LibriVox

[hugh]

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

[Last updated: 31st August 2009]

GENERAL INFORMATION

What's this all about then?
At LibriVox, volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain into digital audio (eg. mp3), and then make the audio files available to the world, for free (through our catalog, a podcast, and bittorrents)

Why are you doing this? What's in it for you?
We love reading, love books, love literature, think the public domain should be defended and enriched, we like free stuff, we like to hear people read to us, and we like reading to other people. It's fun, it's a great community, it's a rewarding public service to the world. And "nothing" is in it for us, except the satisfaction of participating in a wonderful project.

Who started the crazy project?
Hugh McGuire started LibriVox in August 2005, and quickly corralled a few friends and random strangers to make a recording of Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent." The project began spiraling out of control, and Kristen McQuillin came on board and stabilized things -- the nice web design is her work. Kara Shallenberg added an almost frightening keenness, and serves as cataloger-in-chief; Chris Goringe is the back-end coder who seems to be able to fix things 2-3 seconds after getting an email. Other important early volunteers include: Gord Mackenzie, Alex Foster, Paula Berinstein, Neal Foley and Squiddhartha. Now more than three thousand people have recorded or helped at LibriVox, and we're all just one big family, including, we hope, you.

Who are the LibriVox moderators and what do they do?
The moderators (also known as admins and MCs) are LibriVox volunteers who help in the forums and look after cataloging. Every recording project is assigned one MC. The MC answers any questions the collaborative book coordinator or solo reader might have, puts the project in the 'In Progress' section on the catalog and, upon project completion, sends the completed files to the LibriVox section of archive.org. A new catalog page is then created and the recordings are made available for download so listeners can enjoy them. Admins can also fix some catalogue errors and edit forum posts (see our Forum Policies). Moderators are drawn from within the community of dedicated LibriVoxers, and are identified with "LibriVox Admin Team" next to their forum posts.

What does LibriVox mean?
'LibriVox' is the sort of name you invent when you don't know Latin at all. 'Libri' means book, and 'Vox' means 'voice' -- so it means: 'BookVoice'. But it's possible Latin scholars would cringe at some error in the melding together of the two words. Still, it sounded pretty good. Another Latin word for book is 'Liber', which also means: 'child, offspring'; and 'free, independent, unrestricted'. So we like to think LibriVox might be interpreted as 'child of the voice', and 'free voice'. Finally, the other link we like is 'library' so you could imagine it to mean Library of Voice, which sounds cool too. But all this is the result of using online Latin dictionaries with no formal training.

What does "Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain" mean?
We've had much healthy debate about this tag line. It's been called pretentious, swanky, lofty, inspiring, verbose, unclear, self-important, hype and exciting. Maybe it's all of those things, but it served us well in the beginning of the project, and consensus is we're going to keep it (for now - Kristen's back and she doesn't like jargon!). What does it mean? LibriVox makes free audio books. We free books into audio. Free beer and free speech, we're doing both. We're unlocking text with our voices and freeing the books into the airwaves. We are freeing works of literature to be experienced by those who might not have experienced them before. Some of us are making a stand about public, non-commercial space, about public domain, about the importance of efforts outside the pervasive commercial framework that dominates our world. But some of us are just reading because we like it. This can be political if you wish, or mean nothing more than this: we read books and give the audio files away for free. Both are valid, both are important. In fact, we don't care why you volunteer for LibriVox, or why you listen to our books, as long as you enjoy what you are doing. PS. we might change the tag line to: "Free Audiobooks," which would probably be easier for all concerned, but Hugh is stubborn.

"Our objective is to make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet." Are you crazy?
Ok so it's pretty unlikely we'll succeed. Probably impossible. But what's wrong with trying? Like world peace, we think it's a worthy objective. Don't you? It would be silly to say: "Our objective is to make some books available", since we've done that already. We want the project to continue while there are public domain books to read. If that takes 1,000 years, well, nothing could make us happier.


VOLUNTEERING

I'm new, and I'd like to read? What do I do?
The best place to start is here: How to Volunteer for LibriVox. Another good place to start is Weekly Poetry, in the Short Works forum. But if you want to dive right in, try the Readers Wanted section of the forum. There you will find lists of books needing readers. Click on the name of a book you like, and read the first post. This will show you the claimed and unclaimed chapters. Post a claim for a chapter, (eg: "I would like to read chapter 4") and the book coordinator will update the first post.

