LibriVox books at Audible

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Looks like the same books are also at estories, with similar pricing.

I spot checked a few to see if they were LibriVox recordings; they're not.

eStories has 27 titles and most of them are priced at $0.38 (member) and $0.54 (non-mem). Additionally, eStories is DRM-Free.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by issybird

For less than a buck a pop, I could be interested in the Father Brown and the Twain. And it's true, my loss would be limited. Just the same, it seems to fall under either or both the categories of, "Too Good to be True" and "Buyer Beware" and I hate to reward a cynical seller with my respective bucks if that's the game they're playing. So I'll be very interested to see what you find.

I'm unable to find their website or who they belong too. Still, several of the major vendors carry their books. I've seen some charter connecting them to Oregan Publishing, though that's still to be proven. Oregan was selling LibriVox titles under their name and changing the name of the narrator to hide that fact. Audible eventually dropped them.

Anyway, if the quality is there (formatting, narration, etc), they're a great deal and Audible will let you return them if you're not happy.

I'm not done trying to figure out who they are...

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm unable to find their website or who they belong too. Still, several of the major vendors carry their books. I've seen some charter connecting them to Oregan Publishing, though that's still to be proven. Oregan was selling LibriVox titles under their name and changing the name of the narrator to hide that fact. Audible eventually dropped them.

Anyway, if the quality is there (formatting, narration, etc), they're a great deal and Audible will let you return them if you're not happy.

I'm not done trying to figure out who they are...

Thanks for your sleuthing.

We might be amazed at how much of that kind of thing goes on--making undisclosed cooperative (sometimes benign, however) deals, surreptitious product rebranding, taking alias business names (sometimes _many_ of them), etc. Good luck digging up info about the Oregan company.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm unable to find their website or who they belong too. Still, several of the major vendors carry their books. I've seen some charter connecting them to Oregan Publishing, though that's still to be proven. Oregan was selling LibriVox titles under their name and changing the name of the narrator to hide that fact. Audible eventually dropped them.

Anyway, if the quality is there (formatting, narration, etc), they're a great deal and Audible will let you return them if you're not happy.

I'm not done trying to figure out who they are...

Go here:
https://www.estories.com/audiobook/2...ree-Musketeers

Listen for approx. 30 seconds.
Narrator: Daniel Duffy

Go here:
https://librivox.org/the-three-muske...exandre-dumas/

Listen for approx. 30 seconds.
Narrator: Mark F. Smith

My conclusion: The same voice

[Dr. Drib]

For "Mark F. Smith" (whoever the hell he might really be), if you enjoy his voice and narration, here are some additional audio books by him as listed on his Blog site (via LibriVox):

http://techsmiths-librivox.blogspot.com/

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Go here:
https://www.estories.com/audiobook/2...ree-Musketeers

Listen for approx. 30 seconds.
Narrator: Daniel Duffy

Go here:
https://librivox.org/the-three-muske...exandre-dumas/

Listen for approx. 30 seconds.
Narrator: Mark F. Smith

My conclusion: The same voice

I agree. This so-called publisher cut out the opening LibriVox info and changed the name of the narrator. Shame on them.

From what limited research I've done, FrontPage Publishing and Page2Page appear to be fronts for selling LibriVox recordings. Since what they're doing doesn't violate any of LibriVox's policies, they get away with it.

Still, I find the practice despicable because they're passing these works off as their own and not crediting LibriVox. The fact that Audible and eStories are selling these books only compounds this shady practice.

So if you (generic) see public domain works being sold on the cheap by some "unknown" publisher, chances are it's a LibriVox recording.

See this thread: LibriVox books at Audible and a short discussion starting here.
.

[badgoodDeb]

There's a thread around here about "what narrators do you love / hate" .... which has commented that narrators sometimes use different names at different places. So is it possible that it's the reader who has renamed themselves, and removed the LibriVox header?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

There's a thread around here about "what narrators do you love / hate" .... which has commented that narrators sometimes use different names at different places. So is it possible that it's the reader who has renamed themselves, and removed the LibriVox header?

That could be, but why be a party to selling a free book when it was supposed to be free in the first place and hiding that fact from the consumer?

I have no problem with narrators who use aliases, but I have a major problem with unknown publishers who take public domain recordings and sell the works as their own productions. It's quite deceptive.

If unknown publishers wish to get into the business of selling audiobooks of public domain works, then they need to hire their own narrators and record the books themselves.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

That could be, but why be a party to selling a free book when it was supposed to be free in the first place and hiding that fact from the consumer?

I have no problem with narrators who use aliases, but I have a major problem with unknown publishers who take public domain recordings and sell the works as their own productions. It's quite deceptive.

If unknown publishers wish to get into the business of selling audiobooks of public domain works, then they need to hire their own narrators and record the books themselves.

I wonder, though, what the narrators' role in this might be--are they willing participants who are making money from any sales, or has their work been used without their consent? If the former, I think I'd be OK with it.

[badgoodDeb]

For ebooks, I'll side load, but for audio recordings (and for my style of use) I find it easier to stay mostly in the Audible sandbox. I have a bunch of other recordings, but I mostly don't use them, cuz Audible is easier. So anyway, I bought the GKChesterton set. The worst part will be keeping the chart of chapter number vs. short story start handy when I'm listening in the car, and only want one story.