More of my friends are getting to be caretakers of partners or parents or other elderly. They often are quite busy and lack time to read. Some people don't miss reading but others do. Both Amazon and Google now sell smartspeakers that can turn on with a voice command, do searches of the internet and perform other duties or "skills", all by voice. They can play music and with the right hookup, make and receive phone calls.
The company Audible.com is a branch of Amazon and sells audio books but only in downloadable form. You can quickly and easily download an Audible.com app on a phone or a tablet. Once you do, you can play any audiobook recording using the app and that device. Lynn works in pottery and that means she often has clay on her hands. Holding a device or using a computer at that time is not practical. With "Alexa", Amazon's conceptual answer to Apple's conceptual "woman" Siri, Lynn can speak commands such as "Alexa, read "Kitchens of the Great Midwest"" and Alexa and her mythical assistants in software someplace find the sound file and play it.
Amazon also offers special buttons. Like Alexa, they are dependent on having wifi but if you buy Tide from Amazon, they can provide with a button just waiting to be pressed to launch an order for another batch of Tide to be delivered to your door. Alexa can serve as a button and Amazon would be happy if you say "Alexa, order more Tide".
Lynn can tell Alexa to pause in a book she is reading and tell her to continue days later. Alexa will pick up where she left off. This morning, I received yet another Amazon email, this one explaining FREE Kindle books I could have. The message is about foreign authors worth reading and I took ownership of all four offerings at no cost. Amazon likes to give me a little tip as I buy that I can also get the same book in audio form from Audible, read aloud by their excellent professional narrators and readers. I buy twelve credits from Audible at a time and any audiobook selling for less than $12 is selling for below my Audible membership price.
