Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
...For those not familiar with LibriVox, all of their audiobooks are free, in the public domain, and narrated by amateurs. Narration quality ranges from excellent to horrible. Frequently, there are multiple versions of a book, which gives you the opportunity to find a narration you like.
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Helpful hint: Sometimes you'll see Librivox audiobooks that have versions narrated by multiple readers alongside versions read by solo readers.
Usually the solo readers are better, unless it's a play or other dramatic reading.
"Excellent to horrible"? Some of the readers are superb, and could make a living with any major publishing house. A few are unbelievably bad, blundering, and extremely difficult to follow. Many appear to be folks for whom English is not their first language, and for whom the project was a way to sharpen their English skills while at the same time providing a service to listeners everywhere. Some in this class are much better than you might expect, but be prepared to meet with familiar words pronounced in surprising ways.
All in all, I'm glad to be alive in the age of Librivox for audiobooks and Project Gutenberg, and of course, our own Patricia Clark Memorial Library, for e-books.