Task #438
openTask #417: Search for existing literature
Look at LibriVox.org
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Description
Gutenberg.org is collecting audio books from a website called LibriVox:
It features audio books under the license Creative Commons Public Domain. As usual, we have to look at the catalog in order to find audio books that target children. Note that audio files may be too large to go on the CD but not on a future DDL DVD. We can also host files on our website, which also means we need to be able to easily arrange them on our web server: additional work is required to do so.
Files
Updated by Jean-Michel Philippe about 13 years ago
- Subject changed from Look at LibriVox to Look at LibriVox.org
Updated by Anonymous about 13 years ago
- File LibrivoxAVLanguages.jpg LibrivoxAVLanguages.jpg added
Hello,
I have been using Librivox - more or less extensive - for the past 3 years; I have listened to close to 100 recordings (99% English) of varying length, thus I'd like to add the following points for consideration:
1. The recordings are mostly done by amateurs (I'm using the word in its pure form here, not the pejorative one so widespread nowadays, id est, enthusiastic people who give it all they've got, yet often lack professional training, experience and equipment), thus the quality of the recordings fluctuates quite a lot.
2. Longer recordings are often executed by multiple people. It can be quite distracting and sometimes annoying to have a change of recording quality, tone and atmosphere every 6 to 12 minutes.
3. Not all recordings are executed by native speakers. I had the honour of listening to some very... "special" readings. Although, I can't deny that I really was enjoying myself during these performances, I can not - bona fide - deem them fit for child ears. Especially, when thinking about integrated listening comprehension exercises for older children that just began learning a new language.
Hm, this reads more negative than intended.
Make no mistake, Librivox is a wonderful project, which can provide hours filled with excitement, adventure, suspense and education.
I just wanted to express that a lot of care must be taken when tackling the selection process. And furthermore, that it might happen that a desired recording is available but that one of the above mentioned points renders it sadly unusable.
And if a desired recording should not be available, one can always lend Librivox a hand and record it oneself (if a public domain text for it exists, that is).
There is quite a lot more positive stuff to be said about Librivox, especially about the recording of plays, but one can find out more about that on Librivox.org.
regards
Remy
p.S.: I'm adding a jpeg showing the number of available recordings in the available languages.
Updated by Jean-Michel Philippe about 13 years ago
Thank you very much Remy for your interesting comments.
I also noticed that some audio files are recorded with a strong accent, which may be a bit disturbing for children. While I haven't made up my mind on this topic, we have to consider that some languages are spoken in a large number of countries, with each one its particular accent. Thus these recordings may still be performed by native speakers despite their strong accent and may not sound strange for every children.
Concerning audio quality, the files I listened to had no major problem either on the technical side and on the artistic side. Of course we have to take care of quality for our CD. I noticed that volumes may need to be adjusted though. We may also need to test noise removing algorithms to enhance some performances. Finally I plan to embellish audio files with sounds and, why not, some music notes.
Anyway we cannot use LibriVox as is because we have to sort out audio books that really fit children. This means we have to listen to them before inclusion and judge of their relevancy. Note that if you wish to help us do this job, you're welcome!
Updated by Jean-Michel Philippe about 13 years ago
- Due date changed from 11/21/2011 to 02/20/2012
- Target version changed from 2011-11 to 2012-02
- Start date changed from 10/21/2011 to 12/26/2011
Updated by Jean-Michel Philippe over 12 years ago
- Target version changed from 2012-02 to 2012-08
Updated by Jean-Michel Philippe about 12 years ago
- Due date deleted (
02/20/2012) - Target version changed from 2012-08 to 2012-11