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Bad Ideas: Booktrack Adds Sound Effects And Music to Books

sparkchaser

sparkchaser

Administrator and Stuntman
Staff member
This is a horrible idea.

Imagine that you’re reading an intense, gripping novel, completely immersed in the virtual world it has created inside your own head. A character walks slowly down an old corridor, and suddenly you hear the click click of footsteps on wood. Music swells. And you are knocked completely out of the book and back into the mundane world you usually inhabit.

This is the promise of BookTrack, a startup which brings movie-style soundtracks to the written word. The books are available for the iPhone and iPad (Android coming soon), and come with added ambient effects, spot sound FX and a musical score. The software tracks you as you read (a distracting little widget constantly descends in the margin) and plays the sounds at you in the appropriate places.

Thus, you may hear a clock ticking, music rising to signify a dramatic moment, or the beating heart of a terrified protagonist. Or helicopters.

If you think this sounds distracting, you’re right.
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It's not a horrible idea, in my opinion. I tend to listen to certain music when reading books. For instance, nothing goes better with historical fiction set in the 1800's than XM's Light Classical station. I don't know about sound effects though. I think that would definitely distract my reading. Oh, and say I haven't gotten to the part on the page where the guy is creeping down the hall and I hear that sound effect. I don't think I'd like that much. Background music or a "soundtrack" would be fine with me as long as it was appropriate to the genre of the book.
 
BeerWench13 said:
It's not a horrible idea, in my opinion. I tend to listen to certain music when reading books. For instance, nothing goes better with historical fiction set in the 1800's than XM's Light Classical station. I don't know about sound effects though. I think that would definitely distract my reading. Oh, and say I haven't gotten to the part on the page where the guy is creeping down the hall and I hear that sound effect. I don't think I'd like that much. Background music or a "soundtrack" would be fine with me as long as it was appropriate to the genre of the book.
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I see what you mean...Sharyn McCrumb has some 'soundtracks' to go with a few of her Ballad novels. If it's a musical track I'd enjoy anyway, I'm for it. But I don't need one with birds tweeting or horses clip-clopping or the thuds of somebody being beaten to death..

BTW-So GLAD to see you again!!
 
abecedarian said:
BTW-So GLAD to see you again!!
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Thanks! I'm glad to be back. I've been away from a computer - on purpose- except for at work for a while and have missed my forums.
 
Okay, so I'll risk looking like the big idiot here and ask the idiot question. How does the book know where your eyes are to know when to start the footsteps or clock ticking noise? What if you are a fast reader and are already on the part where someone is being beaten to death and the reader is still making clock ticking noise. What am I missing? How does the timing work?

Music sounds cool though.
 
mmyap said:
Okay, so I'll risk looking like the big idiot here and ask the idiot question. How does the book know where your eyes are to know when to start the footsteps or clock ticking noise? What if you are a fast reader and are already on the part where someone is being beaten to death and the reader is still making clock ticking noise. What am I missing? How does the timing work?

Music sounds cool though.
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Then we'll be idiots together since I was wondering the same thing. I've seen Singing in the Rain...
 
iPad records every single movement, thought and emotion you have while handling it. Don't worry, Steve Jobs just uses it to make an even better product. :innocent:
 
beer good said:
iPad records every single movement, thought and emotion you have while handling it. Don't worry, Steve Jobs just uses it to make an even better product. :innocent:
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Woah...I thought Jerry was my Big Brother...now you're telling me his real name is Steve Jobs? Dang, I don't know whether to laugh, cry, cringe, or hope he keels over soon so I can inherit his estate.:innocent:
 
That article made me realize something: the "soundtrack" for each book is going to have to be custom made. I wonder what that costs and what the break even point is for books? Adding a soundtrack to "free" books is going to be significantly cheaper than adding a soundtrack to a book you have to purchase the rights for. I see this being a spectacular failure despite someone from PayPal being an investor.
 
Personally I think it'd be fun producing those kinds of e-books and choosing the soundtrack. I mean...

The car crash in The Great Gatsby clearly needs an old-fashioned car horn, you know the "a-ROO-ga! a-ROO-ga!" kind.

Moby-Dick: non-stop sea shanties in the background. Preferably sung by the sea captain from The Simpsons. Heave-ho!

Confederacy Of Dunces: Flatulence, obviously.

War And Peace: Wilhelm screams galore!

And of course, the first time Darcy meets Elizabeth, we need a "Boi-oi-oi-oi-oing!"
 
Jeff Bezos said that it would be his worst nightmare to have the Kindle beep at you while you are reading.
 
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