Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Still no effing books to read

I'm getting more and more pissed off about how I can't read books. There aren't any worth reading in accessible formats. Why why why do audio book publishers insist on churning out new and different versions of old stuff like Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes? How did we get into this state of being? It's ridiculous. Do they have no sense of zeitgeist? Who do they think their market is? And indeed, who the hell does make up the majority market for audio books anyway? I bet it isn't blind people. Also, lets note that you can put an entire audio book on one CD now that MP3 CDs are becoming more popular. And government, woohoo, hello, there are serious implications regarding education if there is no provision by which publishers are forced or obliged to make their books available: either electronic text or audio seem to be the most popular formats these days.

The idea that people want Braille books these days is a myth. Discuss. However I'm sure RNIB - whose campaigns haven't got very far despite some passion put in - have, I'm sure, cottoned on to the fact that government are more likely to approve a plan if they ask for electronic texts to be made available so that they can then turn them easily and quickly into Braille or large print. It may not be the medium of choice for many visually impaired people but it does buy into the whole literacy thing that the gov't are into.

Does reading audio books make you literate? discuss.

Does reading electronic texts with a speech synth or braille display make you literate? Discuss.

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