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Sadly, there aren't that many good sites with more than, say, 10 free audio books on them. However, that's better than a couple years ago. I don't have my list with me atm, but off the top of my head:

Librivox
Audio Books For Free (which has both free and pay options)
Free Classic Audio Books
And this great post Audiobook Podcast Collection at Open Culture, which lists some sites at the bottom.

If you go through through the list, you'll note that the vast majority are classics in the public domain rather than anything new. I can't say they've been a big hit with patrons.

There's also Audible.com,which is a pay site with DRMed files for both Mac and Windows.

For us, people often find the eAudiobooks in our catalog when they search and simply click on a link to it, so if they're looking for a specific book, that's often how they get to the OverDrive or NetLibrary version. I do agree that libraries should list the DRM-free audiobook sites on their Web pages, and you could always send them a polite e-mail suggesting that they do that as a service for patrons with incompatible systems, iPods, etc. After all, it will certainly make the library look much better too. :) (Sort of "We can't do anything about this right now, but we're out there looking for you guys too!")

I'm not sure what different libraries' policies would be about putting up links to commercial sites like Audible.com or Audio Books for Free that the library hasn't contracted with.

I have a response to this. Instead of haranguing the libraries, bug the hell out of the publishers. As it stands there are currently ZERO library vendors that offer eAudiobook downloads that are compatible with Mac or GNU/Linux because of the DRM on the files. This is certainly NOT the choice of the libraries.

I'm a librarian for a public library in Pittsburgh. We get requests all the time for downloadable audiobooks. We got requests before we had any options, and we get them now that we offer both OverDrive and Netlibrary downloads. At least OverDrive has the option to (in some cases, if the publisher has allowed it) burn the book to CD. After that, you can then import it to iTunes and transfer it over to your iPod. It's stupid clunky and you're better off just getting the CDs in the first place to listen that way, but it can be done and OverDrive's CEO has been known to tell people that.

Now, here's the question from the library's point of view. Is it better to not offer ANY eAudiobooks at all, despite the many requests for them, than to offer ones that can only be used by those with the dominant operating system? (We have to make the same decision with video games, too. What formats do we buy in?) With all due respect to the parent poster and to Mr. Stallman, my job is not to take a stand on DRM. It's to provide materials to the public in the formats they want, and that means that in some cases, like it or not, we're going to decide to offer eAudiobooks that cannot be used by all computer users. Just as DVDs cannot be watched by VCR owners, and CDs cannot be listened to by those with merely a tape deck, and Mac software cannot be run on a Windows machine. We're going to have to judiciously apportion an appropriate part of the budget according to demand for the items.

Now, would libraries love to change this? Yes. I personally have a list of free, non-DRM sites that allow you to download eAudiobooks for free that I hand out along with instructions on how the library-accessible eAudiobooks work. The problem is that those sites (such as Librivox or AudiobooksForFree) don't offer Janet Evanovich or John Patterson or the other bestsellers. They're generally things in the public domain (obviously), and our patrons usually want newer items.

Every chance I get, I complain to our Recorded Books representative (who works with Netlibrary) about the DRM limitations and make the case that should another company come along that offers downloads without DRM, we're gone to them no matter the cost. The libraries that have told OverDrive to buzz off in the past have just gotten shrugs. It doesn't change anything. (This includes the library located right next to Apple Headquarters, by the way. They finally gave in to demand.)

This is something that gets discussed all the time amongst librarians and on library blogs. My feeling is that complaining to the libraries is useless. We agree with you in spirit, but in practice, we're going to offer the product because our patrons want it. What we WILL support you in is complaining to the companies themselves, and in pushing the publishers to reach for a broader market. Instead of writing letters to libraries, spend your time convincing the publishers that they'll have wider listenership (without losing sales) if they hit the non-DRM market and convincing OverDrive and Netlibrary to begin offering other options than the protected WMA files.

From OverDrive's Web site, here's their contact information:

OverDrive, Inc.
Valley Tech Center - Suite N
8555 Sweet Valley Drive
Cleveland, OH 44125 USA
Phone: (216) 573-6886
Fax: (216) 573-6888
Email: info@overdrive.com

And from NetLibrary's Web site:

NetLibrary Division Office
4888 Pearl East Circle, Ste. 103
Boulder, CO 80301
USA
info@NetLibrary.com

Or, since NetLibrary is a division of OCLC:

Headquarters
OCLC Online Computer Library Center

The name says it all,
http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/ .
Download Robert Jordan, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Self help books, or parts of the Bible for free.

The catch, 8Kb/s quality. You pay for better quality, compare this to maybe a phone call, but compared to some of those Library used books on tape...
You can also buy full DVDs, or loaded harddrive MP3 players.

http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/

They have some low quality downloads for free, otherwise you can get high quality ones for pretty cheap.

I got their dvd of audiobooks, what a deal 500 audio books for only $120. Thats $0.24 per audio book. I listen to them on my way to and back from work everyday. Great stuff!

Well for some legal audio books that you can download, I have found http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/ which isn't the best but it does have some good stuff, I would love to know any other good free audiobook sites. But If you want to then there are always torrents for audiobooks. I'm sure there are many things out there and hopefully most of the good stuff is free.

I did a double take when I saw the post. My mother-in-law also had a mid-life stroke and was also an accountant.

Here are some things that have really helped her:

* Books on tape. Reading a book on paper while hearing the book on tape has done a lot for her reading ability, not to mention being a great activity in general. You can try to find free recordings of public domain books here:
http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/screen_main.asp

* Cooking. Following recipes is a good way to deal with numbers, words, and their relationships to actual objects. Just measuring things is valuable for getting a sense of amounts.

All strokes are different, so it's hard to know what exactly will work for everybody. If at all possible, seek out a therapist who deals specifically with stroke patients. He or she may be best suited to figuring out activities that will work best for her.

