The Audio Books

[Who's Wee Dug]

This is what you get when you click the link in the previous post for the American site.http://www.amazon.com/Science-Discworld ... +pratchett < USA SITEThe Science of Discworld II: The Globe [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]
by Terry Pratchett (Author), Ian Stewart (Author), Jack Cohen (Author), Michael Fenton Stevens (Narrator), Stephen Briggs (Narrator)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
________________________________________
List Price: $36.14 (Prices include VAT)
Price: $31.63, or Free with Audible.com 30-day free trial membership
You Save: $4.51 (12%)

________________________________________
At Audible.com, you can choose to download any of 100,000+ audiobooks and more, and listen on your Kindle™, iPhone®, iPod®, Android™, or 500+ MP3 players. Now, on any Wi-Fi enabled Kindle, you do more than just listen—you can also browse and download Audible Audiobooks.
Your Amazon-exclusive Audible.com 30-day free trial membership includes:
• This audiobook free, plus a bonus audiobook of your choice
• 30% off any additional audiobooks you purchase
• A free daily audio subscription to The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal
• Members-only sales and promotions
Learn more about your trial membership at Audible.com

 

[raptornx01]

have you heard any audio issues with the audible stuff you got? how clean are the tracks? some of the DW ones i have have the "this is audible" thing at the beginning, but the actual book will sound like a no so good recording off an audio cassette.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

All the MP3 downloads have been good quality, there is an enhanced sound option you can use.

 

[raisindot]

have you heard any audio issues with the audible stuff you got? how clean are the tracks? some of the DW ones i have have the "this is audible" thing at the beginning, but the actual book will sound like a no so good recording off an audio cassette.

I think a great many of the Audible downloads are conversions of the original cassettes or CDs to MP3 files, and Audible doesn't always do good QC on them. One of the ones I have (can't remember which book) clearly has a cue at the beginning of a section that says something like "Begin CD 3."

I've also found that in many books (particularly the Briggs' readings) you often can tell the differences between recording sessions. Certain passages will suddenly be louder than others, or his voice will be more or less resonant, or his reading speed will speed up or slow down a little.

All the MP3 downloads have been good quality, there is an enhanced sound option you can use.

Are you talking about the "larger file" versions? Yes, you can download these but if you're limited on disk space be careful; these files can be 7-8 times larger than the 'regular' MP3, and I've never really heard that much of a difference in sound quality (after all, what are you listening to? One man reading a book. A pretty limited bandwidth).

 

[Hellblazer1138]

I must be one of the few people who prefers Nigel Planer to Stephen Briggs. Besides doing the best job with the Witches books and all the troll characters, his voices for Nobby Nobbs & Fred Colon are far superior to Briggs'.
And personally, I thought Planer did a better job with Carrot than Briggs. I always assumed he was supposed to sound a little stupid. Briggs' voice for him is too stiff for my tastes. I have to admit his voice for Vimes is better.
One last complaint: for some reason the way Briggs says Ankh-Morpork bothers me. Trivial I know.

 

[raisindot]

I must be one of the few people who prefers Nigel Planer to Stephen Briggs. Besides doing the best job with the Witches books and all the troll characters, his voices for Nobby Nobbs & Fred Colon are far superior to Briggs'.
And personally, I thought Planer did a better job with Carrot than Briggs. I always assumed he was supposed to sound a little stupid. Briggs' voice for him is too stiff for my tastes. I have to admit his voice for Vimes is better.
One last complaint: for some reason the way Briggs says Ankh-Morpork bothers me. Trivial I know.

It's funny how subjective this is. While I think Planer does the witches better, I think Brigg's Detritus is far better than Planer's. Briggs voices him as kind of a big, "percussion-voiced" ox who is trying to hide his innate intelligence and irony under a veneer of 'fickness.' The best example of this I can point out is in Snuff when he is responding to the Koom Valley's socialite's statement that she's cleaned out the stables for Brick and Detritus. The way Briggs voices Detritus classic diplomatic response, "It's so kind when people take the time to fink about these things" gets to the essence of the troll. Planer, on the other hand, voices Detritus like a scratchy voiced lower level street thief.