Alternately, if you want to record a whole book on your own, go to the New Projects Launch Pad and post to let us know you'll be doing a whole book. But we would much prefer you donate your voice to an ongoing project first before going Solo. It's harder than you might think, and testing out on a smaller undertaking is a good idea.

Do you mean *anyone* can record for LibriVox?
Yes! All you need is a way to record into mp3 (most PCs and Macs can do that with some free software, we assume if you are using GNU/Linux that you can figure it out -- but just ask if you need help!).

Don't you have any standards?
It depends what you mean by standards. Our feeling is this: in order for LibriVox to be successful we must welcome anyone who wishes to honour a work of literature by lending their voice to it. Some readers are better than others, and the quality of reading will change from book to book and sometimes from chapter to chapter. But we will not judge your reading, though we may give you some advice if you ask for it. This is not Hollywood, and LibriVox has nothing to do with commercial media's values, production or otherwise. However: we think almost all of our readings are excellent, and we DO try to catch technical problems (like repeated text etc) with our Listeners Wanted/prooflistening stage. Maybe you'd like to help?

You mean your readings might have mistakes in them?
Project Gutenberg has a 99% accuracy rate target for its texts; we aim to equal or better that. For a 20 minute audio recording, 99% is equivalent to 12 seconds of error. Count to 12 and see how long that is. So, we think by a pretty objective measure, even with a few mistakes, we're doing pretty well.

Do I have to read a whole book on my own?
No! No! No! The point of LibriVox was to get all sorts of people, all over the world, to record small chunks, so that the difficult task of recording a whole book is distributed among many. But you *can* read a whole book on your own, if you wish (though we'd prefer if you contribute to a collective project first).

Can I read a whole book on my own?
Yes! Please! If you wish to do so, please post on the forum in the New Projects Launch Pad. The thread on 'Solo recordings' gives lots more help. But we'd prefer if you join a collective project first, to read a chapter or two and find out how it all works.

I wrote an unpublished book! Can LibriVox record it?
Unfortunately, no. We are focused on producing audio recordings of published public domain books. However, we encourage you to publish an audio version over at http://www.podiobooks.com - they specialize in this. And if you hang out on the forums here, and do some recordings, you might find some willing volunteers to help you record yours too. And we'll be happy to publicise it if you let us know about it.

How can I volunteer to coordinate a book reading?
Before you become a book coordinator, we ask that you record a few chapters from other projects, just so that you have some idea of the problems your group of volunteers might have. Also, check the formats of ID3 tags and file names, and how other book coordinators manage the process first. If you spend some time on our forum, and don't want to record, but are keen on coordinating a reading, that would be fine too. Have a look at this page for more information.

Will I get sued for copyright infringement?
LibriVox only records books that are clearly in the United States public domain, because this is where the files will ultimately be stored. 'Public Domain' means they are no longer covered by copyright, and anyone can use the texts as they wish. As copyright law varies from country to country, the copyright status of any given book may vary too. So if you're not sure about recording a particular work, please just ask!

How can I tell if a book is public domain?
Project Gutenberg has a huge catalog of public domain e-books, and they do extensive legal checking before releasing their titles. Generally, if it was published before 1923 in the USA, it's public domain in the US, which is good enough for us. After that, and elsewhere in the world, it gets more complicated. But we're happy to help -- post in the Book Suggestions forum for advice.

May I add incidental music to my recordings?
No, please don't. It adds yet another complication for our hard-working meta-coordinators if they have to verify copyright status of added music.

I don't want to read, but I'd like to help. What can I do?
First, please know that almost none of our readers think their reading is very good. You may be better than you think! But if you are really shy (or simply can't read aloud), there are still many ways you can help.

* Participate in the forums; everyone's ideas are welcome
* Assist with book coordination
* Help maintain (or develop) the website and online tools we use
* Listen to the chapters and let us know of any problems
* Promote LibriVox with a button or banner on your website
* Post about us on your blog and link to us
* Distribute recordings (by seeding torrents or burning CDs to give away)
* Help locate readers--tell your friends and recruit your family!

