Using Librivox as the name for an app for the Google Assistant

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sunilvemuri
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Joined: February 23rd, 2018, 7:20 pm

Post by sunilvemuri »

Some colleagues and I (also Google employees) are working on an app to allow people to listen to Librivox content on Google Home and the Google Assistant. Here's the APIs. We'd like to call the app "Librivox". To do, the brand owner must verify. I'm not sure who the brand owner is. "whois" says the domain's admin is hugh at librivox.org
Hoping someone on the forum can
  • Let us know if we can use Librivox as the name of our app
  • If so, help us with the brand verification by responding to the email that will be sent to the brand owner
Thank you.
mightyfelix
LibriVox Admin Team
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Post by mightyfelix »

There's no brand owner. The name "LibriVox" is not copyrighted and can be (and has been) used for apps and other things without requiring permissions. Actually, this sometimes causes confusion for app users, who've tried to contact us here on the forum for help with their app, which of course we can't provide! But that's just how it goes, I guess. Here is a tiny bit of information on what this whole thing is in the first place. Of course, I wouldn't blame you if you'd prefer to wait for one of the mods (of whom I am not) to come and either confirm or contradict what I've said here, but I'm pretty sure I got the gist of it. :D
moniaqua
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Post by moniaqua »

Welcme at LibriVox sunilvemuri,

I have the same view as mightyfelix. Afaik there is no branding. There is already (at least?) one app called LibriVox already though, for playing LibriVox content. I don't know whether google play checks the names but I am very sure that if not, there will be even more confusion when two apps with the same name do the same thing :lol:
annise
LibriVox Admin Team
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Post by annise »

Thanks Devorah , what you say is correct

We get emails via our help address at least once a month from people wishing to make apps and utilise our recordings , and they are absolutely free to do that - we release all our recordings into the public domain. However we do not in anyway endorse any of these and do not gain anything from them and accept no responsibility for anything that they chose to do.
There is an app called Librivox which was released many years ago and is as far as I know successful - I don't use it

Anne

EDITED
Seems I didn't realise what Google Assistant was.
Cori
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Post by Cori »

As everyone's said above, and per our very first blog post: LibriVox is a hope, an experiment, and a question rather than a legal brand. 8-)

Hope you can still find a way to make this work for us, Sunil. :D It'd be cool to have this all hooked up and supported by Google, rather than a third party (not that they don't do some cool stuff too, but I'm not so fond of ads or mixing our content with other people's with less clear copyright statements.)
There's honestly no such thing as a stupid question -- but I'm afraid I can't rule out giving a stupid answer : : To Posterity and Beyond!
sunilvemuri
Posts: 3
Joined: February 23rd, 2018, 7:20 pm

Post by sunilvemuri »

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. For this type of app, Google's verification process does consider Librivox to be a "reserved name" and requires someone who owns the domain/website to follow a procedure to confirm site ownership. I.e., respond to a Google-sent email, put a specific file on the librivox.org website so Google can then check for it, etc.

Our reason for asking for this verification is to offer users a better experience. I.e., a user would say "Hey Google, talk to Librivox" to launch into the app on their Google Home. The less-desirable solution that would not require the help of Librivox admins is for us to use a longer, harder-to-remember name: "Hey Google, talk to Librivox reader" (or something like that).

We would be most grateful if the admins are willing to help us with this verification procedure. If it helps, happy to share more info about the project. Here's a short video of an early version.
mightyfelix
LibriVox Admin Team
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Joined: August 7th, 2016, 6:39 pm

Post by mightyfelix »

Thanks for your explanation of what you need. This might be difficult, though. The thing is (somebody, please, correct me if I'm wrong, because I very well may be) nobody can really be said to "own" LibriVox. It kind of belongs to all of us. I suppose there would have to be somebody who initially set up the domain name, and I suppose they would be considered the "owner." I guess that person would indeed be Hugh, but he's not really around much anymore, from what I can see. I've never seen a post from him in the almost year and a half that I've been here. I hope you do find a solution.
annise
LibriVox Admin Team
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Post by annise »

sunilvemuri wrote: February 24th, 2018, 10:42 am Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. For this type of app, Google's verification process does consider Librivox to be a "reserved name" and requires someone who owns the domain/website to follow a procedure to confirm site ownership. I.e., respond to a Google-sent email, put a specific file on the librivox.org website so Google can then check for it, etc.

