Comments on: Liberated Literature?

Liberated Literature?

mmahaffie — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:48:33 -0800

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.

By: Gator

Gator — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:53:11 -0800

Related (via MefiProjects).

By: mmahaffie

mmahaffie — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:55:48 -0800

Bummer. I'm sorry I missed that. I bet there are other such sites out there.

By: Manjusri

Manjusri — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:59:42 -0800

Yep, another similarly themed podcast is The Public Domain Podcast. Both LibriVox and Public Domain Podcast content are being contributed to Project Gutenberg.

By: Gator

Gator — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 19:08:29 -0800

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.

By: pantsrobot

pantsrobot — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 19:13:15 -0800

Awesome! Is there anywhere else that has Wodehouse audio for download?

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 21:15:47 -0800

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.

By: jazon

jazon — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 21:18:37 -0800

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.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 21:51:22 -0800

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.

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 22:20:13 -0800

I've been waiting for this stuff to start picking up. Awesome.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 05:56:54 -0800

Awesome. I was already saying that and then I saw the Psmith link and just about plotzed. I wonder how good the reading is?

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 08:31:58 -0800

Psmith!!!! Oh man. I just about passed this link over and then I saw PSMITH!!!! Might be time to reread the whole Psmith oeuvre.

By: mmahaffie

mmahaffie — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 09:45:25 -0800

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.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 09:56:18 -0800

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.

By: turtlegirl

turtlegirl — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:23:07 -0800

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.)