The L o n g Librivox Disclaimer
Posted: June 29th, 2017, 12:54 pm
Every recording should have this disclaimer; firstly to help the listener know what the recording is (of course!), secondly as a legal notification of the public domain status, and thirdly to encourage new volunteers to come and help.
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One of the most useful skills students learn when studying English at school, is the ability to précis. From learning through repeated exercise, how to shorten texts without losing any of their sense, we come to appreciate the beauty of language, the value of words and the clarity of concision.
Listening to LibriVox recordings and profiting from exposure to older texts that public domain reveals; many listeners secretly confess to tiring rapidly of having to listen, at the start of every single chapter, to the fluffily burdensome ‘Librivox Disclaimer’. Mastering the timing of pressing the fast-forward button, to skip the ball-and-chain lead-in, so as not to miss the first word of the exciting next chapter, becomes an art at which LibriVox listeners have had to become highly adept.
Let’s lose the repeated preamble. How? - Well, let’s examine what is currently stipulated in the main form of the currently ubiquitous Librivox Disclaimer:
Chapter 1 of ‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org. This reading by Joe Bloggs, http:// www. joebloggs .org. ‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’, by Anthony Nonesuch. Chapter 1: Refraction
(49 words)
Gathering repetitions and related information, gives:
• Journey to the Land of Rainbows
• Journey to the Land of Rainbows
• Anthony Nonesuch
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 1
• Refraction
• reading by
• Joe Bloggs
• joebloggs.org
• LibriVox recordings
• librivox.org
• LibriVox recording, this is a
• public domain
• visit
• For more information
• volunteer, to
Thus, at the start of each and every chapter: the book title is mentioned twice; the chapter number twice; the reader gives their name and website address; ‘LibriVox’ is mentioned three times and there are three calls to action: visit; (find) more information and volunteer. Professionally-produced audiobooks would have little of this.
Subjected to précis, this burdensome disclaimer could effectively be summarized as:
1. Start of Book Recording:
‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’ by Anthony Nonesuch
Public domain. librivox.org. Read by Joe Bloggs.
2. Start of Chapter:
Chapter 1: Refraction
3. End of Recording:
The End of: ‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’ by Anthony Nonesuch
Read by Joe Bloggs, http:// www. joeblogs .org.
For more public domain titles, and to volunteer, visit librivox.org
—
If the book is in the public domain, then no disclaimer is required …because the book is in the public domain, and so anyone can make a recording of a reading of it. When people hear the name LibriVox as part of a web address, they will know by knowing what a web address does, that they can find more information there if they want it.
The above offers a 92% reduction in repetitive babble before the start of each chapter, without losing any information!
Some might say that as audio files are split by chapter, then they need to include full identifying information at the start of each and every separate recording, in case the recordings become separated. That, however, is what is what 21st-century audio metadata is for. Metadata is a sort of audio 'watermark'. Copyright domain information, owning website and reader identification can be included in standard metadata fields which Audacity allows recorders to insert, without upsetting LibriVox’s cherished reader. (In Audacity menu File>Edit metadata). Simple.
Life is short. In a 21st-century world in which technology saves us time, I hope very much that the arbiters of power at LibriVox will see sense in letting us get on with what’s important in life: enjoying good writing!
___
One of the most useful skills students learn when studying English at school, is the ability to précis. From learning through repeated exercise, how to shorten texts without losing any of their sense, we come to appreciate the beauty of language, the value of words and the clarity of concision.
Listening to LibriVox recordings and profiting from exposure to older texts that public domain reveals; many listeners secretly confess to tiring rapidly of having to listen, at the start of every single chapter, to the fluffily burdensome ‘Librivox Disclaimer’. Mastering the timing of pressing the fast-forward button, to skip the ball-and-chain lead-in, so as not to miss the first word of the exciting next chapter, becomes an art at which LibriVox listeners have had to become highly adept.
Let’s lose the repeated preamble. How? - Well, let’s examine what is currently stipulated in the main form of the currently ubiquitous Librivox Disclaimer:
Chapter 1 of ‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org. This reading by Joe Bloggs, http:// www. joebloggs .org. ‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’, by Anthony Nonesuch. Chapter 1: Refraction
(49 words)
Gathering repetitions and related information, gives:
• Journey to the Land of Rainbows
• Journey to the Land of Rainbows
• Anthony Nonesuch
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 1
• Refraction
• reading by
• Joe Bloggs
• joebloggs.org
• LibriVox recordings
• librivox.org
• LibriVox recording, this is a
• public domain
• visit
• For more information
• volunteer, to
Thus, at the start of each and every chapter: the book title is mentioned twice; the chapter number twice; the reader gives their name and website address; ‘LibriVox’ is mentioned three times and there are three calls to action: visit; (find) more information and volunteer. Professionally-produced audiobooks would have little of this.
Subjected to précis, this burdensome disclaimer could effectively be summarized as:
1. Start of Book Recording:
‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’ by Anthony Nonesuch
Public domain. librivox.org. Read by Joe Bloggs.
2. Start of Chapter:
Chapter 1: Refraction
3. End of Recording:
The End of: ‘Journey to the Land of Rainbows’ by Anthony Nonesuch
Read by Joe Bloggs, http:// www. joeblogs .org.
For more public domain titles, and to volunteer, visit librivox.org
—
If the book is in the public domain, then no disclaimer is required …because the book is in the public domain, and so anyone can make a recording of a reading of it. When people hear the name LibriVox as part of a web address, they will know by knowing what a web address does, that they can find more information there if they want it.
The above offers a 92% reduction in repetitive babble before the start of each chapter, without losing any information!
Some might say that as audio files are split by chapter, then they need to include full identifying information at the start of each and every separate recording, in case the recordings become separated. That, however, is what is what 21st-century audio metadata is for. Metadata is a sort of audio 'watermark'. Copyright domain information, owning website and reader identification can be included in standard metadata fields which Audacity allows recorders to insert, without upsetting LibriVox’s cherished reader. (In Audacity menu File>Edit metadata). Simple.
Life is short. In a 21st-century world in which technology saves us time, I hope very much that the arbiters of power at LibriVox will see sense in letting us get on with what’s important in life: enjoying good writing!