Audio Books in Cars

[cobra kid]

To those who use them, Do you manage to concentrate on every single word or do you find you miss quite a bit out if you are distracted by other stuff going on. I'm being drawn more towards talk radio rather than football now I'm at a ripe old age of 43.

[Sunnyone]

I listen to lots of audio books, I drive about 40k per year. I find I only listen properly on fairly empty dual carriageway or motorways.

Around town I find I'm not concentrating on the audio book.

Lucky living in Scotland the roads are still relatively empty.

[ChrisPackit]

I do a lot of consultancy work which means I can be doing 120+ miles a day dependant on where the work is. I found Audio books a godsend when doing long motorway journeys! Im a huge James Bond fan so started with all of the Ian Fleming Audio Books, and the time just flies by!

[anonymous-user]

Podcasts are also great to listen to on drives.

You can find great podcasts in pretty much any subject imaginable. Usually they're about 40 mins or so and many unpate at least once a week with huge back catalogues.

It's more like listening to the radio than an audiobook and if you miss a bit whilst you're avoiding a crash or whatever, you don't miss vital parts of a plot.

[marcosgt]

I can't concentrate on audio books at all.

I've tried a couple, usually listening on train journeys, but found that I was missing huge parts of the plot, looking at something out of the window, thinking about work, where I was going that weekend or what was for dinner.

M.

[Oystercatcher]

Audiobooks are a no-go for me too. I find I spend too much time concentrating on the road, my driving, other road users etc. and end up missing huge chunks and have to rewind. I can listen to chatter on the radio quite happily as it's not a 'story' as such.

[a]

I tried a few years ago and found it too distracting.

But started again this year and it's not a problem. Maybe because my current commute has so much traffic and is so monotonous... I do often find that I've zoned out of the book for 1-2 minutes at a time when I'm driving somewhere that needs more concentration, but the "rewind" button on my steering controls is connected to the "rewind 30 seconds" function in the Audible player, so it's easy to get back to where I was.

When I'm driving in town I don't bother, because I'd hardly take any of it in.

[Junior Bianno]

I must drive on autopilot then. Listen to audiobooks driving around town all the time - think I'm taking it all in. I just listen to non-fiction stuff though - business books, biographies etc. Can't deal with fiction in audiobooks for some reason

[K12beano]

I can struggle at the best of times to follow an audiobook!

I often go for a chapter at bedtime and need to rewind two thirds of that chapter the next day. At least I get a good night's sleep.

For commuting on the Tube, I can keep concentration, but otherwise often if I just sit down and put it on a speaker I will sit back and doze off.

So the obvious danger of driving a big old comfy barge and putting on an audiobook is almost certain insurance claim!!!!!!

[AdamC28]

I find I can concentrate on the book quite well while driving and would much rather listen to audio books or podcasts.
Problem for me is they are just too expensive, going trough 2-3 books a week.

[a]

AdamC28 said:

Problem for me is they are just too expensive, going trough 2-3 books a week.

Yep, got the same problem. I get through them so quickly on my commute but I'm completely addicted!
I like that Audible allows you to get refunds for books if you don't like them - still expensive, but at least I never waste money on something I don't like.

[hairyben]

Spend anywhere between 2 and 5 hours in the van a day, I've mostly listened to talk radio for 20 years R5/LBC, recently become slightly disillussioned with MSM and listening to a lot of podcasts. Audiobooks are top of the to-try list, also suggested is an audio based language course.

I find having something to occupy the grey matter an aid to the mundanity of driving today and probably makes me more alert, if I lose focus of whats being said its probably my mind wandering off on a tangent which is something its inclined to do. Its rare the road focus impedes on the audio for more than a moment.