Excellent narration but should be easier to search

What did you like best about this story?

The Bible is a well known story. What impressed me most was the dramatic narration. Voices are well chosen. Background music & sound effects are good as well.

What three words best describe the narrator’s performance?

Excellent, appropriate, dramatic

Any additional comments?

Understandably, this audio book is downloaded in several parts. It is very disappointing that you cannot tell which section you are about to hear until you start playing. Since the Bible is not just one book but a compilation of books, each section should be appropriately labelled so the listener can select which book of the Bible they want to hear. Since each section contains more than one books or a only a part of a book, the chapters should state clearly which chapter of what book is being played; for example, ' Amos chapter 2'; then when the reading moves to another book in the same section, ' Obadiah Chapter 1 etc. People do not usually read the Bible from beginning to end so it is important that the listener is able to go to a particular chapter of the particular book they want to hear. It would be great if they could go to an actual verse if this would not detract from the audio quality which is excellent. Even if the listener wanted to listen to this audio Bible from beginning to end sequentially it would be a challenge as each section has exactly the same cover. One would have to do a thorough search to find the section one was listening to before. I realize if you select list by title the different sections are listed in order but one cannot tell what books of the Bible are in each section as mentioned earlier. I certainly hope later versions of this Audio Bible will make improvements in this area. This version has the potential to be an excellent audio book.

157 people found this helpful

Books as Chapters issue solved!

Would you consider the audio edition of NIV Audio Bible (Dramatized) to be better than the print version?

no. both handle different applications. This is a silly question!

Any additional comments?

A provided PDF clearly maps each book of the Bible to the corresponding Audible audiobook 'Part' so browsing to a specific book of the Bible is manageable. Glad to see this is handled; first NIV version I've seen to handle the Audible 'Parts' separation issues.

111 people found this helpful

Good, But Read Review for Additional Issues

What did you love best about NIV Audio Bible (Dramatized)?

It's easy to listen to. The NIV is, in my opinion, the best Bible translation for a compromise between word-for-word accuracy and readability. Hearing it read lot loud is a joy.

What does uncredited bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Most of the vocalizations are great, as were the light touches of music and sound effects (these were never overdone). The guy who did King David's part sounds EXACTLY like Mark Hamill (I did a quick search for Hamill's voice-over work, but no results ever came up for doing something like this). I did not care for was the man who narrated Paul the Apostle's voice. He sounds snotty, negative and snarky in the book of Acts and in the Epistles.

The Book of Revelation was the dramatic capper, and through multiple sound effects and voice doubling, they were able to portray the right amounts of heaviness that this book needed.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Ha! No. Since it's 75 hours long, give yourself a month or two to finish this. ;-)

Any additional comments?

AHHHH...and here's the main gripe I had, so read carefully...

Definitely download the corresponding PDF with the part/chapter divisions so that you could navigate this massive audiobook. It helps a LOT. But...

There's still a problem with the titles on the Audible phone app, because you can't see what Part # each one is, and you NEED to be able to tell apart all of the 27 different ones. On my Android app, it's a pain to find that it looks like this:

"NIV Audio Bible (Dramatized) (Unabridge..." and then the rest of the title gets cut off! I assume the "Part 1", "Part 12", etc. is right after this, but annoyingly gets truncated.

This presents a problem if, for instance, if you wish to listen to something like the Gospel of Matthew. According to the PDF guide, Matthew is in Part 20, so you would have to open up the NIV Bible on your device, scroll down and manually count out 20 entries and hope you didn't over-count/under-count. If you accidentally tapped on the part before or after the one you wish to listen to,. you have to go back, open up the NIV Bible again (it collapses by default), it starts at the top again and you manually have count to part 20 again.

84 people found this helpful

Audible Chapter to Bible Chapter Conversion below:

The numbers after the book of the Bible below represent the Audible chapter associated with the beginning of the particular book of the Bible.

