Comments on: Pirate Jack http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/ News from the Staff of Podiobooks.com Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:44:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 By: Dave T http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-170920 Dave T Fri, 09 May 2008 16:07:34 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-170920 Great story! It hooked the kids from the get-go. The narration was clear and easy to follow. Excellent as a family geared storyline. Complaints: The introductions were long and excessively loud in comparison to the story content. The volume changes reminded me of blaring TV commercials. In some cases the story portion almost seemed to be shorter than the intro making the story feel choppy and not fully refined. Even the kids were somewhat put off by the short segments and long intros. I would recommend doubling the episode length by combining two or more episodes together. This would result in fewer episodes to download and a better flow to the story. Great story! It hooked the kids from the get-go. The narration was clear and easy to follow. Excellent as a family geared storyline.

Complaints: The introductions were long and excessively loud in comparison to the story content. The volume changes reminded me of blaring TV commercials. In some cases the story portion almost seemed to be shorter than the intro making the story feel choppy and not fully refined. Even the kids were somewhat put off by the short segments and long intros. I would recommend doubling the episode length by combining two or more episodes together. This would result in fewer episodes to download and a better flow to the story.

]]> By: Faux Wood http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-62586 Faux Wood Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:42:16 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-62586 So glad I stumbled on this blog. I need a good distraction for a 10 hour drive. Love listening to adventure style plots. Thanks....Di So glad I stumbled on this blog. I need a good distraction for a 10 hour drive. Love listening to adventure style plots.

Thanks….Di

]]> By: Skeet http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-13349 Skeet Mon, 01 Jan 2007 17:39:30 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-13349 This was a wonderfully composed narrative. It was short but left me with a nostalgic memory of the Goonies movies from my childhood. The narrator was excellent and kept the feel of a true pirate in his voice. Thanks for this short but satisfying peice of literature. This was a wonderfully composed narrative. It was short but left me with a nostalgic memory of the Goonies movies from my childhood. The narrator was excellent and kept the feel of a true pirate in his voice. Thanks for this short but satisfying peice of literature.

]]> By: Alessandro Cima http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-5199 Alessandro Cima Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:53:28 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-5199 Just want to thank all of you for listening to the book and for commenting on it. It is a pleasure to read your feedback and to know that people are enjoying the story. Just want to thank all of you for listening to the book and for commenting on it. It is a pleasure to read your feedback and to know that people are enjoying the story.

]]> By: Melissa http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-4466 Melissa Wed, 06 Sep 2006 15:56:59 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-4466 I enjoyed the story - great listen while working. Perfect for smaller kids - length is great for smaller attention spans. Thanks for sharing it with the world :) I enjoyed the story - great listen while working.

Perfect for smaller kids - length is great for smaller attention spans.

Thanks for sharing it with the world :)

]]> By: steve gatt http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-2773 steve gatt Tue, 25 Jul 2006 01:18:56 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-2773 fun fun fun story.. it was a bit short but a good piece of family safe fiction.. my only negative feedback is that the episodes could have been LONGER.. 30 minutes is GREAT.. 6 minutes is way too short. keep it up! a huge PODIOBOOKS FAN fun fun fun story.. it was a bit short but a good piece of family safe fiction.. my only negative feedback is that the episodes could have been LONGER.. 30 minutes is GREAT.. 6 minutes is way too short.

keep it up!
a huge PODIOBOOKS FAN

]]> By: Cameron Smith http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-1501 Cameron Smith Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:08:06 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-1501 "Pirate Jack" is very good juvenile adventure story. The author's knowledge of boats and boat-building comes through in many details that make the shipboard parts of the narrative quite vivid. The intrepid hero, Jack, is a worthy successor to his literary ancestor, Jim Hawkins of "Treasure Island". Loose ends in the story (there are many) are simply ignored away in order to preserve the focus and momentum of the plot (e.g. we never find out where the scrolls came from), but this is acceptable in a suspend-your-disbelief-at-the-door fantasy adventure for children. The pirates are by no means niminy-piminy; they are appropriately ruthless and untrustworthy, yet the inevitable episodes of looting and murder are related without any gory detail that might have made me reluctant to have my children hear the story. (I note that the book's listing at candlelightstories.com, the producer's web site, rates it "PG-13: For ages 13 and higher", but I think they're being overly cautious, and I would rate it "PG" myself.) The narration is quite good and the diction very clear, although I found a few of the regional accents a bit heavy, not to mention inconsistent. Jack and his father have the very neutral Midwest American accents that used to be so prized in network news reporting, while those of their fellow townsfolk, the mayor and the commercial developer, verge on the comically grotesque. Perhaps Jack's family are recent arrivals to the area? Or else the narrator/author is committing the faux pas of using "high-status" accents for the sympathetic characgters and "low-status" accents for the silly or nasty ones. Very politically incorrect... but don't let it stop you from enjoying the novel. The sound is clean and the recording is of high quality. The only problem I had was in volume level. Parts of the narration were so quiet that I turned up the volume to hear, only to have my eardrums blasted a moment later. In general the narrative voice is quiet but the speeches of the characters (especially the pirate captain, who never utters a sound below a holler, and the commercial developer) are almost painfully loud. I thought this might be a problem with my playback device but I have played the audio on 3 completely different devices (two computers running different OS's and software, and an MP3 player) and I've seen the same effect on all three (which is also borne out by the volume level display in my software's visualization mode). When I'm listening in the car during my commute (which is where I hear a lot of my podcasts) I don't want to be fiddling with the volume knob every other minute, so I hope that other podcasts will pay attention to this detail. A broad dynamic range is great for classical music but not so much for novels-on-the-go. Overall I enjoyed the story very much, and gladly gave a donation to support the author and podiobooks.com. I look forward to hearing other works by this author. “Pirate Jack” is very good juvenile adventure story. The author’s knowledge of boats and boat-building comes through in many details that make the shipboard parts of the narrative quite vivid. The intrepid hero, Jack, is a worthy successor to his literary ancestor, Jim Hawkins of “Treasure Island”. Loose ends in the story (there are many) are simply ignored away in order to preserve the focus and momentum of the plot (e.g. we never find out where the scrolls came from), but this is acceptable in a suspend-your-disbelief-at-the-door fantasy adventure for children. The pirates are by no means niminy-piminy; they are appropriately ruthless and untrustworthy, yet the inevitable episodes of looting and murder are related without any gory detail that might have made me reluctant to have my children hear the story. (I note that the book’s listing at candlelightstories.com, the producer’s web site, rates it “PG-13: For ages 13 and higher”, but I think they’re being overly cautious, and I would rate it “PG” myself.)

