デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | 日本最大級のオーディオブック配信サービス audiobook.jp (edit: listened to the sample for this one and it’s got a ton of background music/different voice actors for each role, so you may not enjoy it as much omk3)
I’ve also got a few that were featured in book clubs here or WK in the past; I’m pretty sure you’ve read all of these, but just in case you didn’t listen to them/whatever, or for those looking for audiobooks in general:
I have a list of audiobooks that I enjoyed - as in I thought it was well produced. I did not necessarily enjoy the story, though.
(Anything below L30 I most likely read audiobook-only; anything above probably hybrid)
I find that my listening is about 5 levels below my reading, simply because I don’t have access to yomichan or any other easy way to look things up. - so that’s my recommendation. But then I don’t re-listen or anything. If I don’t understand something, it’s whitenoise. So my level of understanding has to be high from the start or I can’t follow the story.
Side note: I am using audible.co.jp’s 聴き放題 for audiobooks.
Oooh, thank you for the nice list. Bookmarked! I really need to figure out how to trick Audible JP one day; there are far too many audiobooks locked behind it.
One question, looking at the list: what would you think about sorting the list items by difficulty? I was just thinking it’d be a nice list to work your way down, from easier to harder. If you’re not interested, that’s completely fine! Just thought I’d ask.
You can download the book, but I don’t think that’s easily accessible outside the app, and I’m not sure what file format, but I’d assume something proprietary. What format is it on PC?
I always download any book I’m interested in, bc Audible likes to be a pain about region locking pretty often. I’m using 聴き放題 if that makes a difference
I’ve never listened to non-JP audiobooks, but I think with JP the difference is simply whether it’s a full book or not.
All the drama CDs I’ve come across are either manga scenes/chapters read aloud by voice actors (with sound effects) or original stories that have no accompanying text. That could be selection bias tho. Could be anywhere from a few min to a few hours.
Audiobooks otoh are a full (non-manga) book read aloud.
We were talking about any accompanying documents, like diagrams and such, not the audiobook itself. Audible books download as something proprietary and not easily accessible, yes. I don’t remember the exact format.
Is there information somewhere on the pros and cons of the various audiobook providers (eg which ones need vpn / are awkward to pay / etc) ? I vaguely recall some of this being on the Natively website but that’s 404ing all over the place right now so I can’t find the providers notes…
Off the top of my head, Audible of any variety is region-locked; you can trick it, but results may vary. Audiobook.jp is not region-locked and is DRM-free; I haven’t had any issues buying from there with PayPal.
Unfortunately, Audible has the best selection of audiobooks by far.
I noticed that you added 世界のニュースを日本人は何も知らない in the list
Do you recommend it better as an audiobook or do you think maybe the written form would suit it more?
Audible - best selection, better interface with gps apps for listening while driving, you need to trick it to get japanese books (VPN + japanese billing address)
Audiobook.jp - you can get the mp3 version for download when you fully pay for a book, free for use from whatever country and paying option, interface is clunky and doesn’t interface with other gps applications (a.k.a you either choose to keep gps open or the app open and it will talk over gps instructions), listening from the app sometimes doesn’t download properly and the track will skip parts because of it
But Audible UK/US also have a decent Japanese selection. Not everything on Audible JP by any means, but not too bad either. So if you don’t want to bother with VPN and such, your local Audible may suffice.
I’m neither in the US or the UK and there is not any jp selection in my local audible that I have found yet
(Technically there used to be some up until very lately and I think it has been cut off because it’s “not in the region” anymore )
Me neither, but I’m allowed to shop from both I think? UK possibly because I used to live there (but I’m not using VPN or a UK address now and it doesn’t seem to care), but US I believe is the go-to-option for any country that doesn’t have local Amazon? I may be wrong.
depends on what you want to get out of it. It’s written very conversationally - as in: it uses 丁寧語 and is like a teacher holding a lesson. It works well in audio, I think, but if you want to use it for anything other than listening practice, the ebook would be better.
interesting. my local audible pretty much has all the audible produced (=audible studios) titles and I thought this would be the case for any of their non-japanese sites.
I’ll kind of pinpoint my main concern and tell me what you think?
Does it include statistics and infographics for example?
if it does and you get them in a pdf than I don’t mind audiobooking it, but if it has statistics and stuff but no attachments than I would probably want the ebook
There are no graphics. There were numbers a couple of times but I don’t remember having any issues - but I also am more like “oh, this is a big number…and that is a smaller number… ok, gotcha.” I am not worried about catching the exact number as long as I understand what the point is they are making.
I am pretty sure, there is nothing to download. I think audible tells you, if there is a PDF attached to the book.
(From a different book: 本タイトルには付属資料・PDFが用意されています。ご購入後、デスクトップのライブラリー、またはアプリ上の「目次」でご確認ください。（アプリバージョン：Android 2.40以上、iOS 3.11以上）)
I’d recommend checking out the sample. The book is all like that.
But then I don’t re-listen or anything. If I don’t understand something, it’s whitenoise. So my level of understanding has to be high from the start or I can’t follow the story.
