This sounds like an easy question, a “book with audio”! Audiobooks, for the purposes of the scope of our work right now, are publications that are primarily audio-based. Audiobooks can contain non-audio content like supplements or navigational documents, but the content is in audio format.
Audiobooks have grown massively in popularity in the last few years despite being a segment of the industry for far longer. The main reason for this shift is due to several technologies:
- Mobile devices (phones and tablets)
- Improved mobile networks (3G, 4G LTE)
- Improved mobile storage capacity
- Widespread use of wifi When previously audiobook users would need several CDs to listen to their audiobook, they can now stream, download, and listen to their chosen content anywhere and time they choose. Audiobooks, like ebooks, are now in their pockets on demand.
The main difference between ebooks and audiobooks currently is their level of of specification. EPUB has existed in one form or another for almost 20 years, audiobooks still does not have a common specification. A mature ebooks industry co-opted audiobooks to make them work within the same contexts, but the lack of specification has made this process arduous for user agents and by extension, users.
It is in the interest of users that we push to create a single specification for audiobooks.
- Create a specification for the audiobook format that is usable on both the web and in packaged contexts
- Create a specification that supports all of the major use cases of audio
- Create a specification that is accessible
- Create a specification that meets the needs and requirements of publishers, user agents, and users
- Synced media -- though the needs of sync media in a metadata/structure context will be taken into account
- DRM (as outlined by our charter)
The Audiobooks Task Force has identified the definition of an essential audiobook experience as:
- A format that can be listened to from beginning to end without user input (moving forwards/backwards through the reading order without manual input)
- A format that can be paused, played, moved forwards and backwards
- A format where the listening position is retained for the next reading session
- A format where the user can access the table of contents at any time
- A format where the user can always find their position
- A format where the user knows how long is remaining in the chapter/section/audiobook
- A format that can be streamed, offlined, and downloaded
https://github.com/w3c/wpub/tree/master/experiments/audiobook (code) https://w3c.github.io/wpub/experiments/audiobook/index.html (sample)
https://www.w3.org/2018/audiobook_examples/flatland.audiopub