Exodus: 52, Leviticus: 92, Numbers: 119, Deut: 155, Josh:189, Judges:213, Ruth:234, 1Sam:238, 2Sam:269, 1King:293, 2King:315, 1Chron:340, 2Chron:369, Ezra:405, Neh:415, Esther:428, Job:438, Psalms:480, Prov:630, Eccl:661, SOS:673, Isaiah:681, Jer:747, Lam:799, Ezek:804, Dan:852, Hos:864, Joel:878, Amos:881, Ob:890, Jonah:891, Micah:895, Nah:902, Hab:905, Zeph:908, Hag:911, Zech:913, Mal:927, Matt:931, Mark:959, Luke:975, John:999, Acts:1020, Rom:1048, 1Cor:1064, 2Cor:1080, Gal:1093, Eph:1099, Phil:1105, Col:1109, 1Thess:1113, 2Thess:1118, 1Tim:1121, 2Tim:1127, Titus:1131, Phile:1134, Heb:1134, James:1148, 1Pet:1153, 2Pet:1158, 1Jn:1161, 2Jn;1166, 3Jn:1167, Jude:1168, Rev:1169.

With my version, beginning with Lamentations, the previous book ends and the new book begins about 1 minute 15 seconds into the chapter. For example, Lamentations does not begin until about 1 minute 15 seconds into Auible chapter 799.

Hope this helps. Audible: Broadly speaking, the bible has had chapters for around 800 years. Why did you confuse this otherwise wonderful rendition?

52 people found this helpful

Hard to search

Any additional comments?

I like the narration but the books I want to listen to are hard to find. I would be nice or even necessary to label so you can find each book easier.

49 people found this helpful

Audio Bible

At first I thought this was a little on the slow side and not like most novels that dance right along to the end. There is nondescript music in the background, which is different. After awhile the slower pace was really nice. Unlike a novel where you wonder who did it or how it will end, I pretty much know how this book starts and ends. Truly the saying about it is all about the journey is true in this case. Enjoyed just listening and letting the book unfold as opposed to sections and stories being deliverd by a Pastor or in Suday School. Really didn't realize what and how much was in there having never really sat down and read any of the books from beginning to end much less the entire bible. Thought this was a great experience.

37 people found this helpful

Would be better if sorted by books not chapters

What did you like best about NIV Audio Bible (Dramatized)? What did you like least?

The Holy Bible doesn't need its own ratings or reviews. However this version of it does. It is well narated and remains a wonderful story. Still there is so much of it that you can only download a section at a time and it doesnt download easily on my device. Also, if you are looking for a particular book or reference in the Bible, you have to take your chances about which section to download to find it. It would be better if the sections were divided into the books of the Bible instead of chapters as with any other book.

33 people found this helpful

Good version but impossible to navigate

Any additional comments?

An otherwise great audio version of the study bible brought to market without labeling the chapters. You will find this frustrating, you will become aggravated, and ultimately will discontinue using it for a resource. A shame really...I'm not sure what reasoning the publisher could have had for not labeling the chapters.

27 people found this helpful

Good all-around production

Agnostic and evil secular humanist that I am, I still spend hours every week reading the Bible - or listening to it on audiobook.

Finding an audio version that I like has been a struggle. The versions with the best production values, like The Word of Promise, use translations I dislike because they tend to use "Biblish" - useful maybe if you can follow along with text and commentary, but not easy to follow as a form of audio storytelling. Translations I like better and think are more appropriate for listening - the NCV, the NLT, the CEB - have audio versions but not first-rate ones.

Then there's this one: the dramatized NIV. It's right about in the middle in terms of both accessibility and production values. I don't recognize the actors - none of them credited anywhere I can see - with the exception of the actor who voices God, who I believe is Todd Busteed. But they're all good readers and are not afraid to express emotion. The music is excellent and never distracting. The translation is a bit formal but free enough to be comprehensible to a first-time listener.

So, while it's not my ideal version, I think this is the best all-around audio Bible I've found.

24 people found this helpful

Too hard to navigate

Would you try another book from Zondervan and/or the narrator?

This book is too hard to navigate. It downloads into many different sections, but there isn't a way to tell the sections apart from each other making it tedious to find different chapters of the bible. Very unhappy. I am considering getting a trade in for a different bible version.

Would you ever listen to anything by Zondervan again?

Yes.

Which scene was your favorite?

I can't navigate the book.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes.

18 people found this helpful