Technology

Soundtracks Could Make Your Ebook Experience More Immersive

January 8, 2016 | Elizabeth Knowles

e-reader
Photo credit: Unsplask/Pixabay

Wonderful addition or terrible distraction?

Book and Ebook vendors have been battling it out since the release of eReaders like Kindle, Kobo, and Nook. Many people like the idea of carrying multiple books at the same time, being able to borrow books from a library without leaving the house and buying books less expensively. Conversely, other readers are insistent upon the value of traditional books that feel and smell like they always have and offer an authentic experience.

Booktrack aims to up the ante and offer an additional experience to eBook readers: a soundtrack. It has yet to be decided whether this is a pro or con for eBook readers since views on the matter are quite divided, but the makers of Booktrack are excited by its prospects.

“We are the only enhancement for reading delivered while you read. The most powerful thing about reading is being lost in that reading experience, so what we do is add just one layer of that to get you into the experience quicker and keep you there for longer," said Paul Cameron, CEO and co-founder of Booktrack, to Reuters.

SEE ALSO: Disney Transforms Coloring Books into a 3D-Experience

The software, currently available for 16,000 titles in 30 languages, works by tracking how fast you “turn” the pages so that it can match background music and sound effects to where you are in the storyline. They also provide a tool for authors to create their own soundtracks using a database of sounds and music. Some of the titles currently available include Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and the Sherlock Holmes Series.

Sound good so far? Here’s where the divide lies. People like Kobo’s CEO Michael Tamblyn believe that it can create a positive immersive experience: "We're fighting against all of the other distractions that we have in modern life, and try to carve out a place for books and reading in it. And that's why you see a rise in audio books, that's why you see people trying to create immersive experiences that sort of push away at the distractions that can pull you out of reading," Tamblyn told Reuters.

Others, like TechCrunch reviewer Paul Carr insist that the value of reading comes from readers getting lost in their own minds: “The whole point of reading fiction is to remove the reader from reality — for the physical book to drop away and the sights, sounds and smells of the story to play out in the mind. As such, soundtracks and animated arrows urging you to read at a fixed (‘it’s adjustable!’ the PR will be yelling at this point) pace are an unnecessary and unwelcome distraction.”

As Booktrack continues to get popular — or doesn’t — it will be up to readers to decide whether this is the next book revolution, or whether this is technology taken one step too far.

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