Free access to 1800 audiobooks for iPhone

Your iPhone/iPod touch listening options just got a lot larger. Audiobooks, [App Store] a free app, gives you a large catalog of public domain classic works from Dickens to Verne for your listening pleasure.

The books come from the LibriVox library, a non-profit project that has volunteers read the books and then releases the free recordings.

The app is ad-supported, but the ads are not obtrusive in my view. The books I listened to were competently read. Downloading was quick over WiFi, ~~quite a bit slower over 3G, but usable~~.(Mea culpa. Books can be downloaded over WiFi only. I confused this with another e-book app I am reviewing.) You can start listening while the book is completing the download, which is a plus.

Downsides are that every chapter starts with disclaimers about the book being in the public domain, which kind of breaks the mood.

The search function works well, but would be better if you could search by genre. There is a nice surprise me button, which gives you a book at random, but in practice that isn't really that helpful.

The developer of this app also sells audiobooks at the iTunes Store, which we have reviewed. These audiobooks show the text synced to the audio, but I do not find that a compelling feature. I think the new app is the way to go.

Here are a few screen grabs:

Audiobooks

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Source: http://www.travelingclassics.com/products/show/191

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Freeware iPhone App Store iPod touch App Review

Your iPhone/iPod touch listening options just got a lot larger. Audiobooks, [App Store] a free app, gives you a large catalog of public...

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Maddy

There is a nice surprise me button, which gives you a book at random, but in practice that isn't really that helpful.

May 27 2009 at 3:16 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Vic

LOL...that's what my AT&T signal strength usually looks like too.

May 27 2009 at 1:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Michael Hodges

"Downloading was quick over WiFi, quite a bit slower over 3G, but usable."

funny, I can't download any audiobooks over 3G at all... won't even let me download one that's only 4MB.

May 27 2009 at 12:53 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Schell

While I give the readers a lot of credit for what they do, but after listening to several Librivox recordings, I am a firm believer in the notion that not everyone has the "talent" to be the voice of an audio book.

I listened to the first Canto of Inferno read by a woman with the most beautiful and haunting English accent, only to be very disappointed when the remaining Cantos were read by someone with a lisp, followed by someone with not an ounce of inflection in their voice.

In the future, I'll either read the book myself, or pay for a professionally done recording.

May 26 2009 at 8:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Schell's comment

Taylor

Mm, this is bound to happen in any situation where you're relying on volunteers solely.

You can't reject some people because they don't have the right voice when you're not PAYING them...

May 26 2009 at 9:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Noob

Yes you can.

May 27 2009 at 6:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Developer

Contest: where? and who? said the phrase that appears on the video to earn 1 code to download "Join the Dots": http://tinyurl.com/ovkzu9

May 26 2009 at 6:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tony

Strange - This post is showing up in my feed reader, but it's not showing up on the TUAW homepage...just not there at all.

Also strange - the App Store shows 155 reviews, with an average rating of 3 stars...yet there are a total of only 14 reviews when you try to actually read the reviews. And of those, they're all either 4 or 5 stars except 1, which is 1 star, but the review says "Awesome app! blah, blah, blah...really great! blah blah blah."

Anyway, I downloaded the app and so far it's pretty nice. Downloaded "Art of War"

May 26 2009 at 5:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Tony's comment

msbaylor

iTunes considers Reviews by ranking the app (out of 5 stars) whether you leave a written review or not.

May 26 2009 at 10:48 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

required

I usually just go to http://www.archive.org/details/audio_bookspoetry on my PSP browser for these types of things.

May 26 2009 at 4:28 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply