Lending voices to a free audiobook archive
LibriVox is the largest of several emerging collectives that offer free or inexpensive audiobooks of works whose copyrights have expired, from Plato to ‘The Wind in the Willows.’ The results range from solo readings done by amateurs in makeshift home studios to high-quality recordings read by actors or professional voice talent. At its worst, a free audiobook can sound like a teenager reading aloud in high school English class. At its best, it can offer excellent sound quality and skilled narration infused with a passion for the text. In between is a world of competent readings, sometimes spiced with affected accents, mumbled words and distant car horns and reflecting all manner of literary interpretations. LibriVox celebrated its anniversary on August 10, around the same time it surpassed the 100-book mark. It also offers more than 200 recordings of short stories, plays, speeches, poems and documents like the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. LibriVox’s founder, Hugh McGuire said ‘the principles of the project are to be totally non-commercial, totally ad-free, totally volunteer and totally public domain.’ Readers can volunteer at librivox.org. (The New York Times, International Herald Tribune,August 28, 2006)
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Comment by anilsharma — August 29, 2006 @ 2:01 am