I'm very interested in what other people have to say about this, too, since my own family is dealing with these same issues.

Berkeley Groks can be interesting science program. They've had some top notch guests for interview too. Their xylophone linking music is classic :)

Can be got either here:
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~clgroks/
or
http://www.archive.org/audio/collection.php?collec tion=groks

The audio section of the archive.org has great live music sets freely available too. There are also famous speeches available.

I remember stumbling across a free audio book site some time ago. Not sure of the quality. You might want to check it out.
http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/screen_main.asp

What's in your local library?

As far as nerdish fare, 'Hell's Faire' works. Audiobooksforfree is a good source. Old time radio shows can be pretty good listening as well.

Same power problems as a PDA, though.

I've tried the text-to-speech books, and it loses so much in the translation as to be unusable. Human read are soooo much better.

Project Gutenberg has some ebooks done by text-to-speech synths as well as those read by human readers which were donated by www.audiobooksforfree.com. A note about the final site mentioned: if you want their material for free, it requires you to sign up, download low-quality versions, etc. The rest comes at a price.

From there you can burn to a CD, easily playable in any $40 portable player. Heck, you could send 2 or 3 for the price of a PDA if theft concerns are that high.

If you want to send over a real reading experience and PDAs are risky to send and there are no computers, then I dunno how you're going to get around sending either the real thing or the text in microfiche or something along those lines.

Whoaps, link dead, try here

I may break down and buy their DVD offerings, with many, many audiobooks for ~$100. They do have a large and eclectic collection.

I've run out of room on my 10 Gig before I bought these. 20 Gig or audio books for $100. Most of them are old classics but I'm enjoying them.

http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/

My brother downloaded one of the free low quality books which I liked so I baught the 4 DVD collection which morks on most new DVD players that support MP3. I considered getting the subscription but I figured it would take me a couple of years to get through that many books.

How about an AK-47 clip with an MP3 player?

Here

You knew it, rright? :) AK-47 MP3

I don't really know how long it took Jim Dale to get 23+ hours of Harry Potter laid down on tape, but it must have been months of work. I have no objection to seeing him get paid for that (and since the CDs are available for under $50, only a few bucks per CD, it seems quite reasonable compared to music.)

Other recorded books are, of course, much more expensive. Overall I've found that Order of the Phoenix could have been priced much higher than they did based on demand, in any format. I assume this is an economic decision rather than a friendly one, but I know that it enabled married friends of mine to purchase two copies rather than one so neither had to wait.

Now, that's just to point out that this is more than just a "golden voice"; it's a major effort by an actor with rare talent. If you want to put together an Internet project to read books aloud, I think that would be noble and interesting. For out-of-print books, you might check out AudioBooksForFree. Just don't be too disappointed when your efforts don't sound nearly as good as the professional ones, and take more work than you expect.

For copyrighted works, well, the publishers wouldn't be happy if you're competing with their efforts, especially if they have their own recordings. But I'd press you to think about the value of new books versus old; if you'd rather record a new, copyrighted book than an old one, maybe you'll see why that book has value to the one who paid to publish it.

Disclaimer (too late): I am an actor and do recorded readings (and am unbelievably jealous of a voice like Jim Dale's).

I finally figured out who this chick is from this story. It's "Aimee-Deep-Boobies-for-the-boys.png

I talked to her agent. If you want her to model with guns for you it is $500/hr.

I thought the same thing so I went with the 10Gig instead of the 20Gig (Second Generation). I've found out that once you have one it's easy to use it. I now wish I paid the extra.

What uses up more than 10 Gig you may ask?
....
Audio books! I've been listening to a number of audio books. Most of the audio books I have are either a single files that's atleast 300MB and goes for 10+ hours or a collection of 10MB files each going for 10 to 30 minutes. If you get some series (Dragon Lance, Lord of the Rings, etc) they can easily use up 1 for part of the series.

Technically You only need 1 Book on at a time the same can be said for music(you only need 10 hours of music) but what you want is choice.

Anyway here's a summary of what I have on my iPod: *50% music
*30% talking books
*10% monty python, random quotes, sayings, one liners, stand up comedy
*10% free/changes constantly


There was an article on on slashdot Here and here's a site with free audio books Here if you don't want to use a p2p network.

Amazing what washing your hair, shaving and changing your outfit can do for your image.

Amazing what washing your hair, shaving and changing your outfit can do for your image.

Ahem. :-)

The mp3 player is silly, but has anyone tried any of the free audio books the site offers? They seem to offer all of their books for free in an inconvenient and low-quality manner, while charging for convenience and quality. Are the free quality books listenable?

I have recently gotten into listening to books on tape. They are very convenient and you can "read" a book while driving or performing tasks that don't require full concentration (like painting my house).

Now that I have an iPod, I can fit a whole bunch of books on one little device and take it wherever I go without having to change tapes/CDs and such. When I'm on long car trips, I hook the iPod up to the car stereo and can either listen to music or one of the books I've downloaded/ripped.

I would *love* to see the next Harry Potter book (or any interesting book for that matter) to be released on a single CD with mp3 files that I could listen to anywhere. I think that is much a more reasonable way to distribute the book because it doesn't require that I purchase yet another single-purpose gadget like a eBook reader (that is bound to be obsolete in a matter of months anyway). It also doesn't require that I strain my eyes to read tiny print on a PDA that is much less comfortable than an actual paper book, and only mildly more portable/flexible.

I have also just found a site that has a bunch of books available for download in the mp3 format. You can pay to get the books without ads, but you can also get the books for free with little ads inserted into them. There aren't many good books there, but I've found a few: audiobooksforfree.com. I really hope that more publishers start providing books through sites like this.