Hey, you! Yes, you—with the earbuds. Want to know how your music got to you? And why it costs so little? Download this audiobook and listen. It’s a fascinating story of the criminals—um, forward thinkers— who took down the record companies by pirating music and giving it away for free. Then they got busted. No worries though—you’re legal. Anyway, you’d think that a book that explains such an earth-shattering economic change could get some professional narration. Author Stephen Witt does what author-narrators do best, and that’s to bring passion and unassailable subject knowledge to their performances. But Witt also brings the word-dropping, uneven pacing, and too-fast reading pitfalls that new narrators exhibit. He improves as the book moves along, and it’s still worth a listen, but a more experienced storyteller would have been a better choice.
Pub Date: June 16, 2015
Duration: 9 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780698402980
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The readers can't compensate for the unbearably pompous prose style of this extended parable about corporate politics and strategy.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An engaging experience.
This audiobook deals with everything from the historic investments that led to world-dominating companies, such as the Chinese technology company Tencent, to predicting the products and services of the future. An audiobook of such complexity requires a narrator who can handle the task, and David Thorpe manages it admirably. Thorpe uses his masterly voice, which sits somewhere between that of a BBC World Service presenter and an easy, relaxed Home Counties accent, to guide listeners through a sea of numbers, acronyms, and terms such as YP, RPS, and market cap. Rather than simply reading, Thorpe presents the work with excitement and enthusiasm, and this enjoyment transfers to the listener.
An engaging experience.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2026
Duration: 13 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668103425
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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