4 ms·

See also: Librivox [1], for public-domain audio books read by actual humans [1] https://librivox.org/ https://librivox.org/

yorwba 3y ago
Most likely the AI was actually trained on LibriVox, potentially even on largely the same books... EDIT: The first book on the list https://marhamilresearch4.blob.core.windows.net/gutenberg-public/Website/browse.html https://marhamilresearch4.blob.core.windows.net/gutenberg-pu... is "100%: the Story of a Patriot" and the LibriVox version is at https://librivox.org/100-the-story-of-a-patriot-by-upton-sinclair/ https://librivox.org/100-the-story-of-a-patriot-by-upton-sin...
- DanielleMolloy 3y ago
  Not a good idea then. The librivox experience turned me away from professionally read audiobooks for far too long. Amateur readers are hit & miss. A lot of professional readers are actors or have a lot of experience. There is a reason people do pay for professionally read books instead of electronic reading or librivox only.
low_tech_love 3y ago
Are you a specist? Why should we value more an audiobook that's read by a human? Sorry, just joking. But here's a reason: these things were not quality-checked at all. Click on Moon Voyage by Jules Verne and be greeted with a very human-like voice reading an numbered list of "other works by the author" in an extremely awkward fashion that's probably caused by how the .TXT file is organized.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
Thanks, I'm happy this exists. I think I'll start contributing this fall.
bunderbunder 3y ago
Lit2Go is also good: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ The sibling poster is right, the quality varies. But the upper end of the quality range is really quite good. One of the best-read audiobooks I've ever heard was a Lit2Go edition of Pygmalion. And, for that matter, one of the worst-read audiobooks I've ever heard was an edition of an extremely famous and commercially successful book that I bought on Audible.

yorwba 3y ago

Most likely the AI was actually trained on LibriVox, potentially even on largely the same books... EDIT: The first book on the list https://marhamilresearch4.blob.core.windows.net/gutenberg-public/Website/browse.html https://marhamilresearch4.blob.core.windows.net/gutenberg-pu... is "100%: the Story of a Patriot" and the LibriVox version is at https://librivox.org/100-the-story-of-a-patriot-by-upton-sinclair/ https://librivox.org/100-the-story-of-a-patriot-by-upton-sin...

DanielleMolloy 3y ago
Not a good idea then. The librivox experience turned me away from professionally read audiobooks for far too long. Amateur readers are hit & miss. A lot of professional readers are actors or have a lot of experience. There is a reason people do pay for professionally read books instead of electronic reading or librivox only.

low_tech_love 3y ago

Are you a specist? Why should we value more an audiobook that's read by a human? Sorry, just joking. But here's a reason: these things were not quality-checked at all. Click on Moon Voyage by Jules Verne and be greeted with a very human-like voice reading an numbered list of "other works by the author" in an extremely awkward fashion that's probably caused by how the .TXT file is organized.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

Thanks, I'm happy this exists. I think I'll start contributing this fall.

bunderbunder 3y ago

Lit2Go is also good: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ The sibling poster is right, the quality varies. But the upper end of the quality range is really quite good. One of the best-read audiobooks I've ever heard was a Lit2Go edition of Pygmalion. And, for that matter, one of the worst-read audiobooks I've ever heard was an edition of an extremely famous and commercially successful book that I bought on Audible.