Free Audiobooks

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robert

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Re: Re: The Library

david1951 said:
The ugly question is: "Is this legal?".
Do a google on "fair use" I think you will find -- be your own lawyer -- that if you have the tape or cd in your posession, that is, own the right to listen to it, that you can copy it onto your hard drive and iPod. Keeping it beyond that is questionable.

Consult an attorney for legal advice, not a forum. :D

Posters say that King Library in Seattle offers wma files for download and I am sure that those who have figured out how to convert those to m4b files feel no compunction about converting and placing on iPod.
 
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cdcarter

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leageltorrents.com has an audiobook version of Lawerence lessig's "Free Culture" and some interesting music
 
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I just downloaded one of the ebooks for the Notes section from this site and the books are a free download. I started reading one and it is already sized to fit into the notes. All you have to do is drag-n-drop the ebooks into that section. They do have a large variety to select from and all different categories.

They have both eBooks and audiobooks and some are both. Use the drop down menu to see what formats the books are in and when you see a (.) next to a format that means that format is not available for that book.
http://manybooks.net

They have free audiobooks for download:
http://librivox.org/librivox-catalogue/
 
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whodaddy61

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Audio Books

Here is a suggestion for free audiobooks: I use my local library, who stocks new and classic fiction and nonfiction audiobooks on CD, which I then transfer to my iPod.

They have books-on-tape as well, which I listen to also, but haven't figured out how to transfer them to digital yet. Any sugestions?

Thanks,
 

robert

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Re: Audio Books

whodaddy61 said:
...

They have books-on-tape as well, which I listen to also, but haven't figured out how to transfer them to digital yet. Any sugestions?

Thanks
Try Guide 1 below for tapes, Guide 4 for CD's to bookmarking iPod files.

Highly recommend using MarkAble in the mp3 to m4b process and for converting cd's to iPod bookmarking files. M4b will give you bookmarking iPod files. If you don't mind the resulting audio books not being in iPod Audiobook main menu entry, not having faster listen, and skip in shuffle, you can use MarkAble v1.2 to very quickly convert mp3 to a bookmarking mp3. It even has a CD wizard to convert to bookmarking ipod files.
 
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dordale

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Robert--

Just to clarify your suggestion of using the new Markable v1.2 to make bookmarkable mp3 (rather than m4b) files...I'm pretty sure this will only work with the 4g iPods with the latest firmware (and probably the minis). I'm pretty sure it won't work with 3g or earlier iPods.

dordale :)
 

robert

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Yes, David says only on clickwheel iPods with latest software.

Sorry for the omission.
 

Weazle

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Re: Audio Books

whodaddy61 said:
Here is a suggestion for free audiobooks: I use my local library, who stocks new and classic fiction and nonfiction audiobooks on CD, which I then transfer to my iPod.

They have books-on-tape as well, which I listen to also, but haven't figured out how to transfer them to digital yet. Any sugestions?

Thanks,

Im not sure if this is a new concept that public libraries are switching to but I live in Houston Texas and the Houston Public Library System has started an audiobook program which allows you to bring in your iPod (or other listening device) and it will sync the audiobook of your choice to it.

Legalistically, it remains without burden since the file is created in a way that it "expires" after 3 weeks and can't be listened to anymore unless you go back and "re check it out".

Just some info for you guys, if you listen to audiobooks as much as I do then it's worth a trip to the library to see if they have set themselves up for this yet. And as far as taking home an old-school Book on tape/CD and loading it onto your hard-drive, the line of demarcation has yet to be answered as to whether that act is illegal, immoral, somewhere between or nowhere at all. It would seem that as long as you are not distributing it further or even *gasp* for a profit, you are no more guilty than a child who makes a photocopy out of a children's book for their own personal enjoyment. But hey, im no lawyer...
 

robert

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Re: Re: Audio Books

Weazle said:
Im not sure if this is a new concept that public libraries are switching to but I live in Houston Texas and the Houston Public Library System has started an audiobook program which allows you to bring in your iPod (or other listening device) and it will sync the audiobook of your choice to it.

Legalistically, it remains without burden since the file is created in a way that it "expires" after 3 weeks and can't be listened to anymore unless you go back and "re check it out".

Just some info for you guys, if you listen to audiobooks as much as I do then it's worth a trip to the library to see if they have set themselves up for this yet. And as far as taking home an old-school Book on tape/CD and loading it onto your hard-drive, the line of demarcation has yet to be answered as to whether that act is illegal, immoral, somewhere between or nowhere at all. It would seem that as long as you are not distributing it further or even *gasp* for a profit, you are no more guilty than a child who makes a photocopy out of a children's book for their own personal enjoyment. But hey, im no lawyer...
Fair Use, which has traditionally been interpreted by the courts to allow the uses you suggest has been prempted by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which makes it illegal for anyone to even tell how to bypass DRM protection. Since many CD, cassette tape, and mp3 audio books are not digitally protected, the guides on how to convert to bookmarking iPod files seem to be fair use. See this link for a definition of DRM, a link to a comprehensive discussion of fair use, and a link to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

Interesting what your library does with synching iPod's to audio books. First I have heard of it. Excellent. Are the files bookmarking files? Do you know the provider (so that we can bug our libraries to offer the same service)? I went to HPL website and they describe NetLibrary, which I have access to by virtue of a second home. NetLibrary, to my knowledge only offers computer on line download of audio books in wma format which will not play on an iPod. If HPL is offering a direct connect and download into patron's iPods, it must be different.
Houston Public Library and its eBook partner netLibrary are excited to offer electronic books to our customers. Currently, two products are available:

There is an easy, but cumbersome, free way to convert and play a wma file on an iPod, but the law regarding DRM makes it a violation of federal law to tell anyone how -- Google Tunebite for starts and only starts.

