Rather than get into a TLDR situation, I’m going to break things up. How to listen to audio books and podcasts. Most listening these days is private rather than public or communal. Everyone is plugged into their own thing through their portable devices. As I mentioned, this is a loss. It’s possible to play the audio book (or podcast or music or news) through a speaker system so that more than one person can share the experience at once. The devices plug into speakers and there is Bluetooth where this is done wirelessly. I do this in my wood shop where I have a compact speaker that can really boom. But being a wood shop there is noise and as often as not, I’m plugged into my ear buds under the hearing protectors or have the hearing protectors plugged directly to the device.
The Bluetooth thing really performs in a car, in my case a truck. The device plays and the sound comes out the radio, no wires. Turn off the car, the device stops playing. Get back in the car, start up, and the story continues. Stop the car to pay a toll? Press pause on the dash. Phone call comes in?The program pauses until you are done. Slick.
One of our cars has no Bluetooth, but it does have a cassette player. There is an adapter like a cassette that routes the device signal into the radio through the player. Turn off the car and you have to turn off the device, but otherwise it works great.
However I do it, podcast and audio book content is a terrific way to spend time in the car alone or with company. I save up good podcasts and play them while Lorraine and I drive to the island, usually an hour and a half each way. Fresh Air with Terry Gross is our favorite.
As for the audio book, I find that Cornwell’s Sharpe is a great way to spend a workout and I can actually focus on the words. The actor does each voice well and I am transported to the mountains of Spain. And the pictures are better.