Podbooks vs mp3s

[cybel]

I've been giving DEEP THOUGHT lately to various podbook related questions that have never, as far as I know, been discussed anywhere. With amplificathon opening up more and more to meta/discussion topics, I've finally decided to try to assuage my curiosity by asking some questions here.

This would also be a good place for anyone to ask any podbook related questions they may have or to bring up any issues they've encountered regarding podbooks.

Please don't take this as a vanity post: it really isn't meant to be one. Consider it merely information gathering, information that will potentially be useful to me and the (thankfully!) many others who are now providing podbook versions of their own and others' podfics, as well as to the podfic/podbook consumer.

Here goes:

1) Which format do you prefer, assuming you have a choice, of course: podbook or mp3? Why?

2) Now that iTunes allows podfics to be moved into the Books folder and to be marked as bookmarkable, are podbooks still a viable format? Why?

3) Do you care if your podbooks have cover art or not? Do you prefer fandom/story specific covers, or are abstract or text only covers sufficient?

4) Do you like to see both author and performer credits on a cover? Is the legibility of the text on a cover important to you?

5) Do you bother to download a podbook if it isn't available until considerably after the mp3 is posted?

6) Any questions you'd like to add?

Comments

[glittertine]

In sum: love podbooks, will wait for them, not fussed about covers one way or another.

1) Which format do you prefer, assuming you have a choice, of course: podbook or mp3? Why?
I'm a little worried about forward-compatibility, but I do prefer podbooks.
- It saves me time because I don't need to manually shove it in the audiobooks folder, not a lot of time, but some.
- Sometimes podbooks take less space. Even in days of seemingly endless harddrive space, this matters (42G in 'books and counting).

2) Now that iTunes allows podfics to be moved into the Books folder and to be marked as bookmarkable, are podbooks still a viable format? Why?
Yes. Sometimes, the bookmarking thing screws up, and doesn't allow you to restart at the beginning of a 'fic, only at the point that's bookmarked as where one left off last time. Highly annoying.
See also the above mentioned space issue.

3) Do you care if your podbooks have cover art or not?
No.

4) Do you like to see both author and performer credits on a cover?
If there's a cover, yes. Sometimes 'fics are not coded to include both, then the cover can be helpful. But to be honest, out of the 822 podfics currently on my computer, I've maybe looked at the cover to find an author/reader name twice, so definitely not a priority.

Is the legibility of the text on a cover important to you?
Not if it's legible once you enlarge it in iTunes.

5) Do you bother to download a podbook if it isn't available until considerably after the mp3 is posted?
Usually yes. I'll wait a couple of days for a podbook version of something that catches my eye unless it is a favourite fic or a favourite reader, in which case I'll probably wait half a day before having to have it. I do usually have a limitless, extremely fast internet connection though, so I can easily download both. Whenever I'm away from my fiber, I'll wait for the podbook unless the fic description sounds terribly intriguing.

[cybel]

Thanks for your input. :-)

I can't speak for all converters out there in the wild, but I wouldn't worry about forward compatibility of podbooks. Essentially the same format is used as in professional audiobooks, and I can't see that changing in the foreseeable future. Besides, the Audiofic Archive has nearly every podfic ever podficced as backup.