Interesting
 
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Compact

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Re: Another Source

primaryreality said:
You can find a free audio version of The Imitation of Christ here:

http://www.ccel.org/k/kempis/imitation2/mp3/

The quality is pretty good, and the site has quite a few other audiobooks (mostly classic Christian texts, but includes some classic fiction) as well and is always adding new ones.

The main site address is: http://www.ccel.org
So you think they have the Da Vinci Code as well? :)
 

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david1951 said:
By the way, given the severity of the (silly) US Digital Rights Act (or whatever it's called), should you be telling people that you can get files onto your iPod via the route you describe? Don't want to see you going to jail...

Gosh, this is silly stuff. They are trying to herd cats!
Oddly enough, I don't think that part about being able to get files onto an iPod by burning an audio CD is circumventing DRM; I think that this is OverDrive's response to people who say, "But I want to listen to it on my iPod!" They can say they've provided a means for you to do this. In fact, here's a variant take on the OverDrive DRM in action. I wonder about the accuracy of reporting, though, since I believe the mp3 copies that library borrowers check out and which "are theirs forever" won't play after the borrowing period.

In case you haven't guessed, the TeleRead site is critical of the way digital rights management is being applied, and of OverDrive in particular. They also ran this blog posting about concerns on format and DRM growing along with interest in audiobooks.
 

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You can buy 7 DVD from Books for Free for US $120. Contains most of their books in mp3, 48kbps format. I got one some time back off e-bay direct from them at lower price. With MarkAble merge and quick convert or iTunes 5 make bookmarkable without merger, this is now an easy thing to use.

I couldn't find it, but I think I recall that they mostly used UK narrators. With the exception of the jarring file number announcement, I have enjoyed these.
 

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Is there any place I can download free childrens' audiobooks legally? My son is six and has an iPod shuffle. I would like to put some children's audiobooks on there for him.
 
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There are childrens books available if you take the time to click on the links provided.

Please keep this thread on topic. It is to post links to sites that are offering free audiobooks.
 
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JRoDDz - The topic part was not for you since your question was about the subject of this thread but to the others that were posting other topics that are now split off of this thread and put on a separate thread.

The sites posted on this thread are free audiobooks that are legal. If sites are not legal to download audiobooks from then we would remove them from the forum. The links posted are only legal downloads.
 

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JRoDDz: if your son can cope with the poor quality of the free versions (better quality costs a few dollars) then I can recommend the childrens books available from www.audiobooksforfree.com, particularly the Edith Nesbit short stories (the novels such as "Five Children and It" are probably better suited to ages 10-12 - though if the child is listening they probably have better a better comprehension level than reading level at the same age).

There are also some great classic childrens books like all of the Oz series by L.Frank Baum.
 

moriond

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JRoDDz said:
Is there any place I can download LEGAL free childrens' audiobooks? My son is six and has an iPod shuffle. I would like to put some children's audiobooks on there for him.
You can try the downloadable podcasts from Story Spieler. I've linked to the web page they've recently setup for some of the stories. That also contains a link to their podcasting page. Currently there are some Hans Christian Andersen stories (The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, etc.), Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories, Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost, and the Oz stories, among others. In the past they've read the Dr. Doolitle stories. Some of the stories are for older readers, and there have also been short stories by Bret Harte, excerpts from Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. You can subscribe to the podcasts through the iTunes Music Store -- do a search for Story Spieler.

Another nice site for story readings for a six-yearold is Storyline Online. This site has readings by members of the Screen Actors' Guild of picture books, which are displayed as macromedia flash animations while the book is being read. Some examples are Lou Diamond Phillips reading The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsberg or Al Gore (not a SAG member) reading William Steig's Brave Irene. You can select the size of the movie display in case you are on a slow connection. These are not audiobooks for the shuffle in the sense you described, but your son might enjoy "reading" this with the pictures on the web.

BookPALS also has telephone numbers you can call to hear Storyline readings of other stories by different members of SAG. These are not 800 numbers, so check availability (Arizona, Florida, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis/St. Paul currently) on the links.
Hope this helps


P.S. The Story Spieler site is also listed in the sticky of podcasts at the top of this forums page, but most of the podcasts listed are not children's stories.
 

JRoDDz

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Thanks moriond and david1951 for the suggestions. Appreciate it!
 
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