What is "The LibriVox Disclaimer?"
The LibriVox disclaimer is a little line our volunteers read at the beginning of every recording. It generally goes like this:

"Chapter 1 of A Little Princess. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org. This reading by Kara Shallenberg, www.kayray.org. A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Chapter one: Sara"

We sometimes use a short version for poems: "The Cow, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Read for librivox.org by Henry Frigon..." and at the end, "End of poem. This recording is in the public domain."

Every recording should have this disclaimer; firstly to help the listener know what the recording is (of course!), secondly as a legal notification of the public domain status, and thirdly to encourage new volunteers to come and help.


MONEY TALK

Where does LibriVox get its funding?
Nowhere. We have no money, no revenues, no bank account. Right now we're fine as a completely volunteer project. The Internet Archive hosts our audio files (for free), and nyip.net generously provides hosting services for our website (for free). It's conceivable that things may get more complicated in the future, in which case we might try to get some funding. But not now.

Can I advertise on your site?
No. We are a completely non-commercial project, and we don't want ad. money. If you are a literature-based site or project, blog or podcast, we will probably link to you if you send us an email -- especially if you are non-commercial, or have such an idealistic outlook about literature and books and high-falutin' things, that your business plan is sure to fail. But if you do make it big, and we've linked to you, maybe you can use your new clout to promote LibriVox.

Are you planning an IPO?
No. We will remain an independent, non-commercial, volunteer, non-profit project.

I work for Yahoo/Google/Microsoft/a VC and I would like to buy you, who should I contact?
We'd be happy if you could help us out somehow, but LibriVox, as they say, is not for sale. Though anyone is free to use our content however they wish -- including Yahoo, Google and Microsoft, and even VCs.


TECH STUFF

Do I have to know what 'podcast' means to volunteer for LibriVox?
No! All you need is your voice, some free software for your computer, and the desire to read out loud.

What does podcast mean?
A podcast is just a way of delivering audio content to your computer or mp3 player, automatically. LibriVox podcasts books from our catalog, one at time. If you subscribe to the LibriVox podcast, you'll get a new audio file from us on your computer four times a week.

What software should I use to record and edit? (PC, Mac, GNU/Linux)
Many of us use Audacity, a free multi-track audio editor and recorder for GNU/Linux, BSD, Mac OS, and Windows. You can download it here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net

There are many other programs available, and plenty of ways to get audio from your voice to the computer. Take a look in the forums for more suggestions and help.

What are ID3 tags, and how do I use them?
ID3 tags allow MP3 players (itunes, ipod, windows media player) to display the track, album and artist information. If you are using Audacity, you can add them when you export your file to MP3. Or you can add them in iTunes, by selecting your recording and choosing View Info. The fields that come up are the ID3 tags.

Each book coordinator specifies the exact details for the ID3 tags, so please check your book's thread in the forums for what to put in these fields.

128kbps? Huh? What language are you talking?
128 kbps is a way of indicating sound quality of an MP3. This is a high quality file, well suited to music. We use this because archive.org, where we store the audiobooks, will automatically convert 128 kbps files into other formats when we upload them.

Why aren't you recording in ogg vorbis?
Archive.org automatically converts our 128kbps mp3 files to 64kbps mp3 and ogg vorbis. So we get three files for the price of one (free), and our files are made available in ogg vorbis.

Why aren't you recording in speex?
We are looking at speex and may try to add speex to our catalogs. If you want to help, please let us know. offer your services.

Do you offer Bit Torrents?
Yes! Wander over to www.legaltorrents.com where you can find us.

Haven't you heard of computer-generated audiobooks?
Yes, we have -- in fact there are a number available direct from Project Gutenberg, among other places. However, we feel that texts read by real humans are sufficiently better that it's worth spending our time recording them. And we hope you agree!

Are there any other projects like LibriVox?
Yes! There are many others using podcasting to bring literature to people's ears. Some projects are collecting public domain works in a similar fashion to us. We think there's enough public domain texts to keep us all busy for years to come. If you know of such projects, let us know about them, and we'll post on our blog and link to them (see our sidebar on the blog).


LISTENING TO LIBRIVOX RECORDINGS

Where can I download the books you've already recorded?
Here: http://librivox.org/newcatalog/

Where is your podcast feed?
Here: http://librivox.org/podcast.xml

Why haven't you recorded my favourite book yet?
We record books suggested by volunteers. If you post your suggestion in the Book Suggestions forum, you may get lots of interest, and then we'll have your book done.
But please note we do not record books where this would be an infringement of copyright (No Harry Potter, no Lord of the Rings, no Danielle Steele) In practical terms, this generally means your favourite book must be available from Project Gutenberg before we will consider reading it.


