LibriVox is an exciting initiative, their mission is to record and publish books that are in the public domain and make them freely available via their website

An exciting development in the world of audiobooks over the past few years is the availability of free, volunteer read audiobooks through LibriVox. This initiative means that people can freely download and listen to classic works of fiction and non fiction from the LibriVox catalog in a variety of formats.

By recording books that are in the public domain, LibriVox is giving people access to audio versions of classics such as books by Louise May Alcott through to Israel Zangwall, with hundreds more in between. These include works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and HG Wells. Books by a huge range of different authors are being recorded and published constantly and the LibriVox catalog provides an up-to-date list of all the different audiobooks that are available currently. Even though narrators are required to have some recording experience most of them are not professional and quality can't compare to paid services such as audiobooks.com. 

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How LibriVox Works?

The books are read by volunteers from around the world – absolutely anyone can volunteer as long as they have some basic recording equipment. A book may be read and recorded as a collaborative project where a group of readers read different sections or chapters, or a single person may take responsibility for recording a whole book. The audio files are edited and then published on the LibriVox website for listeners to freely access. There are no restrictions as to how the files can be used and people are free to download them onto their computers or even distribute them.

Formats

LibriVox audiobooks can be downloaded as mp3 or Ogg files and can be listened to on a whole variety of audio devices including PDAs and mp3 players, as well as directly from the computer using iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any other audio player. New LibriVox audiobooks are podcasts so it is possible to listen to the book in installments. Like most modern audiobook apps, LibriVox has an app that is available on IOS and Android and it has a rating of 4.5 stars which is higher than the Scribd app which is 4.4 stars.  

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What is Public Domain

When copyright has expired a book or other works enter the 'public domain'. When a book is still within copyright, people are unable to reproduce any of the content in any form without the permission of the copyright holder. When a book is within the public domain, people are allowed to copy and publish the text and this includes recording audio files of the work. Copyright law is very complicated and people should establish for themselves any specific copyright conditions that may effect whether a book is in the public domain.

LibriVox falls under US law and as such all audio files published are public domain in the US. Typically this means that books recorded before 1923 are within the public domain and they can be recorded and published on the LibriVox website. LibriVox works with Project Gutenberg to establish that a book is in the public domain. Project Gutenberg has the mission to make available as e-books all public domain books and make them freely downloadable from their website. Even though LibriVox has a great library of audiobooks it is still limited when compared to a service like Audible for example. 

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Conclusion

LibriVox is an interesting initiative and provides an extensive source of audiobooks. As the books are free, this gives an excellent opportunity for a reader to try something different, perhaps listen to a book in an unfamiliar genre, or from an unknown author. It should be noted that the books are read by international volunteers and not professional readers and the wide mix of accents and narrative skills reflects this – however, this is part of the rich mix that forms the LibriVox initiative.