2834: Book Podcasts

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Book Podcasts

Title text: I've been working my way through this 1950s podcast by someone named John Tolkien called 'Lord of the Rings'--it's a deep dive into this fictional world he created. Good stuff, really bingeable!

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a XKCD AUDIOBOOK - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Randall describes how he regularly accidentally "discovers" the idea of audiobooks while listening to podcasts, with his newfound idea being nearly identical to the current form of audiobooks. The joke of the comic comes from such an idea likely being presented to other people before being shot down once the creator realizes.

The title text is an inverse of the joke, with Randall seemingly having been listening to the Lord Of The Rings audiobook without realizing that this "podcast" was actually originally a book. This would likely irritate longtime fans of the book.

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[Cueball, wearing headphones and looking down towards a phone. From Cueball's head is a thought bubble.]

I need more podcasts to listen to while doing chores.

Hey, someone should do a podcast where they just read through a book! Each chapter could be an episode...

[Outside comic box:]

Every now and then I reinvent audiobooks from first principals.

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Discussion

This one is the most get-out-of-my-mind I have ever experienced with xkcd. And I had quite a few of these :-) I recently had this very same thought, and eventually I managed to find a way to get audiobooks and podcasts just mixed up in the very same app and very same environment. And it's been an absolute joy switching around between them. Drastically increased my book-reading. I have been telling everyone who wants to hear about it.
Anyone curious to do the same I greatly recommend using PodcastAddict and its integrated "virtual podcasts" feature. That one allows you to create a "podcast" from a selected folder with audiofiles.
Combine this with Audiobookstore.com or any other place where you can actually download books you purchase, and you can have the same set-up. See image for result: https://imgur.com/a/Jp0vgY3
Not affiliated with any of the services mentioned. Just a big fan of Podcast Addict and Xavier's work :-) Flekkie (talk) 22:28, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

You know, someone should distribute transcripts of these podcasts, so you can read them at your own time... 108.162.221.81 10:58, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

Distribute? Sounds very labour-intensive, compared to downloading. Get a building, let people come into the building and take whatever bundles of podcast printouts they want, from what you have. Either buy them outright (to cover costs) or just borrow them, no more tgan a few at a time, and bring them back for someone else to borrow later. 172.70.85.22 12:06, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

I like it, but what if you can't make it to the building—like, god forbid, if another virus breaks out? I think it'd be nice if the Internet Archive guys could set up an online version of this idea, lending out digital scans of the printouts. Surely no one would take issue with that? ~AgentMuffin 23:38, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

what if i downloaded the scans of the prints of the downloads of the transcripts? then i would be able to share books with my friends for free! Squishmallow fan (talk) 14:28, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

This might be a reference to Re:Dracula, an actual podcast that is the book dracula. They have different voice actors for all of the characters, and they release each part exactly 130 years after it was set (Mina Murray's journal entry from September 28th 1893 would be released today).

The difference between podcasts and audiobooks is like a TV series versus a movie. Podcasts are one installment at a time (often once a week), you download an entire audiobook and listen to it at your own rate. Barmar (talk) 14:23, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

Binge-watching is a thing. (As is the more traditional splitting of a (pre-audio) book into a string of installments.) The lines are very blurred. 172.70.90.132 17:01, 28 September 2023 (UTC)