The home of 2,557 audiobooks in 26 languages – all FREE. Hugh McGuire launched the volunteer-effort audiobook publishing model LibriVox on August 10th, 2005. Hugh is this week’s Inside the Audiobook Studio guest, ready to share the background on this amazing project. Want more information on LibriVox? Subscribe to the Community Podcast here. Have you always wanted to be an audiobook narrator – or perhaps want to challenge students to develop their oral performance skills? Are you an aspiring audio editor and need some practice? Try your talents by becoming a LibriVox volunteer! Want to learn how to slow down the LibriVox audiobooks? Searching for a list of recommended best FREE LibriVox titles? You’ll find answers to all things LibriVox on the LibriVox Wiki. [more...]

I talk about audiobooks, time acquisition, LibriVox, Google, the link, and the digital archaeology of love. And Hinton, Alberta.

Link to the vid.

As I said first time out, and this is speaking as someone who loves audiobooks, records his own audiobooks, makes a not-insignificant portion of his income from audiobooks and has even won awards for bloody audiobooks… To repeat myself — I think any money that could be spent on legal bills trying to stop people listening to books (or to anything still in copyright) using the text-to-speech functions on their computers, iPhones, Kindles, Androids etc, would be infinitely better used to promote audiobooks, to tell people there are fine audiobooks out in the world, that there are great books and great readers, and that the experience of listening to a book is a wonderful one. Promote the Audie awards. Get the word out. [more...]

I think it’s fair to say, on behalf of the LibriVox community: hear hear!

Call for Contributions to Essay Collection on The Audiobook

This essay collection will consider the significance of the audiobook. The growing popularity of audiobooks over the last several decades means that literary critics may no longer be able to turn a deaf ear to the ways in which oral delivery influences the reception of literature. The essays gathered here will explore the extent to which the audiobook not only enables us to hear literature but to hear it in new ways. While audiobooks are responsible for only a fraction of the total book publishing market, their use is among the minority of reading practices found to be increasing as the number of overall readers continues to decline. Recent advances in digital audio technology in particular make this an opportune moment to reflect on the evolution of our reading practices. All critical perspectives on the history and culture of the audiobook are welcome. Some questions that might be considered: In what ways do audiobooks adapt printed texts? What skills in “close listening” are necessary for their reception? How is audio technology influencing our understanding of narrative?

Prospective contributors should submit a proposal (500-700 words) and one-page cv to Matthew Rubery (rubery_at_post.harvard.edu) by 1 May 2009. The deadline for submission of completed essays by selected contributors will be 1 May 2010.

_________________________________________________

Dr. Matthew Rubery
School of English
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
UK

Web: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/pages/staffindex.php?file=rube

Hi Hugh,

I am writing this mail just to say thank you for the wonderful project you have started.

I have been introducing Audio Books form LibriVox to learners of English in Japan in the past year, and I have had a great time.
The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, The Winds in the Willows…those are the wonderful audio books I truly enjoyed to listen and to introduce in my blog.

Since last month, I have started “Audio Book Club” where I introduce a particular audio book form LibriVox and exchange comments about the story with readers of my blog. This month, I picked up the Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter, and my first choice was The Tale of Two Bad Mice, without knowing that it was read by the founder of LibriVox.
When I found that you are the founder, I thought it is time to say thank you.

Lots of people are learning English in Japan, and in other countries, and we have paid awfully lots of money to listen English. Audio Books are, although very interesting, prohibitively expensive to buy. But with LibriVox, we can enjoy wonderful books at free and also can share the pleasure with friends on internet.

It is indeed marvellous.

Thank you again and best regards,
MT

LibriVox is a volunteer effort with a big goal: record audiobook editions for every title in the public domain. In the following Q&A, LibriVox founder Hugh McGuire discusses the project’s beginnings, the organic development of the LibriVox community, and the distinctions (or lack thereof) between “professional” and “amateur” efforts. [more...]

I have no idea if he’s right, but I do know that reading a few books for LibriVox will help any writer read better aloud. Maybe publishers should require that all novelists record at least two chapters for librivox, as part of their contract?

I recently started a new web project [The Narrative and Sound Project], and your organization plays a very important part of it. The web project is about existing audiobooks and the idea of synthesizing them with music and sound. I have downloaded some of the audiobooks collection in your website and retouched them with music and sound. With the new collection, I have created a website solely for this purpose.

Here’s the web address of the project: http://www.thenarrativeandsoundproject.org/

[link...]