COPYRIGHT AND PUBLIC DOMAIN

What does "Public Domain" mean?
Copyright gives an individual or corporation exclusive rights on a text, for a limited period of time. This means no one else can reproduce the text, or make derivative works (such as audio recordings) while the copyright is in force. Eventually, though, copyright expires, and the text enters the 'public domain.' Meaning anyone can use that text however they wish. This is complicated business, but in the US, anything published before 1923 is public domain, in the US. It may not be public domain in other countries. Similarly, a book may be in the public domain in another country, but not in the US. For more information and links, visit our public domain wiki page.

Why don't you use a Creative Commons License?
We had this discussion early on, and decided we didn't want to add any restrictions to the recordings we make, which are based on public domain books. This means others can use our recordings however they wish, including for commercial purposes. We would prefer if people acknowledged us if they do use our recordings, be we can't force them to. This makes some people uncomfortable, but the books we record are public domain, and we want our recordings to be public domain too.

For a more robust discussion, see here.

How do I know if a book is public domain?
The best place to look is www.gutenberg.org -- this is a huge catalog of ebooks, in many languages and most of them are in the US public domain. Gutenberg does extensive legal work to assure the copyright status of their books, so they are a safe resource -- just check the licence text within the ebook, to be sure. Of course, there are many non-Gutenberg books in the public domain, and if we are sure that's the case, we'd be happy to record them too.

Please note that, because the LibriVox server resides in the US, we are bound by US copyright laws. There are many Gutenberg & similar projects based outside the US, but we may only record books from them which were published before 1923 for LibriVox.


OTHER LANGUAGES

What if English is not my native language -- may I volunteer to read in English anyway? (Or, for English speakers: May I read in another language?)
Yes! Part of what makes listening to a LibriVox book so enjoyable is the wide variety of voices, dialects, and accents you'll hear. You're welcome to volunteer to read anything you feel comfortable with. Try children's literature or short poetry if you're hesitant about your skill in another language. Ask for help with pronunciation if you need it, but remember we're not aiming for perfection.

Are you doing books in other languages?
Yes. We have a number of German, French, Spanish, Dutch and Italian books, and several other languages too. All we need is willing volunteers who are fluent in other languages. Post in Book Suggestions if you want to recruit a team to work on a book in a particular language.


LIBRIVOX LANGUAGE GUIDELINES

1. The main language of the forum is English.
This means that most posts about LibriVox, questions about how it works, etc. should all be in English. The reason is that most of our moderators are English-speaking, and we need to be able to answer questions, and monitor what's going on on the forum. And don't worry if your English is rusty!!

2. Book Threads may be in another language (see 3)
If a "New Projects Launch Pad" thread is started for a non-English book, this thread can be in the language of the book (French, German etc). For non-English threads, please name them: [LANGUAGE] Book Name - Author Name
eg: [DEUTSCH] Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei - Engels/Marx

3. How to start a non-English book thread
Starting a non-English book thread is the same as an English one. You must be prepared to be a Book Coordinator, which means you must have recorded a few chapters for another LibriVox project. You also must be ready to translate some bits of text into the language of the book, such as: "This is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain..." if we don't already have a version in the language. To find out more about being a Book Coordinator, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact the Chief of the LibriVox Lingustics Department & Forum Moderator, Gesine.


FEEDBACK

I've just listened to a LibriVox recording. How can I give feedback? Do you have a rating system?
For now, we have decided not to operate a rating/ranking system, because the general consensus is that negative feedback would be too discouraging for our volunteer readers. Please find more background in this thread: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=454

• If you have positive feedback, you could leave it here in the forum (we always like to hear that!), or you could send a pm (private message) to the reader. Also, if you'd like to recommend a reading, please do so by telling your friends!
  
• If you have negative feedback, please send it to info AT librivox DOT org and the administrators will see how best to deal with it, and possibly pass on some points to the reader or raise a specific issue in the forum, if appropriate.
  
• If you spot a problem with a recording, please also email us at info AT librivox DOT org or start a new thread in Error Reports (please read the sticky in that forum first.)

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[Cori]

Links to the wiki have been updated, I've also done a little more polishing of content. Let me know if anything doesn't work or make sense!