LibriVox in the News

Radio

Librivox on BBC's The World

Fellow volunteers Hugh, Kara, and Rainer were heard in a 2008 audio spot that was a quick description of what Librivox is, with sound clips of a couple of our completed recordings. The clip isn't available on BBC's web site any longer. If we find it, we'll update the link here.

LibriVox on Studio 54 Web Radio

A short article on this Italian not-for-profit radio station. http://www.studio54webradio.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=246

LibriVox on BBC Radio 4's Archive on 4

An extract from a LibriVox recording of Caedmon's Hymn (complete with disclaimer) was used in the Archive on 4 programme on 28th February 2009. The programme was narrated by Lee Hall, who wrote Billy Elliot.

Excerpt: [1]

Television

Click (BBC TV, UK)

LibriVox was recommended by Kate Russell on the BBC's flagship IT show Click in July 2007.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6274206.stm

Today (MSNBC, US)

6 Jun 2008

Presenter: What about freebies on the net? Daniel Roth, senior writer at Wired magazine. Daniel, good morning. [They talk a bit about Skype and Zecco] What about if you want to catch up on summer reading? DR: Summer reading…now this is if you want summer reading but you don’t want to read yourself: LibriVox. Go on there. 1500 titles. Amateurs reading audiobooks. You can download a chapter a day, if you want. I just got Don Quixote on my iPod. And all kinds of titles being read to you. It’s a great way to get free books. Presenter: Three great ideas, Daniel, thanks very much.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25001763#25001763

Roku

Listen to a selection of Librivox books through your Roku Box. Go Roku/Channel Store/Lecture Kings (subscribe for Free), click Librivox. You will find several titles, click any one, click on chapters to listen through your TV speakers.

On The Web

• Librivox at redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/magazine/017mar06/features/librivox/

• The Wealth of Librivox at reason.com http://reason.com/archives/2007/04/24/the-wealth-of-librivox

• NPR's Day to Day Interview with Xeni Jardin (includes audio link!)

• 2014 Nominet Trust 100 http://socialtech.org.uk/nominet-trust-100/2014/

LibriVox was chosen as one of this year's
Nominet Trust 100, which celebrates
the people and organisations
who are using digital technology
to change the world for the better.

• Cosmopolitan Where to Find the Best Free (Yes, Really) Audiobooks [2]: "Librivox is like an online library where volunteers read public domain novels and anyone can listen for free, which is pretty rad."

Newsprint

L.A. Times

6 January 2006 (click image to view full-size with legible text)

http://kayray.org/photo_album/jan06/LA_Times.thumb.jpg

North County Times (San Diego)

13 February 2006

A relative newcomer to the field is the volunteer-run Librivox.org site, which has the lofty goal of recording "all books in the public domain." They aren't even close yet, and probably feel as I do when I enter the library, given the magnitude of the task, but they are well on their way.

Portland Tribune

17 February 2006

Even tough books can be an easy read in audiobooks format, but delivery over the Internet is the height of convenience. (In an unrelated move, a Web site called www.librivox.org last August began offering unabridged classics for free, read by amateurs.)

http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=33959

Globe & Mail (Toronto)

3 March 2006

Volunteers read classic novels, which can be downloaded in segments. Dostoevsky's 'Notes from Underground and Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island are available now. librivox.org.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060308.gtplug08/TPStory/Technology/columnists

Philadelphia Inquirer

5 March 2006

On the Web, free audio projects are emerging. Volunteers at LibriVox, at librivox.org, devote themselves to the "acoustical liberation of books in the public domain.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/technology/14018210.htm

New Brunswick Telegraph - Journal

http://www.canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060422/TPLIFE13/604220534/-1/LIFE

22 April 2006

There is a growing audio-library of literary works available free online. Of the various sites of this type "LibriVox" is one of the most interesting on account of who it is doing its readings. It works entirely through amateurs and volunteers who agree to read a well-known work by an author for recording on the website.

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/books/25audi.html?_r=1

August 2006

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.

Les Echos (France)

30 August 2007

http://www.lesechos.fr/info/innovation/300189432.htm

PC Mag's Top 100 Undiscovered Websites (US)

September 2007

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/0,1206,l%253D213934%2526a%253D213919,00.asp

www.librivox.org By Sean Carroll Audiobooks are ridiculously expensive: The latest "Harry Potter" title lists at $80 on CD. Librivox, however, provides pod fodder for free. The site features a collection of public-domain books read by volunteers—and anyone can volunteer. The audio quality is good (MP3s at 64 or 128 Kbps, as well as OGG Vorbis files). Some narrators are better than others—some may have listened to a little too much NPR—but almost everything is at least decent, and some performances are quite good. The collection (a bit more than 800 Project Gutenberg works so far) is a bit of a hodgepodge, with everything from Walt Whitman to Edgar Rice Burroughs. You’ll have to wait about a hundred years for The Deathly Hallows, though.

Toronto Star

25 February 2008

Canadians are also playing a leading role in reshaping the creation of audiobooks. Hugh McGuire, a Montreal-based writer and Web developer, established LibriVox in August 2005. The site is also based on concept of Internet collaboration. In this instance, LibriVox volunteers create voice recordings of chapters of books that are in the public domain. The resulting audio files are posted back on to the Internet for free. The LibriVox project, which does not have an annual budget, has succeeded in placing more than 1,200 audio books on the Internet, including Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, works from Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and hundreds more.

The Metro (UK)

13 October 2008

The best sites for ... reading books online www.librivox.org Struggling to read a book on the way to work? This site allows you to download books in audio format instead. Librivox is an ad-free, not-for-profit site run by volunteers that intends to make all books in the public domain (ie free from copyright issues) freely available to download. Members of the public record themselves reading the books (all languages are accepted) and the site prides itself on offering a public service that's entirely free from commercial restraints. www.scribd.com (their short blurb here) www.dailylit.com (their short blurb here) -- Anthony Gibson

The Sunday Times (UK)

12 July 2009

The 10 best book websites On the internet, you can download page after page of free material, post your work online and even catch a publisher's eye ... 9 LibriVox.org This is the home of free, downloadable audiobooks — mainly classics and read by volunteers. It may be the only way you get to hear Dickens read in a Liverpool accent. -Mike Peake

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6684717.ece