader, but normally I don't listen to books on tape or ipods. I don't have a lot of driving time anymore (for which I'm thankful). When I do drive, I like listening to music.

Okay, confession time for me. I really dislike being read aloud to. And I'm so sure the "wrong" voice could kill a book for me.

Believe it or not, I've never listened to an audiobook. Something I've been meaning to rectify, but just haven't had a chance yet. However, I can totally see a bad reader ruining a perfectly good book.

I've been mostly lucky, but I have to admit that it's always a bit of a shock to hear one of my books because my characters NEVER sound the way they have in my head for so many months. Sort of like the first time I heard the Peanuts characters. Which, again, in no way matched what I'd imagined. I do think, as a rule, women do male voices better than the men do women characters.

Btw, I used to really like hunky Matthew until I read that not only does he refuse to use deodorant, he wouldn't even when Kate Hudson asked him to while they were filming together. If that's true, although I'm always writing fictional sweaty guys, that's a bit more "manly" than I want my real guys to smell. :)

I adore audio books! The addition of audio to my reading life has greatly increased the number of books I can read, and I've been more experimental in my audio selections, which has introduced me to new authors. The reader can make a big difference, but I haven't had a terrible experience....just some are better than others.

Harry Potter on Audio is my favorite. Jim Dale and his amazing voices took my family from Vermont to JFK, from across England and Ireland by car and from JFK to Vermont. So good was his reading of Book #6 that though our family hadn't slept for 24 hours, though we had crossed two continents and driven 400 miles - we sat in our driveway at 2 a.m. and listened to the end, crying. BY the way, Barbara - is there a way to email you off list?? It's hard to find. Either that or I'm just dumb.

Sarah, I totally agree that Harry Potter is one of my favorite audio books. I have been a fan of Jim Dale since his Disney days.

My email is: barbaravey@gmail.com and coming soon will be links to my email, Drive by Videos, pictures on Flickr, MySpace and Twitter (try it) directly on the blog site.

Harry Potter is my favorite audio book series too. I could listen to Jim Dale all day. I love being read to, so any long trip I make sure I have at least one audio book in my car or on my ipod.

Audiobooks was a godsend when I had to do a long commute as I got sick of the radio. The library is my salvation as they provide the medium for free -- CDs, cassettes and audio files. You're lucky that your library has an audio file format that you can download to your ipod. My libraries require players that can handle secured audio files. That's why I don't own an ipod. It does annoy me when my player does not remember where I left off so I have to listen to the whole section before turning off.

I've found audiobooks only work for me in a car when I'm the driver. It does not work when I'm a passenger as I wind up going to sleep. As for listening to it while doing other things, I can't do that. My brain needs to focus one thing or one or both suffer. It would be ashame to miss good parts of the story. If it's a fav author, I would listen to audio and also read the book. Generally it will be the book first and later on the audio. As for the reader, yes, it would turn me off the audio, but I would still give the book a chance.

As for Harry Potter, I'm listening to the last book. I've read all the earlier ones. But, this last book is just too big to lug around -- cds are a lot lighter.

I love audio books. Never have fewer than three on the iPod -- just in case :). Maybe I've been lucky but I haven't been turned off by a reader as yet.

The reader definitely makes a difference on an audio book. I listen to these on my daily commute almost every day (nothing beats Billy Bryson for making me forget I'm on a crowded, dirty subway!) and there have been books I haven't been able to finished because of the reader. Whoever read A Legacy of Ashes was terrible! He turned a potentially fascinating account into the most boring history text.

I must have my audio books. There isn't a day when I don't listen, to and from work (or anywhere), cleaning up the house, crocheting, working out in the yard. Personal players are necessities.
There have been books that I've had to put aside because of the reader, but most are pretty good. A favorite of mine is Barbara Rosenblat, but there are several others whose work I'll pick up almost regardless of the title. Yep, listening to books is one of the wonders of the modern world.

I have to confess too Barbara that I listen to music in my car rather than audio books. I love curling up in a chair or in bed to read.

I love audio books - IF the reader is good. But a reader can definitely make or break an audio book. I live in hope that my own novel (The Wednesday Sisters, coming out in audio, hard, and large print next month) will be well read! And in dread that it will not.

I love audio books. My mama turned me on to them on a car trip to see my aunt. Mama and I were 15 minutes from the end of a Kay Scarpetta and 2 minutes from my aunt's house. We were questioned later as to why we kept driving PAST the house. LOL The reader of the book can ruin it. I listened to a historical and the woman reading it had a whiney voice. Shudder. I couldn't continue. I just bought the e-version and read it on my reader instead.

Can the reader make a difference? You bet I love the Diane Mott Davidson Audio books read by the same reader. I even enjoy the books because I hear Goldie's voice when I read them. As part of my wgt loss program I am now down loading music and books to my ipod and I have a special waterproof case so when I swim all those boring laps in the pool I can listen to my ipod. I am hoping it will keep me motivated to do my laps daily as it seems at times to be so boring up and back, over and over. I would love to have some recomendations.

I have been debating for some time now about whether or not to get an ipod so I can listen to audio books. Thanks for bringing up the topic and soliciting opinions. I am still in two minds now about whether to get one but now it's because I don't know which kind to get - how many gigs (is that the right term?) should you get for audio books, I've heard that there are several different sizes to the ipods. And I heard that there is a different brand of ipod that had an FM radio with it. Has anyone tried that? Thanks again for giving me a place to hear everyone and ask questions back.

I haven't heard of the one with the radio in it, but I have an iPod Nano because I got it as a gift. Right now I have 5 books on it and I'm not sure how many it could hold.

YES, readers make the audiobook come alive! A good reader is important and if story is a series, KEEP THE READER! J.D. Robb audiobooks are on my AUTO-BUY list but only by reader Susan Ericksen - and I've searched for audiobooks by reader at the library. Meanwhile I stopped listening to Janet Evonavich audios when the reader changed and returned to only reading the books because it was so upsetting. I have an RCA MP3 Player which allows DRM so I can download audiobooks through my local library - that was an exciting addition to their services that allows me to indulge.

I enjoy audio books when I'm driving or walking and haven't had a reader that's completely spoiled the book for me. This comment from you Barbara struck a chord with me however "Or when they give a goofy accent to a character (where did that come from...did they read the book first to find out they've lived in America all their lives and shouldn't have a German accent just because their grandfather was from Germany?)." The book I'm currently listening to has a character speaking with an Irish accent. She was born in Australia, grew up and went to school in Aus and has never been out of the country but she's speaking with an Irish accent because her family came from Ireland!!! Every time she appears I'm thinking 'WHY?'

I LOVE audiobooks. That's how I've gotten most of my reading done over the past year. :) I have them on cd and download files. I have a 30gb iPod. I have approx 30 books and approx 10 music cds on it. A few of the books would be equal to 30-40 cds. Only using about 11gb so far. I do most of my listening at work. :) I like the books that have a male and a female reader the best but unfortunately those are few and far between. I can't say I like all the readers on the books but none of them have irritated me so much I couldn't listen. Some will drive me nuts with their pronunciation of certain words but I think there has just been one whose voice actually drove me nuts. Luckily it wasn't bad enough to keep me from listening. I have several audiobooks that I also own in either paperback, hardcover or both.

I love audiobooks. I'm listening to Eragon now. I enjoyed Harry Potter on audio because I couldn't lug the books around. I like trying different genres in audiobooks. There's something about someone reading to you. I don't they have to do the accents, some times it draws you out of the story.