Have you run across a Librivox book that’s for sale or has an embedded advertisement? Look in our catalog for the originals, which are always free and never include ads.
Many of our listeners use apps to access Librivox recordings. Librivox has nothing to do with app development. All apps are produced by third parties. There is no legal problem with app developers using our public-domain recordings because public domain means that our volunteers reserve no rights. App developers don’t ask our permission, and we don’t try to stop anyone from using (or selling) our recordings because they are not doing anything illegal. And an app can sometimes be the easiest way to access an audiobook on a mobile device.
Listeners who are not having a good experience with an app often contact us directly, not realizing that we did not make the app and have no say in the content. This is to be expected when you make your recordings free for anyone to use as they like. The admin who monitors our help email simply lets them know that we aren’t involved with any apps and asks them to contact the developers instead.
Lately we have been hearing from listeners who are angry about political ads embedded within Librivox books. Not knowing that we didn’t place the ads, they now associate Librivox with political viewpoints they strongly disagree with. Some have told us they are no longer recommending Librivox to friends and family and are no longer open to volunteering for Librivox, as they had once planned to do.
If you know of anyone who is angry about a fee for or an addition to a Librivox book, please let them know they can come to our website to download the originals for free. And ask them to tell the app developers what they think, good as well as bad; this can help the truly useful audiobook apps become even better. We have let the app maker who included the ads know about the negative feedback.
(re-post from October 6, which was lost in the system failure)