Liberated Literature?
December 27, 2005 6:48 PM   Subscribe

LibriVox is out to share public domain literature via podcast and soundfiles. Free. Volunteers do the reading. The catalog has only a short list of completed works, but there are many "in progress." I was pleased to see Psmith in the City is complete.
posted by mmahaffie (14 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Related (via MefiProjects).
posted by Gator at 6:53 PM on December 27, 2005


Bummer. I'm sorry I missed that. I bet there are other such sites out there.
posted by mmahaffie at 6:55 PM on December 27, 2005


Yep, another similarly themed podcast is The Public Domain Podcast. Both LibriVox and Public Domain Podcast content are being contributed to Project Gutenberg.
posted by Manjusri at 6:59 PM on December 27, 2005


No bummer, no sorry, mmahaffie! It's a good post. Any padding the rest of us provide is gravy.

The Road to Oz! Awesome! I hope they do all the other books too. Word needs to get out that there was way more to Oz than a certain Gay Icon and her Little Dog Too.
posted by Gator at 7:08 PM on December 27, 2005


Awesome! Is there anywhere else that has Wodehouse audio for download?
posted by pantsrobot at 7:13 PM on December 27, 2005


Does anyone actually listen to amateur readers for 10+ hours at a stretch? I have an Audible.com account, and even some of the pro readers are bad. Reading a book aloud is not somthing anyone can do well, much less a new reader every chapter.
posted by stbalbach at 9:15 PM on December 27, 2005


Very cool. I'll have to listen to some of the bits available, then see if I can find some time to record for them as well.
posted by jazon at 9:18 PM on December 27, 2005


I think it's more the fact that a lot of the old texts have no one reading them at all, and the more people get into the habit of reading, the more stuff gets read. (And hey, long drives.)

How bad can they get? Probably pretty bad. But how good can they be?

Besides, recording readings is fun all by itself.
posted by chicobangs at 9:51 PM on December 27, 2005


I've been waiting for this stuff to start picking up. Awesome.
posted by mullingitover at 10:20 PM on December 27, 2005


Awesome. I was already saying that and then I saw the Psmith link and just about plotzed. I wonder how good the reading is?
posted by OmieWise at 5:56 AM on December 28, 2005


Psmith!!!!

Oh man. I just about passed this link over and then I saw PSMITH!!!! Might be time to reread the whole Psmith oeuvre.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:31 AM on December 28, 2005


Last night, after posting this, I listened to the first three chapters of Psmith in the City. The reading was amateur, but in the best sense of the word. I think these'll be good for long drives. I also hope to get into doing some of the reading, if I can find time, software, time, hardware, time, and of course, time.
posted by mmahaffie at 9:45 AM on December 28, 2005


IMO it's mostly vanity press, fun for the readers. Anyone with real talent will want to do it for money. It is hard work to do well.
posted by stbalbach at 9:56 AM on December 28, 2005


I used to work and read textbooks on tape for RFB&D. It's great to see another corps of volunteers making texts available for those who learn/comprehend better through the spoken word. (And those who like to listen to texts while driving.)
posted by turtlegirl at 4:23 PM on December 29, 2005


« Older By and by Man will try to get out into the sky   |   Like Jackass, but funnier Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments