An audiobook is a recording of a book that you listen to. Its audio format makes it convenient for consuming books on the go. There are several reasons to listen to audiobooks: they prevent eye strain, allow you to multitask, and are accessibility-friendly for people with visual impairments.

However, audiobooks are not for everyone. And for one reason or the other, they might not appeal to you. From listening to narrators to audiobook costs, here are a few reasons why audiobooks might not be for you.

1. You Have to Listen to the Narrator’s Pace

Listening to audiobooks counts as reading, even though someone else reads the story for you. After all, you’re still consuming the book, albeit in audio form.

Listening to someone narrating a book is great when you’re multitasking or simply want to be hands-free, but it comes with the following drawback: you’re “reading” the story at the narrator’s pace.

Depending on your listening preference, the narrator might be too fast or too slow. Of course, you can always solve this problem by adjusting your playback speed. But when you think about the fact that there might be times you want to speed through sections or take your time listening to them, it seems rather tedious.

2. The Narrator’s Voice Might Not Appeal to You

When you listen to an audiobook, you have to contend with the fact that you’ll have someone else’s voice in your ear while you do so.

If the narrator is skilled and capable of bringing the characters to life with their voice, you’re in for a good listening experience. But if you don’t like the narrator’s voice, the whole experience becomes a chore.

Unfortunately, you can’t change a narrator if their voice doesn’t appeal to you. You’ll either have to keep listening or look for another version of that audiobook, which you might be unable to find. Alternatively, you can read the e-book version if you don’t mind skipping the audiobook experience.

3. You Can’t Jump Back and Forth While Listening

While listening to audiobooks, you can skip forward or backward a fixed number of seconds. This allows you to go back a few minutes if you zone out or skip ahead a few seconds or more, but that’s pretty much it.

You can’t jump to specific moments in the audiobook because there are no chapters or sections. You can try and do so, but it would be tedious. You’d have to stop and listen every few seconds to be sure you haven’t passed the moment.

The only way you’d be able to skip to an exact moment in an audiobook is if you know its timestamp. This is pretty much impossible since you can’t know where you’ll need to skip ahead of time.

4. Audiobooks Don’t Have a Bookmark Feature

Unfortunately, many audiobooks don’t have a bookmark feature. So you can’t use them to find specific places in audiobooks. This makes them unideal if you want to return to moments in your audiobook easily.

As an alternative to bookmarks, you can write down timestamps of moments in your audiobook you’d like to return to. It’s a hassle, but it’s better than nothing.

5. Audiobooks Have No Visual Aids

One thing missing from the audiobook experience is visual aids. Audiobooks have no images, maps, charts, graphs, or other visuals to help you visualize elements in stories, which might be a deal breaker for you.

If you prefer your stories to have any of the above things, it might be difficult for you to connect with audiobooks, which only offer the voice of a narrator.

6. Audiobooks Are Pricey

Audiobooks cost more than e-books and physical books. That’s because they are more expensive to produce. Recording them is time-consuming, the narrator and production crew must be paid, and distribution costs are also factored in.

The length of a book also determines the price of its audiobook version. Then there’s the issue of demand. Because audiobook demand isn’t high, they tend to be priced higher to compensate for this.

Fortunately, there are sites where you can find free audiobooks without paying a subscription. You won’t find popular, new bestsellers, but there are many great classics to choose from.

7. Potential Technical Issues Could Ruin the Experience

Certain issues could disrupt your audiobook listening experience. For instance, your device might not be compatible with the audiobook platform or format or not working correctly.

If you’re streaming audiobooks online, you might have to worry about slow or unstable internet, which can cause pauses or buffering. Your audiobook player or app can develop glitches, causing playback errors, skipping, or unexpected stopping.

You might also find an issue with audio quality. The sound of your audiobook might be poor, causing static or distortion, making it difficult for you to hear and pay attention to the content. Last but not least, storage. If your device has insufficient space, you may be unable to download audiobooks. And while there are ways to get more storage on your phone, these types of problems wouldn't happen with a regular book or e-book.

8. Audiobooks Don't Offer a Tactile Experience

Something missing from the audiobook experience is that you can’t feel the weight of a book in your hands. Given that one of the beauties of reading is holding books and flipping their pages, this is one area where audiobooks fail and physical books reign supreme.

Audiobooks Aren’t for Everyone

Audiobooks are a great way to enjoy books, but they might not be for everyone. If you like seeing words on a page or prefer to read at your own pace, then audiobooks might not be the best option for you.

There’s nothing wrong with not liking audiobooks. In the end, it’s all about what you’re comfortable with.