Librivox has a new home!

You can now find us at:

http://librivox.org

Some LibriVox stats for everyone:

• Days since LibriVox started: 71
• Number of volunteers on the forum: 65
• Number of volunteers who have completed at least one chapter: 27
• Number of chapters recorded (roughly): 130
• Average number of chapters produced per day: 1.83
• Number of books completed: 4 (one is not yet released)
• Number of completed books expected by the end of this week: 8
  
• Number of solo projects done or underway: 7
• Number of completed books expected by Dec. 31, 2005: 24
• Number of books targeted for completion by Dec. 31, 2005: 20
• Number of books targeted for completion by Dec. 31, 2006: 100

As we wait giddy with anticipation for the podcast of the last two chapters of The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad, our volunteers have been busy at their microphones, finishing three books:

• Call of the Wild, by Jack London
  (thanks to Gord, Kristen, Jean, and Miette)
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie
  (a solo project by Alex)
• The Road to Oz, by L. Frank Baum
  (another solo, from Kara)

We’ll be podcasting these once we get through Secret Agent.

Well done to all of you… more books to come in soon, check our catalog to see what we’ve done and what we’re doing.

Please note:
We always need more volunteers; check our forums and join us.

The plot thickens and another great rendition of Conrad is in.

File: The Secret Agent, Chapter 10
Written by: Joseph Conrad
Read by: Gina of a.b.d.f.t.c.o.w
Time:
Bit rate: 64 kbps
File size: 13.3 MB
Internet Archive page (for Ogg & 128kbps file)

Next up: Chapter 11, read by Jan of Urban Art Adventures.

NOTE: LibriVox is always looking for volunteers, please comment here, or visit our Forum.

Lifehacker.com sends a pointer our way, highlighting our audiobook recording advice.

And they added this wonderful illustration of why modulation is important:

Modulate. Never forget Ferris Bueller. “In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the… Anyone? Anyone?… the Great Depression, passed the… Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act?” Monotones are evil. Bring life and vitality to your reading.

Treasure Island

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island is one of the great pirate adventure stories, and is our featured book seeking volunteers this week, comment below here to sign up to read a chapter.

Chapters to be claimed:
*ch 1-2 - Squiddhartha
*ch 3-4 - Gord
*ch 5-6 - Kara
*ch 7-8
*ch 9-10
*ch 11-12
*ch 13-14 - Squiddhartha
*ch 15-16 - Hugh
*ch 17-18
*ch 19-20
*ch 21-22
*ch 23-24
*ch 25-26
*ch 27-28 - Alex Foster
*ch 29-30
*ch 31-32
*ch 33-34

If you are interested in volunteering to read chapters from another book, or suggesting a book to read, take a look at our Forum, where readers are needed for Kafka, Edith Nesbit, Jules Verne, Walt Whitman, and Thucydides, among others.

So we have a whole new batch of books to record, ten of them, and we need your voices.

All books were suggested by volunteers.

Curious about what we’ve chosen? Feel the urge to read out loud? Think that everyone should be listening to great literature on their way to work instead of top 40 hits? Get a kick out of contributing to the good of all humanity?

Well we have just the thing. Check out our Forum in the “readers wanted” section, and post to reserve a chapter of a book you love, or would love to read.

Or comment here and we’ll walk you through it. The world is waiting to hear all this great writing, and you can help.

Chapter 9 for your listening pleasure, superbly-rendered by Michèle Pacey.

File: The Secret Agent, Chapter 9

Written by: Joseph Conrad
Read by: Michèle Pacey
Time:
Bit rate: 64 kbps
File size: 27.8 MB
Internet Archive page (for Ogg & 128kbps file)

Next up: Chapter 10, read by Gina.

Well, here’s some more exciting stuff. We’ve been in contact with the Internet Archive to let them know about LibriVox. Brewster Kahle (listen to his inspiring talk, Universal Access to All Human Knowledge), the founder of the Archive likes LibriVox, has invited us to participate in an event with them.

Along with Yahoo and a number of universities, Archive.org is launching the Open Content Alliance to scan and make available books from the public domain. LibriVox has been asked to make a recording of Henry James’ An International Episode, which if I understand correctly, will be one of the first books in the OCA project.

This will be interesting. Here’s a NYT article about OCA, and a Boing Boing post. And here’s what Brewster Kahle has to say about the initiative:

Is Open Content the next step in the traditions of Open Source and an Open Network? Many people seem to think so (and wouldn’t it be great?). Working with libraries, government institutions, archives, technology companies, web companies– and we all are saying the same thing– it is time to have more great material available on the Internet and to be able to have it be open and free.

Exciting times for LibriVox and all you audiolit providers out there!

We were mentioned today on BBC 6, Breakfast Show, Tech Tuesdays with Dave Green … I don’t know if we were on the audio version, but we got a tip on their site:

There’s no denying that books are convenient, but you can also catch up on a few literary classics while doing other things (like driving, or going to the gym) thanks to a new site [librivox] where amateur “podcasters” record chapters of out-of-copyright hits - from Frankenstein to Agatha Christie - in free-to-download MP3 form.