"To make all books in the public domain available, narrated by real people and distributed for free, in audio format on the internet,” #LibriVox brings thousands of texts to modern audiences in audio form" - https://blog.archive.org/2025/03/10/public-domain-spotlight-librivox/ it's amazing, do give it a whirl #PD
Librivox.org has free public domain audio books done by volunteers.
It's pretty awesome.
@trummerschlunk @falktx @x42 @PrototypeFund This isn't just a great tool for podcasters. Audiobook creators, like the people at #librivox who usually don't have a lot of skills and knowledge about audio editing and mixing could benefit immensely from this. As well as reels and all sorts of content creators. A really great tool indeed!
#LibriVox audio book of Michael Faraday's lectures on the chemical history of a candle, adapted from his famous Christmas Lectures.
"Taking the everyday burning of a candle as a starting point, Faraday spans the arc from combustion and its products, via the components of water and air (oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon), back to the type of combustion that happens in the human body when we breathe."
https://librivox.org/the-chemical-history-of-a-candle-by-michael-faraday/
@AlexanderVI @HeavenlyPossum I've certainly got more to read! I've been slowly making my way through classic works I've heard about and been interested in via #LibriVox over my new commute. It's been quite interesting exploring new books. Always open to recommendations too!
I was watching _Terry Talks Movies_ on #YouTube last night, and he made a passing comment about some old #MovieSerials, including one called _The Mysterious Doctor Satan_, which drew my interest. But given that the hero in that serial is name the Copperhead, the villain's name is just a coincidence, and has nothing to do with the Paul Ernst novellas in _Weird Tales_.
However, searching on #YouTube further, I found that a channel called _HorrorBabble_ has done readings of five of the eight Doctor Satan #pulp thrillers, with them running about 1h15m. I may listen to one the next time I'm chopping vegetables for slow cooker stew.
#Librivox has also done some Paul Ernst stories, but none of the #DoctorSatan ones. I've already read three of the ones Librivox has, and have the other two in the waiting novelette pack.
LibriVox
Free public domain audiobooks. Read by volunteers from around the world.
Librivox has more than 20,000 free audiobooks! And I'm delighted when more folks discover it!
I discovered it about 15 years ago, when my book club was reading Gaskell's "Wives and Daughters", and I needed an audiobook version because I was driving pizza delivery and had no time to read a physical book. The only audio copy in the library was checked out. But the librarian said, "Hmm, that's in the public domain, let's look elsewhere..." and ta-da! There we were at LibriVox!
In my family, we were always reading books aloud to each other, so all these different people reading aloud to me felt very homelike and familiar. I didn't really mind that some struggled with lower-quality audio equipment, or that some had accents which started out unfamiliar until I got used to them. Occasionally, I'd find one here and there who just were too rough for me to listen to, but in those cases, I'd just move on to a different recording.
After listening to many other books for three years, I decided it was time to give something back, so I became a volunteer reader in 2013. I've made many friends there, worked on many enjoyable book projects, and remain a fan.
I've only just come to Mastodon a month ago, but what strikes me about this site is how the "vibe" feels like the LV forum. Very "home-made", just nice folks building a community of their own.
Project Gutenberg produced thousands of audiobooks voiced by AI
https://qz.com/project-gutenberg-ai-to-ebooks-audiobooks-1850856297
I listened to about a minute of one of these and although it wasn't terrible, it wasn't nearly as good as the couple of #librivox recordings I've heard. I only very rarely listen to audio books but I expect connoisseurs would find the AI recordings even more problematic, even apart from the silicon scabbing.
New (and free) on #Librivox:
WHAT NOT (1918), “an early novel by Rose Macaulay about a government program of compulsory selective breeding in a dystopian future England.”
#dystopia #SFF #ScienceFiction #satire #audiobook #bookstodon #RoseMacaulay
Ludwig Ganghofer, 1855 geboren, deutscher Schriftsteller und Dramatiker
Die freie Audio-Bibliothek #Librivox bietet Aufnahmen von Ganghofer-Texten in deutscher Sprache. #Podcast #OpenSource #Literatur
#LibriVox - in der freien Audio-Bibliothek
Sammlung deutscher Gedichte (z.B. Heine, Werfel, Goethe usw.)
https://librivox.org/sammlung-deutscher-gedichte-038-by-various/ #Literatur
@CommonMugwort oh do I have a treat for you! 100 chapters of excellence! https://librivox.org/the-way-we-live-now-by-anthony-trollope/ I love Debra’s voice and the way she narrates. She makes me think of a favorite aunt reading to me. I’ve probably listened to this audiobook at least ten times, no joke. And Trollope can’t be beat! For a 19th century gentleman, he writes with remarkable sympathy and understanding for women. I love Trollope and this is a HUGE favorite!! #bookstodon #librivox
Hoffe, ihr kennt alle #LibriVox
LibriVox ist eine freie Audio-Book Plattform
In deutscher Sprache gibt es z.B. 2702 Bücher, die offen zugänglich sind.
#PDX I make #audiobooks for #LibriVox. Wear a mask and don’t be a racist. #knitting, #reading, #sewing, #FiberArts, curious person. Interested in #history, #MentalHealth, #arts, #archaeology, #anthropology, #linguistics in general and especially the history of English. I speak some #German, am learning #Finnish on #duolingo.
Love #StrictlyComeDancing, #Taskmaster, #GBBO, #TheArchers. Chronically ill with #PAH. Super-introverted but I think people, in general, are wonderful!
