LibriVox API Discussion Thread

Comments about LibriVox? Suggestions to improve things? News?
williamjones
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Post by williamjones »

TriciaG wrote: April 1st, 2021, 4:40 am
BIG QUESTION:HOW CAN I GET TWO .ZIP FILES TO INTERESTED PARTIES.
The uploader takes zips. I assume they're under 100 MB each. :) You can use the ZZ-Nonproject folder.
Many thanks, Tricia.
I'll check out the "ZZ" or "ZZ-Nonproject" folder.
-- Bill Jones

When you think that you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
--- Thomas Edison
williamjones
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Post by williamjones »

TriciaG wrote: April 1st, 2021, 4:40 am
BIG QUESTION:HOW CAN I GET TWO .ZIP FILES TO INTERESTED PARTIES.
The uploader takes zips. I assume they're under 100 MB each. :) You can use the ZZ-Nonproject folder.
I found XX-nonproject but not ZZ-nonproject
Shall I use XX?
-- Bill Jones

When you think that you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
--- Thomas Edison
knotyouraveragejo
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Post by knotyouraveragejo »

Yes, use xx-nonproject
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modomodo
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Post by modomodo »

Hi! I just registered for the forums because I'm interested in getting a copy of all the metadata for LibriVox. That sounds much more convenient than using this API.

I was also wondering btw if anyone has thought about mirroring the recordings themselves someplace that would be faster / more reliable than the librivox site.
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

I was also wondering btw if anyone has thought about mirroring the recordings themselves someplace that would be faster / more reliable than the librivox site.
They're hosted at Archive.org, which is pretty fast/reliable, I think.
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
williamjones
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Post by williamjones »

Uploaded three .zip files to the xx-nonproject area:

https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/AllBooksReadMe.zip
https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/AllBookData.zip 3.27 KB
https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/AllBooksViews.zip 5.13 KB

See the AllBooksReadMe.TXT file contained in the eponymous zip file for the contents.

It's not likely, but I'll ask anyway: is anyone reading this posting competent in MS ACCESS and VBA?
-- Bill Jones

When you think that you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
--- Thomas Edison
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

It's not likely, but I'll ask anyway: is anyone reading this posting competent in MS ACCESS and VBA?
Not at all, here. I know what Access is, but I never did figure it out. I have no idea what VBA is.

P.S. Adding formatting to a link breaks the link. You'll want to remove the red and bolding to make that readme link work. ;)
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
williamjones
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Post by williamjones »

TriciaG wrote: April 1st, 2021, 3:03 pm
It's not likely, but I'll ask anyway: is anyone reading this posting competent in MS ACCESS and VBA?
Not at all, here. I know what Access is, but I never did figure it out. I have no idea what VBA is.

P.S. Adding formatting to a link breaks the link. You'll want to remove the red and bolding to make that readme link work. ;)
I worried about that. Should I find some way to delete or overlay that modified link? Or, will people be smart enough to re-type the bold/red letters without the [...] mark ups?

VBA ==> Visual Basic for Applications, the preferred source code for procedural content.

Thanks, again.
-- Bill Jones

When you think that you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
--- Thomas Edison
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

I worried about that. Should I find some way to delete or overlay that modified link? Or, will people be smart enough to re-type the bold/red letters without the [...] mark ups?
I've made it so it's clickable and bold. I can't color it. :)
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
williamjones
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Joined: April 26th, 2016, 7:47 pm
Location: Florida

Post by williamjones »

TriciaG wrote: April 1st, 2021, 3:23 pm
I worried about that. Should I find some way to delete or overlay that modified link? Or, will people be smart enough to re-type the bold/red letters without the [...] mark ups?
I've made it so it's clickable and bold. I can't color it. :)
Thanks. :thumbs:
-- Bill Jones

When you think that you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
--- Thomas Edison
knotyouraveragejo
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Post by knotyouraveragejo »

williamjones wrote: April 1st, 2021, 2:40 pm Uploaded three .zip files to the xx-nonproject area:

https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/AllBooksReadMe.zip
https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/AllBookData.zip 3.27 KB
https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/AllBooksViews.zip 5.13 KB

See the AllBooksReadMe.TXT file contained in the eponymous zip file for the contents.

It's not likely, but I'll ask anyway: is anyone reading this posting competent in MS ACCESS and VBA?
Familiar with VBA, but not competent. I've used it a few times to write macros for excel.

MS ACCESS as well as other database software, yes.
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modomodo
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Post by modomodo »

Hi williamjones. Thanks for these exports, but is this really all the info available via the api? (I actually used the api a couple years ago and forgot everything about it and just noticed this post and was going to try your download before trying to work with the api again.). There seems to be lots of metadata that they have presented on the site that is not here, e.g. the category/genre , the language, the summary, etc.

Sorry if this was discussed earlier in the thread. This discussion is very long, and I didn't read every post from the beginning.
williamjones
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Post by williamjones »

modomodo wrote: April 1st, 2021, 9:01 pm Hi williamjones. Thanks for these exports, but is this really all the info available via the api? (I actually used the api a couple years ago and forgot everything about it and just noticed this post and was going to try your download before trying to work with the api again.). There seems to be lots of metadata that they have presented on the site that is not here, e.g. the category/genre , the language, the summary, etc.

Sorry if this was discussed earlier in the thread. This discussion is very long, and I didn't read every post from the beginning.
modomodo, These downloads are the results of my programming in an ACCESS database, employing several Microsoft internet object libraries such as: msml6.dll, ieframe.dll, stdole2.tlb, mshtml.tlb, etc. A couple of months of banging my head against the brick wall of the API, I have determined that there are some buffer/variable size problems in the API code which place a practical limit on how many fields can be dependably asked for from the API. I have tested with the limit parameter set from 2( :wink: ) to 2000 books at a time and have found serious corruption of the XML returned data after a certain point. I had to find a "sweet spot" between the LIMIT parameter and the number of fields asked for. So, the data collected and then displayed in the uploaded .xlsx files is as of 29 MAR 21 downloading only 5 books' data at a time and only a useful selection of the metadata components. Another factor is that the LV servers are frustratingly prone to throwing errors. I had to devote a great deal of code to catching msxhtml errors and looping until getting a successful page request.

The uploads contain no VBA code and I don't plan to upload that in an indiscriminate public forum. I have seen instances where other people rip off the product of the work of LV volunteers in order to create other, competing products. I'm a nonentity in the LV hierarchy but that practice offends me personally. If asked, I'll certainly upload my ACCESS database in its entirety (15MB) to any MC who asks for it and they can decide whether to make it public.
-- Bill Jones

When you think that you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
--- Thomas Edison
modomodo
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Post by modomodo »

I see. That's a shame that the technical infrastructure for LibriVox is apparently so bad. Anyway, thanks for your work, and if I learn or produce something that may be of interest I will post here.
annise
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Post by annise »

The technical infrastructure is fine, the API is not needed for us to fulfill our prime directive,

Anne
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