Our reason for asking for this verification is to offer users a better experience. I.e., a user would say "Hey Google, talk to Librivox" to launch into the app on their Google Home. The less-desirable solution that would not require the help of Librivox admins is for us to use a longer, harder-to-remember name: "Hey Google, talk to Librivox reader" (or something like that).

We would be most grateful if the admins are willing to help us with this verification procedure. If it helps, happy to share more info about the project. Here's a short video of an early version.
If you could send us an email at info@librivox.org we could see what would prove acceptable to Google as the domain website owner . Hugh is still around but he was always not actively involved in the forums .
There are some difficulties about not existing :D
edit - I mean LibriVox has little/no legal existence - not that Hugh is imaginery

Anne
sunilvemuri
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Post by sunilvemuri »

We did launch it. Feel free to try it on the Google Assistant.
annise
LibriVox Admin Team
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Post by annise »

Great , thanks for letting us know .
Maybe that'a a bettor name for it , more people will probably try it - I'd try "Free Book Reader" even if I'd never heard of LibriVox
Sorry it's so hard to deal with unstructed organisations though, even I find it frustratingly difficult to get an answer.

Anne
john9a
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Joined: March 21st, 2018, 1:24 pm

Post by john9a »

I want to Thank You ! for creating the wonderful Librivox Google Home App!
I found it by accident, asking Google Home "Ok Google Find LibriVox"
Google replies "You might like talking to 'Free Book Reader' does that sound good?"
Then of course, I was in!
Note that if you ask Google Home to "Open Librivox" it will not work. So there are many more 'won't work' than will in terms of phrasing, and I think it was luck that I used "Find" as I'd tried "can you read librivox" etc. with no luck and assumed that it was simply not an option.
i'd been using my cell phone to listen to Librivox, but using the Google Home, at home, is Much more convenient and avoids cell phone battery issues. I even purchased an Amazon Echo Dot hoping LibriVox might be available there, but no luck.
So it was a great surprise when I finally stumbled on this app and Many Thanks or the great job creating it! :clap: :thumbs:

Google Home "Free Book Reader" some commands:
(note than for "Google Home' the 'hotword' is 'Ok Google'.
All "Google Home" 'Free Book Reader' Commands are prefixed with hotword "Ok Google"
'Free Book Reader' Command: ____Function Performed:
"Ok Google Help' ________________When In Free Book Reader will give a Help dialog.
"Ok Google '____________________Open Free Book Reader' : starts the app
"Ok Google Find Librivox" : ________Google offers to start "Free Book Reader" app.
"OK Google Goodbye" _____________Returns to Google Assistant.
"Ok Google Pause Playback" ________pauses ( "pause" alone will Not pause book playback )
"Ok Google Stop" ________________pauses playback
"Ok Google Resume" ______________resumes playback
"Ok Google Resume Playback" _______resumes paused playbook.
"OK Google Rewind 'N' Seconds" Rewind 'N' Number of seconds specified , units can be Minutes etc.
"OK Google Track 'NN'_____________ Will go to the Track number stated, when in an active audiobook.
MissLiz
Posts: 1
Joined: January 2nd, 2020, 4:18 am

Post by MissLiz »

Hi, I was hoping to use the"Free Book Reader" /Librivox app through the Google Nest I just bought for my mother - she has lost her sight to a great degree, and is missing reading A LOT.
I have tried all the magic words I have found on this forum,and also in mentions on a blind users forum - but they bring up an odd selection of NOT the free book reader!
The link in this thread to your finished app comes up with a google "sorry, can't show you that at this time" page. It does seem as if the app may have been removed........ maybe cos google sells audio books now?
Any news would be appreciated - hoping like mad there are new magic words!
thanks
khelge
Posts: 1
Joined: February 15th, 2021, 5:45 pm

Post by khelge »

MissLiz wrote: January 2nd, 2020, 1:41 pm Any news would be appreciated - hoping like mad there are new magic words!
thanks
Don't know if it's the same people but I use the command book reader when I want to listen to librivox. "Hey Google, talk to book reader".

Read more here:
https://blog.speakhub.io/free-audio-books
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