I read EG over 20 years ago and decided to reread, in this case, listen to the book again.
I purchased it from Audible.com, it is the 20th anniversary edition or some such thing.
Anyway, to my point.
I listened for the last couple of days up to chapter 9. It is the weekend so I spend less time on road so I dug up my old paperback edition (Jan 1986 version) and thumbed my way to where I was with the audiobook. I was shocked that I found that the audiobook version was missing stuff. In particular at the end of chapter 8 after the snakes the screen says "Play Again?" and with the audio book it moves right from there to Valentine celebrating Ender's birthday in the woods. This leaves out the end of chapter 8 and Ender thinking about what it means seeing Peter and the beginning of Chapter 9 when Graff and Imbu are discussing how Peter appeared in the game. Has anyone noticed this same thing? Are there other things missing? I listen to many audiobooks but I gravitate to the unabridged because I want to have the same experience as reading the actual book. It is troublesome that the this audiobook from audible which is advertised as being unabridged would be like this. The only possibility I can think of is that OSC changed the story somewhere in one of the reissues.
I figure that someone here, even maybe OSC might be able to shed light on this. Any thoughts?
Thanks
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm not sure what to tell you. I JUST finished listening to EG 20th anniversary edition on audiobook and I am sure I remember both those missing scenes being in the audiobook.
Posted by sgsmitty (Member # 11612) on :
I checked mine again (3hrs 31min there abouts) and same thing, even downloaded the file again from audible.com, same thing. Either you may think you remember it or you purchased from another provider. Sounds like audible.com may have a problem.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
I just checked mine and it's not there on my recording either. I don't own a copy of the 20th anniversary edition in paper format so I can't compare to determine if there was an edit made in the book or at the time of the recording. But the file doesn't jump or anything so it's not a corrupted download. Maybe the audiobook company made an error in the recording process.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Sgsmitty, you may have better luck in getting a definitive answer on this if you post this on the Discussions about Orson Scott Card forum (or, as it's referred to here, the other side). Card doesn't actively participate there these days, but kacard does, and if your thread catches here attention she's likely to have information on it. No guarantees, of course, but your chances of having the question spotted and answered are higher over there.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Is it possible that you got saddled with an abridged version?
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
OSC doesn't have, iirc, any abridged versions on Audible. There is certainly no abridged version for Ender's Game.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I really don't know what to say. I can distinctly remember the narrators voice discussing how Peter Wiggin's picture couldn't have been in the mind game especially one that is different then all the file photographs.
But I not 100% positive I remember hearing Ender think about what Peter's face meant.
But I did not get it from the audible.com website.
Posted by sgsmitty (Member # 11612) on :
Well the mystery is solved I think. A friend of mine has the 20th anniversary edition of the audiobook as well. His is complete and not missing the area I mention. The difference is that like BlackBlade he did not purchase from audible. He actually bought the CD set and he checked it for me. All the text that mention as missing is there for him.
So BlackBlade, you memory is excellent! The problem is with audible it seems. BlackBlade, I am curious, is yours the CD set as well or did you buy the digitial version somewhere else?
Anyway, I have emailed customer support at audible. I am not sure what they can do about it but they should know. I am concerned about future purchases from Audible, I have purchased many books from them so I hate to think they have a quality issue. Thanks
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
Arghh, I don't remember that part, and never read the book! So I basically have always missed out on a chunk of the book? That's nice.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
sgsmitty: The version I heard is off the CDs.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
I've never noticed missing parts on audible before now and I've downloaded lots of books from them many that I've already read. Usually, I'm really picky about stuff like that, I remember what I read very clearly. I didn't notice the missing chunk in Ender's Game until you pointed it out which annoys me. However, it is a very small section that's missing. I'm pretty much living in the oh, well area right now. Maybe they'll fix it, maybe they won't. I'm still only paying $18 a month for an audiobook that would ordinarily cost me $40 or more if I bought it on CD.
Posted by sgsmitty (Member # 11612) on :
I emailed audible.com support and gave them all the details. They said they would have their audio repair team look into it and email me when it is fixed. Sounds like it could be a few days, up to 10 for that to happen.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
sgssmitty -
When I first joined audible I had that problem with Shadow of the Hegemon. There were things I KNEW were in the book that somehow weren't in the audible version. After asking audible to fix it, they did, and then left out another part. I reported it again and they refunded my credit - then a few months later they finally did get it totally fixed.
Posted by sgsmitty (Member # 11612) on :
DDDaysh
Well it is disheartening to hear that audible has dropped the ball on other books. The upside is that it seems they are interested in fixing the problems. But unless you have already read the book that you are listening to and notice or the loss is obvious there iss always a danger you might miss something.
Not sure why they would have these problems. I have ripped books on CD that I own and it is a fairly mindless endeavor.