The narration is quite good and the diction very clear, although I found a few of the regional accents a bit heavy, not to mention inconsistent. Jack and his father have the very neutral Midwest American accents that used to be so prized in network news reporting, while those of their fellow townsfolk, the mayor and the commercial developer, verge on the comically grotesque. Perhaps Jack’s family are recent arrivals to the area? Or else the narrator/author is committing the faux pas of using “high-status” accents for the sympathetic characgters and “low-status” accents for the silly or nasty ones. Very politically incorrect… but don’t let it stop you from enjoying the novel.

The sound is clean and the recording is of high quality. The only problem I had was in volume level. Parts of the narration were so quiet that I turned up the volume to hear, only to have my eardrums blasted a moment later. In general the narrative voice is quiet but the speeches of the characters (especially the pirate captain, who never utters a sound below a holler, and the commercial developer) are almost painfully loud. I thought this might be a problem with my playback device but I have played the audio on 3 completely different devices (two computers running different OS’s and software, and an MP3 player) and I’ve seen the same effect on all three (which is also borne out by the volume level display in my software’s visualization mode). When I’m listening in the car during my commute (which is where I hear a lot of my podcasts) I don’t want to be fiddling with the volume knob every other minute, so I hope that other podcasts will pay attention to this detail. A broad dynamic range is great for classical music but not so much for novels-on-the-go.

Overall I enjoyed the story very much, and gladly gave a donation to support the author and podiobooks.com. I look forward to hearing other works by this author.

]]> By: David K http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-839 David K Sun, 14 May 2006 18:44:52 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-839 I've listened to a number of Podiobooks over the last several months. All of them have been wonderful so far, and this is the first I've commented on. I found Alessandro's story a little slow to start and hard to see where he was going, but I'm really glad I stuck with it! Excellent story with a great ending. I agree with Lenny's comment that it was perhaps a little short, but great fun! Thanks for another wonderful story! I’ve listened to a number of Podiobooks over the last several months. All of them have been wonderful so far, and this is the first I’ve commented on. I found Alessandro’s story a little slow to start and hard to see where he was going, but I’m really glad I stuck with it! Excellent story with a great ending. I agree with Lenny’s comment that it was perhaps a little short, but great fun! Thanks for another wonderful story!

]]> By: Jordan Chambers http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-574 Jordan Chambers Tue, 11 Apr 2006 01:46:12 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-574 Fantastic. Well writen and perfectly narrated. Alessandro Cima has a voice that can melt butter. Exactly the kind of quality that all Podcast books should be in. Download it now. Fantastic. Well writen and perfectly narrated. Alessandro Cima has a voice that can melt butter. Exactly the kind of quality that all Podcast books should be in. Download it now.

]]> By: Lenny Grego http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-510 Lenny Grego Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:11:31 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-510 I've listened to every completed Podiobook, and Pirate Jack was the best. Excellent plot, really grabbed me from the get-go. If I have any reservations, it was just that it was too short. I’ve listened to every completed Podiobook, and Pirate Jack was the best. Excellent plot, really grabbed me from the get-go. If I have any reservations, it was just that it was too short.

]]> By: Xenko http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-497 Xenko Thu, 30 Mar 2006 01:28:53 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-497 Just finished listening to the book. Very good. Aimed at a younger audience I believe, but the production quality was absolutely superb, and it was quite enjoyable. Just finished listening to the book. Very good. Aimed at a younger audience I believe, but the production quality was absolutely superb, and it was quite enjoyable.

]]> By: John Pilgrim http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-411 John Pilgrim Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:39:43 +0000 http://www.podiobooks.com/blog/2006/03/15/pirate-jack/#comment-411 I listened to Pirate Jack already. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I listened to Pirate Jack already. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

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