Abridgement

When I was in Texas for a few weeks this summer(visiting my parents, and escaping the mindlessness that is working at PetSmart), I dug around and discovered all the audio books I had collected when I was a little kid. I will be up front now and say that literally all the books I had been able to hold onto and had carefully stored in a box in my closet were Star Wars audio books. I don't care, I like Star Wars. Anyway, while I was out there I entertained the notion of converting these ancient cassettes into the mighty modern digital format. I did some basic searching online and found a few things, but if anyone has an cheap method or idea for how to do this, let me know! I mention this because I have a desire to revisit these old stories, but as I own them already there is no way I am going to buy them a second time.

Of course, I say that now but ask me again in a week if I stuck to my guns.

The relevance of this is that all of these books are abridged. If you are unaware, abridged basically means that an editor went thru and removed sections of the book that are not "essential" to the story, thus making it an amicable media for an ADD society. It also means that, though the author often approves the changes made, I have no doubt it is done grudgingly. And if not….well, you suck, author. Regardless, I have no problem with the offering of an abridged version; some people just want to get straight to the entertainment. Though there is something funny in that someone who doesn't have time/want to read a book will also prefer to get a shortened version of the book in audio format. Should just save themselves a few bucks and ask their friend what it was about.

I seesaw back and forth about this though. I mean…I own at least 15 abridged
books that I just asked about converting to digital. I rationalize it with the fact that absolutely none of these titles are offered in an unabridged form.

Am I formulating an argument that was out of date ten years ago? I think so.