2 different sets of unabridged Amber audiobooks have been released!

[ckovacs]

www.Speaking-Volumes.us has been releasing Zelazny's unabridged readings of the first nine Amber books on CD and mp3. They're up to Trumps of Doom (released earlier this month) and they're supposed to have a seventh release in August. For some reason they seem to have delayed Blood of Amber to October, and are going to release Sign of Chaos in August and Knight of Shadows in September. I previously asked them what they will do about the last book, Prince of Chaos, because Zelazny never recorded it. They replied that it will be released with someone else doing the reading. But no information has been posted about it.

But today I discovered that www.Audible.com has released all 10 books at once in new readings. The first five books are read by Alessandro Juliani ("Gaeta" from Battlestar Galactica) and the last five books are read by Will Wheaton ("Wesley Crusher" from ST:TNG).

I welcome these releases but I hope that the Audible versions don't interfere with the planned release of the remaining three books read by Zelazny. Blood of Amber and Knight of Shadows have only previously been released in an abridged version of Zelazny's reading, while the unabridged reading of Sign of Chaos was released on cassette. I'm looking forward to hearing the full versions as read by him.

Chris

 

[humor4fun]

The new Amazon (Audible) releases are well read, but really just don't feel like Zelazny. I jumped when I found the SpeakingVolumes recordings and purchased a copy of Trumps of Doom. Sadly, I have to report that the quality is significantly poor. The files are advertised at 32kbps bitrate but inspection with iTunes shows 8kbps bit rate and 8.00kHz sample rate (see screenshot). This makes me sad. It has cost me $21 to learn this lesson and I've asked them for a refund or credit towards the CDs they offer if they have better quality.

Edit: I did inspect all 5 of the files that make up the SV recording and they all are 8kbps@8kHz which is literally the worst audio quality I have ever come across. :sad:

Though it is not advertised, this does appear to be the Unabridged version. There is a new introduction and new music for these files as well.

Transcription of Intro:

"(music) Speaking Volumes is proud to present the original unabridged recordings of The Trumps of Doom, the sixth book in Roger Zelazny's classic ten volume Amber series. This was read by Roger Zelazny himself shortly before his untimely death in 1995. The original unedited master recordings of this unique performance, long thought to have been lost or destroyed were located in 2006 and have been digitally remastered. And now, Roger Zelazny." (music) (zelazny begins reading)"​

 

[ckovacs]

The new Amazon (Audible) releases are well read, but really just don't feel like Zelazny. I jumped when I found the SpeakingVolumes recordings and purchased a copy of Trumps of Doom. Sadly, I have to report that the quality is significantly poor. The files are advertised at 32kbps bitrate but inspection with iTunes shows 8kbps bit rate and 8.00kHz sample rate (see screenshot). This makes me sad. It has cost me $21 to learn this lesson and I've asked them for a refund or credit towards the CDs they offer if they have better quality.

Edit: I did inspect all 5 of the files that make up the SV recording and they all are 8kbps@8kHz which is literally the worst audio quality I have ever come across. :sad:

Though it is not advertised, this does appear to be the Unabridged version. There is a new introduction and new music for these files as well.

Transcription of Intro:

"(music) Speaking Volumes is proud to present the original unabridged recordings of The Trumps of Doom, the sixth book in Roger Zelazny's classic ten volume Amber series. This was read by Roger Zelazny himself shortly before his untimely death in 1995. The original unedited master recordings of this unique performance, long thought to have been lost or destroyed were located in 2006 and have been digitally remastered. And now, Roger Zelazny." (music) (zelazny begins reading)"​

View attachment 25393

All of the Speaking Volumes CDs are unabridged. I bought the CDs and transferred them to iTunes on my Apple devices. Within iTunes for Trumps of Doom, I see 160 kbps and a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. I don't know what it was on the CD prior to transferring them. The sound quality is fine this way, and it's better than the analog tapes that these were previously released on.

