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Recently I offered an article on how to obtain free audiobooks from most public libraries. I’ve just discovered another free audiobook resource that I’d like to share with you.

LibriVox is a people’s movement started by Hugh McGuire in 2005 for the pure pleasure of sharing literature at a reasonable price—free. This effort is a cooperative one that depends on volunteer readers who transform public domain books into digital audio data. The files created are then made available to the universe through the online catalog, podcasts, and bittorrents.

It all began with a recording of Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent”. This offering became an overnight success with eager downloads. Since then, the mission of LibriVox has become the “Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain”. The ultimate goal is to “make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the Internet”.

To be successful, the project requires volunteer readers. Readers are not expected to read entire books. Reading a single chapter helps move the project forward. Although, you are welcome to read an entire book, if that is your inclination. All you need is the appropriate software and equipment to make an MP3 recording and upload it to the site’s database. Quality control seems to be a group effort as well.

LibriVox will not accept unpublished books. If you are an author who wants to make a book available as an audiobook, you may go to www.podiobooks.com for publication and then approach LibriVox.

To check out the LibriVox catalog of recorded books available, go to www.librivox.org/newcatalog. To look at the list of podcasts, visit www.librivox.org/podcast.xml. The main Website is at www.librivox.com. From here you can visit the forums, read the latest news, see new releases, and connect to the catalog and podcasts.

The list of books available in languages other than English is growing daily.

Download to your heart’s content. There is no limit. There is no check-in time, and no overdue items. If you are inclined, volunteer to become a reader, project coordinator, or to serve the project in some other capacity. You can reach the project’s papa, Hugh McGuire, at nfo[AT]librivox[DOT]org.

Congratulations LibriVox, and keep up the good work!

Tim Hillebrand (105 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook