Kiwis making books wired for sound
MARIA SLADE
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A world-first, Kiwi-designed gadget that synchronises sound and music with an e-book has been launched in New York today.
Booktrack is the brainchild of brothers Mark and Paul Cameron, and is backed by such big-name technology investors as PayPal founder Peter Thiel, The Hyperfactory's Derek Handley, and Facebook's director of global creative solutions Mark D'Arcy.
Booktrack has been three years in the development. Its first commercially available title is James Frey's The Power of Six.
Co-founder Paul Cameron said around the world people read while listening to music that was disconnected or at odds with the book they were reading on their mobile devices.
''Until today, technology that can synchronise sound and music within an e-book did not exist - something almost as hard to imagine as a movie with no soundtrack.''
Booktrack would provide them with a complete movie-like sound experience, he said.
Booktrack chairman Derek Handley said it was a new genre of entertainment.
''Ten or twenty years from now it will be absurd to think of creating a book without a Booktrack.''
Booktrack editions can be downloaded from the Apple app store, with access for Android users available later this year.
The company has collaborated with HarperCollins, SonyATV, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, composers, and Wellington film facility Park Road Post Production to produce the soundtracks.
The venture received financial support from the Ministry of Science and Innovation and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
Classics such as the Sherlock Holmes stories, Pride and Prejudice and Romeo and Juliet would be among its library, Booktrack said.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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The speed people read at varies across the population as also with each person. Booktrack requires the reader to read at a constant speed (albeit calibrated at the beginning) and without any change, distraction, quiet thoughts etc otherwise the sounds will be out of synch with the reader. My opinion is that this gimmick will crash out but the big question is how many people will waste their money before they put in the trash.
via mobile
08:41 am Aug 26 2011
GO Kiwi Go !!
So who has actually tried it? Sounds like an intersting concept. Some people already listen to music while reading, others don't or can't. I guess this is going to appeal to the former rather than the later. It certainly has the potential to enhance the reading experience.
Just imagine... in the future, instead of words and pages, we could somehow have pictures, like photos but moving, of real people acting out what is says in the book!
Bit of a novelty. I think it's great for non-fiction books to set the scene etc. But for fiction the minds own imagination creates a far better experience than someone elses version of events. Very similar to movie versions of books being disappointments a lot of the time.
Very clever...but...hmmm...the whole point of books is the peace and quiet that comes from reading one. If it comes with backing track, sound effects etc, what's the point? It might was well be a movie.
What kind of reporter reports about e-book with MUSIC without mentioning the names of the COMPOSER(s)? One of them is even the award winning Stephen Gallagher!
The idea of course is not new. I first came across it in 1997 with Current 93's album "In a foreign town, in a foreign land" which came with short stories by Thomas Ligotti, and later "Faust" with the Count Stenbock short story.
Maybe they can add multiple moving pictures next.... call them movies for short.
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Sorry to put a fly in your negative ointment Mr Duke but Booktrack does adjust speed if required as you flip pages The world really needs negative knockers like you like a hole in the head Fortunately the people investing in this are a lot more positive (and better informed) than you are