As an update to my earlier message in this thread, Speaking Volumes eventually released the first nine books read by Zelazny, but with the damaged parts of Blood of Amber read by someone else. They did not release the tenth book (which Zelazny never had a chance to record before his death) and removed it from their forthcoming titles. I'd asked them about it and they said they had no plans to release a version. I think the Audible version of Prince of Chaos killed their potential market for a separate version.

 

[humor4fun]

Could you take a sample minute or two of Trumps and share it with me so that I could compare the audio quality?

 

[ckovacs]

Could you take a sample minute or two of Trumps and share it with me so that I could compare the audio quality?

Not sure how to do that but if you explain how I may be able to.

 

[humor4fun]

Easiest way would be to take one of your files and upload it to somewhere like MediaFire then PM me the link (sharing the whole file may be copyright infringement).

More colplex thing would be to use a program like Audacity. Import the file, save as a new file, then use the UI to cut out most of the timeline leaving just the bits you want, then export it as a new file, upload to MediaFire and post that here.

Copyright laws allow 30 seconds or 10% (which ever is less) of audio to be used without need for express permission, but with a book like this a bit longer shouldn't be any issue.

 

[humor4fun]

Update: The folks from SV contacted me and said there was an issue with their store system. The Audio CDs should be full quality (160kbps@32khz) but because "their users didn't want to wait for full quality download times" they downsampled the audio to 32kbps for direct sale and by some glitch it turned out to be 16kbps. They offered me a refund or to send me a set of CDs while they work on fixing their store.

It's good to hear that this was not active malicious intent (though perhaps passive) and they are seeking to keep customers happy.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hi there,

First I apologize for digging up such an old post but have not found any other internet discussion on this.

I just recently bought the MP3 of Nine Princes in Amber from SpeakingVolumes and I too found it to be of poor sound quality and asked for a refund (which they did). But worse than that, I found out that the narration was NOT UNABRIDGED as claimed in the intro. I found at least one passage that was skipped at around 28:20 (first mention of Julian in the book), and there may be more as the total running time is 5 hours 26 minutes instead of the "around 6 hours" advertised.

I am currently hesitating to buy the CD because I would first like to know if the sound quality is indeed better on the CD and most of all if it is truly unabridged. If anyone reading this do own the CDs, I would be most grateful for the info (if you find it too bothersome to check the passage I indicated, please just confirm the total running time).

Incidentally, I am keen on this because this version is in my view superior to the audible version. The latter is not bad per se, but Zelazny's gruff voice fits so much better with the character that once you've heard it, the audible version just feels not right anymore.

 

[TWErvin2]

I have the audiobooks narrated by Zelazny. The sound quality for mine are decent, or when I listened to them a few years back, I didn't notice anything bad about the sound.

I think they all are abridged (a minor paragraph or the like on rare occasion) but I could be wrong. There were very brief instances I recalled from reading that were not mentioned, but for the most part, it did not impair the listening enjoyment. I am going from memory, so take that into account.

The big thing for me is that they're narrated by Roger Zelazny, and I think he gets it just right...heck, he knew the characters better than anyone else, right?

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

@TWErvin2

A very late thanks for the answer - did not expect much of one so did not check very regularly.

It's good to know a version with decent sound exists. Could you confirm that what you have are indeed the CDs bought on SpeakingVolumes? If not, where did you purchase them?

At 30$ a pop for 6 hours, I'm still hesitating on purchase though. If you're thinking of selling them secondhand let me know

And yes the version by Zelazny is best, not only he gets it, but also happens to have the right voice for the role.

 

[TWErvin2]

Yes, they are through Speaking Volumes (CD and digital download), although they are a vendor on Amazon, so you can get the CDs via Amazon, if you prefer. I think they are still available. I know that a new release of the Chronicles of Amber was released, but not with Zelazny reading.

They are expensive, that is for sure. But if you enjoy the tale told by Zelazny, then I think it's worth it.