3 ms·

There's a big difference. Printing presses produce superior products. A mediocre audiobook is certainly better than no audiobook at all, but it is an inferior

There's a big difference. Printing presses produce superior products. A mediocre audiobook is certainly better than no audiobook at all, but it is an inferior product to a well produced audiobook.

gampleman 2y ago
> Printing presses produce superior products. That seems like a highly dubitable statement. Many hand illuminated manuscripts are masterpieces of art. The advantage of the printing press was chiefly economical making the cost of a copy dramatically less, not an increase in quality (especially so by the aesthetical standards of the time).
- karamanolev 2y ago
  Many (most, if not all) hand-made copies contained errors, which printed books did not. They were much closer to 1:1 copies.
  - jhbadger 2y ago
    If the mistake happened in the typesetting stage, printed books could spread errors much more efficiently, as in the infamous "wicked bible" of 1631, where a typesetting error made the ten commandments contain the amusing phrase "Thou shalt commit adultery". Surviving copies are quite the collectors' item as most were destroyed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible
    - oldgradstudent 2y ago
      Usually, though, errors are corrected and every every printing has fewer errors than the previous one.
      - kamarg 2y ago
        What percentage of books get a second print run on a printing press? And what's the process for that? Do they have to reset each word for the second run? I genuinely don't know how a physical process like typesetting can result in increased accuracy on each print.
        aredox 2y ago
        Any interesting book gets a second print run - except if it was on purpose a limited edition with some exceptional quirk.
- jhbadger 2y ago
  Indeed. Even Gutenberg had his Bibles touched up by artists after they were printed (illuminated capital letters and so on) because even he believed his printed copies were inferior to the hand-made ones.
- oldgradstudent 2y ago
  As a work of art, sure. But as books containing information, printing presses produced superior products.
- monophonica 2y ago
  I would say it is the perfect metaphor. I love audiobooks but at this point, most of what I want to listen to is stuff that would not sell enough to bother having someone read. There are also many voice actors who I simply don't like the way they read. A future that I can pick a voice that I like for any PDF is a huge upgrade. I think a problem people have is if on the young side, maybe didn't expect the future to change like this. No one I knew went on the internet when I graduated high school. Change like this is all par for the course. The only advice I got in high school from a guidance counselor was that I had a nice voice for radio. Books on tape was not exactly a career option at the time. The culture will survive the death of a career path that didn't even really exist when I was a senior in high school.
Workaccount2 2y ago
What we have today is early gen "practical" AI. Even current SOTA models would almost certainly be able to handle multiple speakers and pick-up on the intended tone and intonation. Don't make the mistake of thinking what we have today is what we will still be working with in 5 or 10 years.
fidelramos 2y ago
Some people will learn to use these AIs to make top-quality audiobooks (and books, movies, TV shows, comics...). It will be a more manual process than pressing a button, but still orders of magnitude less than what it took before. As a result there will be a tsunami or high-quality content. There will be curation and specialization. Previously ignored niches now will be economically profitable. It will be a Renaissance of creativity, and millions of jobs will be created.

There's a big difference. Printing presses produce superior products. A mediocre audiobook is certainly better than no audiobook at all, but it is an inferior product to a well produced audiobook.

gampleman 2y ago

> Printing presses produce superior products. That seems like a highly dubitable statement. Many hand illuminated manuscripts are masterpieces of art. The advantage of the printing press was chiefly economical making the cost of a copy dramatically less, not an increase in quality (especially so by the aesthetical standards of the time).

karamanolev 2y ago
Many (most, if not all) hand-made copies contained errors, which printed books did not. They were much closer to 1:1 copies.
- jhbadger 2y ago
  If the mistake happened in the typesetting stage, printed books could spread errors much more efficiently, as in the infamous "wicked bible" of 1631, where a typesetting error made the ten commandments contain the amusing phrase "Thou shalt commit adultery". Surviving copies are quite the collectors' item as most were destroyed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible
  - oldgradstudent 2y ago
    Usually, though, errors are corrected and every every printing has fewer errors than the previous one.
    - kamarg 2y ago
      What percentage of books get a second print run on a printing press? And what's the process for that? Do they have to reset each word for the second run? I genuinely don't know how a physical process like typesetting can result in increased accuracy on each print.
      - aredox 2y ago
        Any interesting book gets a second print run - except if it was on purpose a limited edition with some exceptional quirk.
jhbadger 2y ago
Indeed. Even Gutenberg had his Bibles touched up by artists after they were printed (illuminated capital letters and so on) because even he believed his printed copies were inferior to the hand-made ones.
oldgradstudent 2y ago
As a work of art, sure. But as books containing information, printing presses produced superior products.
monophonica 2y ago
I would say it is the perfect metaphor. I love audiobooks but at this point, most of what I want to listen to is stuff that would not sell enough to bother having someone read. There are also many voice actors who I simply don't like the way they read. A future that I can pick a voice that I like for any PDF is a huge upgrade. I think a problem people have is if on the young side, maybe didn't expect the future to change like this. No one I knew went on the internet when I graduated high school. Change like this is all par for the course. The only advice I got in high school from a guidance counselor was that I had a nice voice for radio. Books on tape was not exactly a career option at the time. The culture will survive the death of a career path that didn't even really exist when I was a senior in high school.

Workaccount2 2y ago

What we have today is early gen "practical" AI. Even current SOTA models would almost certainly be able to handle multiple speakers and pick-up on the intended tone and intonation. Don't make the mistake of thinking what we have today is what we will still be working with in 5 or 10 years.

fidelramos 2y ago

Some people will learn to use these AIs to make top-quality audiobooks (and books, movies, TV shows, comics...). It will be a more manual process than pressing a button, but still orders of magnitude less than what it took before. As a result there will be a tsunami or high-quality content. There will be curation and specialization. Previously ignored niches now will be economically profitable. It will be a Renaissance of creativity, and millions of jobs will be created.