<story><title>Cory Doctorow is fighting back against Amazon&apos;s Audible</title><url>https://www.fastcompany.com/90549199/why-this-author-is-taking-a-stand-against-amazons-audiobook-monopoly</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sam_lowry_</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve long bemoaned the sorry state of English audiobooks in comparison to Russian audiobooks.&lt;p&gt;Audiobook interpreters like Игорь Князев or Александр Клюквин are household names to Russian speakers.  Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? Only when it&amp;#x27;s the author himself, I guess. And only because of the abysmal quality.&lt;p&gt;There were once radio plays, but with the demise of radio, audio plays barely exist nowadays in English while they still strive in Russian.&lt;p&gt;This largely due to the difference in markets. English-speaking market is dominated by corporations and is severely policed.&lt;p&gt;Russian-speaking market is grassroots, uncensored and abundant in small producers &amp;#x2F; new names.&lt;p&gt;P.S. Aside from the hard-to-find recordings from 1960..1990ies, French audiobooks are even worse.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aasasd</author><text>I fell like you&amp;#x27;re kidding, since my experience is pretty much the opposite, and precisely for the reason that narrators in English are professionals. Some names: William Dufris, Wil Wheaton, Nigel Planer (namely his narrations of ‘Discworld’). Scott Brick, mentioned nearby, is good—but his narrations of Asimov have the spirit of 50s&amp;#x27; over-the-top actors and TV announcers.&lt;p&gt;Also narrators in the West are often voice actors by trade, or just actors of theatre and film doing voice work on the side. E.g. Steven Fry&amp;#x27;s narration of the ‘Harry Potter’ novels is gorgeous, Tim Curry&amp;#x27;s of ‘A Series Of Unfortunate Events’ is also very good, Jeremy Irons&amp;#x27; voice and demeanor is a perfect fit for Nabokov&amp;#x27;s mood and writerly lyricism in ‘Lolita’.&lt;p&gt;Generally, I went through quite a bunch of unknown-to-me narrators, and had few qualms—whereas in Russian it&amp;#x27;s a gamble whether a reading will be tolerable. ‘Grassroots’ narrators sometimes have quirks that they apparently consider charming, but in practice are off-putting. Or narrators break into stereotypical kitschy voices, especially with old-time material like Dostoevsky: e.g. for orthodox priest characters. Or the production is just crappy.&lt;p&gt;Notably, best narrators in Russian seem to be either professionals hired by proper publishers, or straight up actors. Namely, Mikhail Gorevoy, Alexey Bagdasarov, Evgeny Ternovsky (Михаил Горевой, Алексей Багдасаров, Евгений Терновский). And for example, the magnificent many-voices narration of ‘The Good Soldier Švejk’ by Bagdasarov, Alexey Kortnev and others. Vladimir Samoilov&amp;#x27;s reading of ‘The Gulag Archipelago’ is incredibly good and touching on a whole different level, and he seems to be an old-time Soviet actor. Klukvin is also a treat to the ear, but again when the production quality is there, like with ‘Master and Margarita’.</text></comment>
<story><title>Cory Doctorow is fighting back against Amazon&apos;s Audible</title><url>https://www.fastcompany.com/90549199/why-this-author-is-taking-a-stand-against-amazons-audiobook-monopoly</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sam_lowry_</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve long bemoaned the sorry state of English audiobooks in comparison to Russian audiobooks.&lt;p&gt;Audiobook interpreters like Игорь Князев or Александр Клюквин are household names to Russian speakers.  Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? Only when it&amp;#x27;s the author himself, I guess. And only because of the abysmal quality.&lt;p&gt;There were once radio plays, but with the demise of radio, audio plays barely exist nowadays in English while they still strive in Russian.&lt;p&gt;This largely due to the difference in markets. English-speaking market is dominated by corporations and is severely policed.&lt;p&gt;Russian-speaking market is grassroots, uncensored and abundant in small producers &amp;#x2F; new names.&lt;p&gt;P.S. Aside from the hard-to-find recordings from 1960..1990ies, French audiobooks are even worse.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Mediterraneo10</author><text>&amp;gt;  Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook?&lt;p&gt;Loads of audiobooks of bestsellers in English are narrated by big-name actors. Often ones who also do a lot of theatre and bring that dramatic flair to their readings. Look at the Chronicles of Narnia, for instance: its narrators are Kenneth Branagh, Alex Jennings, Michael York, Lynn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Northam and Patrick Stewart, all known from stage and screen for their powerful voices.</text></comment>