Heard about this on Radio 4 yesterday - looks like a great initiative for reading and recording public-domain audiobooks and making them freely available.
Top comments
sabresonic
25 Jan 168#2
I regularly listen to Librivox, you will find it a bit hit and miss with the readers, my advice would be to find someone you like and can listen to then search out for other books read by them.
It took me a while, I enjoy science fiction and crime and I've listened to 10+ books read by Mark Nelson and Ralph Snelson, the latter will grow on you, stay with it!
They have both covered the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoon series - the book that the film John Carter was based on, the Land that Time Forgot series of books). There are also a few Philip K Dick and Jules Verne stories on there as well by other readers that I've enjoyed.
I have the app on my phone and listen on a night when I go to bed, I'm not a very good sleeper so it can take me a couple of hours to fall asleep....these have helped!
Just don't expect them to be up there with the production standard of Radio 4 / Radio 4 Extra dramas!
Hope that's useful.
All comments (22)
sowotsdis
25 Jan 16#1
thanks..........any recommendation?
sabresonic to sowotsdis
25 Jan 16#3
Forgot to reply - see my post above...
sabresonic
25 Jan 168#2
I regularly listen to Librivox, you will find it a bit hit and miss with the readers, my advice would be to find someone you like and can listen to then search out for other books read by them.
It took me a while, I enjoy science fiction and crime and I've listened to 10+ books read by Mark Nelson and Ralph Snelson, the latter will grow on you, stay with it!
They have both covered the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoon series - the book that the film John Carter was based on, the Land that Time Forgot series of books). There are also a few Philip K Dick and Jules Verne stories on there as well by other readers that I've enjoyed.
I have the app on my phone and listen on a night when I go to bed, I'm not a very good sleeper so it can take me a couple of hours to fall asleep....these have helped!
Just don't expect them to be up there with the production standard of Radio 4 / Radio 4 Extra dramas!
Hope that's useful.
cheary
25 Jan 16#4
I've tried these free audio books and found them just too annoying, a skilled narrator makes all the difference. I use Audible which works at about £5 per book, not cheap I acknowledge, but worth it in my opinion.
badasschris to cheary
27 Jan 16#16
How do you get books for £5 each? If I could do that without jumping through hoops I'd probably stay subscribed indefinitely as it is I cancel my sub when a deal runs out and wait for the next or just sub for a month if there is a book I really want. I agree though audible is amazing
caerphillycastle
25 Jan 16#5
A lot of the books sound like they've been narrated by Stephen Hawking. Robotic American accents lol!
Tenex
25 Jan 16#6
It's worth remembering there's tons of professional audio content on BBC iPlayer, download it via the iPlayer or iPlayer Radio app.
mcek to Tenex
26 Jan 16#13
I loved the podcasts I used to download from the Beeb. Do they still do them, haven't listened for a long time, timely reminder. Documentaries, discussions, debates, lectures, news content, a fair enough to help you if you're an insomniac.
Heat for this post, will give them another try, I downloaded a few of the Sherlock stories when they were posted here.
Magister
25 Jan 161#7
Remember, that the most skilled professional reader almost certainly started off like the Librivox readers (who give their time, sometimes considerable time, freely and without charge)
Tenex to Magister
25 Jan 16#8
Most professional readers are resting actors. However, well done to these amateurs and others who give their time to this task. It reminds me of a friend who used to do just this but recorded audiobooks for the blind. No doubt that's stopped since the likes of this and Audible/Amazon.
bigjeremy
25 Jan 162#9
Most Uk librarys subscrible to overdrive.com where you can legally rent thousands of audiobooks in mp3 or protected wma using your library card, i use it all the time.
Aplt1
25 Jan 16#10
I find that most of the SOLO narrators are pretty good. And, even if not to your liking, it's easy to bail right away without being surprised by a different reader per chapter.
Opening post
Top comments
It took me a while, I enjoy science fiction and crime and I've listened to 10+ books read by Mark Nelson and Ralph Snelson, the latter will grow on you, stay with it!
They have both covered the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoon series - the book that the film John Carter was based on, the Land that Time Forgot series of books). There are also a few Philip K Dick and Jules Verne stories on there as well by other readers that I've enjoyed.
I have the app on my phone and listen on a night when I go to bed, I'm not a very good sleeper so it can take me a couple of hours to fall asleep....these have helped!
Just don't expect them to be up there with the production standard of Radio 4 / Radio 4 Extra dramas!
Hope that's useful.
All comments (22)
It took me a while, I enjoy science fiction and crime and I've listened to 10+ books read by Mark Nelson and Ralph Snelson, the latter will grow on you, stay with it!
They have both covered the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoon series - the book that the film John Carter was based on, the Land that Time Forgot series of books). There are also a few Philip K Dick and Jules Verne stories on there as well by other readers that I've enjoyed.
I have the app on my phone and listen on a night when I go to bed, I'm not a very good sleeper so it can take me a couple of hours to fall asleep....these have helped!
Just don't expect them to be up there with the production standard of Radio 4 / Radio 4 Extra dramas!
Hope that's useful.
Heat for this post, will give them another try, I downloaded a few of the Sherlock stories when they were posted here.