Same with Planer's Colon. His makes Colon sound like a sniveling would-be mugger, whereas Brigg' voices him like the pompous older windbag he really is.

I prefer Briggs' Carrot as well. Planer voices him like a befuddled teenager who's always trying to please. Briggs really gets to the essence of Carrot's having an innate authority, keenness and suppressed menace hiding behind the innocent mask. The last scene of The Fifth Elephant, when Carrot manipulates Nobby and Colon into "re-recruiting" the striking Watch, shows Briggs' Carrot at his best.

I could go on and on. Briggs' Dorfl is a large, formally speaking, meditative creature; Planer's sounds like a shambling zombie. Planer's Sybil sounds like a stuffed-shirt harpie straight out of a P.G. Wodehouse novel; Briggs's Sybil is far more down to Earth, funny, and sympathetic. Planer's Vetinari, while excellent, accentuates the man's aristocrat bearing, while Briggs's voicing reveals the menace hiding behind the Patrician's even-tempered facade. Planer's Igor (in Carpe Jugulum) sounds like a stupid, pitiful monster; Briggs' Igors are smart, sarcastic, and full of Igorian self confidence.

Beyond the voicing of individual characters, Briggs invents "ethnic" voicing as well. All Uberwaldians, whether they're vampires, werewolves or humans, have that same "Dracula-like" accent. All of his dwarves--even Carrot--speak with a sing-song quality and a specific regional accent. All of the trolls have the same accent.

Don't get me wrong--Planer is a great reader, but for me Briggs really gets to the heart of the characters much better.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

No one does the Feegles better than Briggs, and his Dwarfs sound Welsh.

 

[Hellblazer1138]

Briggs voices him as kind of a big, "percussion-voiced" ox who is trying to hide his innate intelligence and irony under a veneer of 'fickness.' [...] Planer, on the other hand, voices Detritus like a scratchy voiced lower level street thief.

I prefer Briggs' Carrot as well. Planer voices him like a befuddled teenager who's always trying to please

The funny part about your statements above is that the characters were originally written like that. Detritus didn't start out as a Sergeant, he was a stupid street troll hired for his muscles(Moving Pictures); Carrot was a befuddled teenager at the start of Guards! Guards!. Most of the ones you mention have formed into those rolls over the years.
The thing about Pratchetts Discworld is that it's always evolving. I think the main reason that Planer does such a better job with the first 20 odd books is that they are mostly comedy with a little seriousness thrown in. I can't imagine Briggs trying read Small Gods or any of the Rincewind books(I hate his voice for him. I'm glad Eric was short.) since they have a more comedic feel. The Briggs read books have a more dramatic feel.
The Fifth Elephant, the first book Briggs read(not counting Eric), Vimes kills intentionally for the first time. Compare this with Jingo, just 4 books beforehand, where he is very reluctant to kill anyone.

I'm not a natural killer! See this? See what it says? I'm supposed to keep the peace, I am! If I
kill people to do it, I'm reading the wrong manual!

In the watch books written before The Fifth Elephant he's kind of like Batman, unwilling to kill. By the time we get to Thud! his moral have definitely changed(e.g. the killing of the Dwarves in the caves).

Yes, Briggs does a better Feegle, but the only chance Planer had at them was when they were little more than stereotypes to move Carpe Jugulum along.

 

[OcarinaMaker]

I must be one of the few people who prefers Nigel Planer to Stephen Briggs. Besides doing the best job with the Witches books and all the troll characters, his voices for Nobby Nobbs & Fred Colon are far superior to Briggs'.
And personally, I thought Planer did a better job with Carrot than Briggs. I always assumed he was supposed to sound a little stupid. Briggs' voice for him is too stiff for my tastes.

Yes, I absolutely agree with you about the witches books and Nobby Nobbs and Fred Colon. Also, I agree that Carrot should sound somewhat naive and simple, while not truly being so. Planer conveyed the attributes I thought those characters would have.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

I have bought Raising Steam unabridged version as well as the hardback.

 

[Tonyblack]

Welcome to the site, OcarinaMaker!