LibriVox.org: The Up and Coming Site for Audio Book Knuckleheads (like Me)

Have you ever fantasized about being a narrator on an audio book? I know, I know, get a life, right? But if you're a fan, there are those times when the narrator of the book you've carefully picked out is kind of missing something - or is just not hitting it right. Your dream can come true if you volunteer with LibriVox.org, the year-old collective project aimed at getting ALL of the books in the Public Domain recorded and uploaded for free accessibility.

The concept is brilliant: record the entire library of Public Domain literature using volunteers and make it available for free to anyone who wishes to download the material. It's like a library of the classics, some more obscure than others, where you never have to worry about late fees. You can keep them and share them, you are free to use them as you like. You can get to those classics you been "meaning to read" for decades, painlessly. It's a boon to the blind as well as to those with long commutes. In fact, In Touch, BBC 4's radio show for the visually impaired, aired a segment on the project.

The website's goal statement reads: "LibriVox is a strictly volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project." I counted 270 entries, of which, many are short works including poetry such as Clemet C. Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and Whitman's, "O Captain! My Captain!"

In the United States, Public Domain generally means anything published or registered for copyright before 1923; the website does publish a warning that you should verify that these works are in the Public Domain for the country in which you are downloading. LibriVox's founder is Hugh McGuire, 32, a software developer and writer in Montreal. He describes the LibriVox editorial process in this way:

"A volunteer willing to coordinate a book recording (meaning assign chapters, collect recordings, verify meta data etc) posts a project on its forum, in the Reader's Wanted Section. That volunteer is Book Coordinator. Then volunteers post to claim chapters. The Book Coordinator now sends all these audio files to a Meta Coordinator. The Meta Coordinator re-verifies all meta data, then posts the recording in the Listeners Wanted section. This is the proof-listening section where people check recordings for tech problems. Judgments about reading style are not made, only things like bad sound quality etc. Then the audio is put into a validator, software that checks meta data, reads & generates info about file size and recording length, and then allows the Meta Coordinator to add things like the names of readers of each chapter, their URL, and the original online public domain text (Project Gutenburg e-text, Bartleby e-text, etc.)."

The expertise level does indeed fluctuate, but overall there is no lack of enjoyment. While some listeners may not be overly enthused about the wide variety of recording quality, Hugh McGuire has responded by stating, "Our take on it is if you think a recording is done badly, then please do one and we'll post it as well." Fair enough. Plus, the variety of dialects and accents add a certain charm to the recordings. The readers are passionate and it shows through. The website gives some tips on which software to use and points you in the direction as to where to obtain it. Check out the Forum for "Tech Stuff." The site does assume you know the ins and outs of downloading for podcast, PC or CD.

I have yet to take the plunge into recording - I think many people take a short work to try it out, plus you're welcome to take a single chapter of any of the ongoing projects. You can access the forums where a quick perusal will show how some are struggling to meet their commitment, getting lots of friendly encouragement from fellow readers. Plus, you can volunteer to be a "beta" listener where you listen for (technical) errors before the work is published. It looks like there's lots of support offered and one doesn't need to be experienced at all. All that is required is commitment, and a way to make a digital recording. And there are some interesting looking side projects going on. Check out the links to some book-related blogs, foreign language works, and writing-oriented websites.