Can LibriVox Recordings Download to Talking Book Player?

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » October 20th, 2017, 11:14 am

My mother-in-law is gradually losing her eyesight due to macular degeneration. She no longer uses a computer, but does have a talking book player and receives books from the library for the blind in her state. She enjoys the books and appreciates the service a lot, but sometimes wishes more books were available.

There are several LibriVox recordings that I think she would like, but I've only downloaded LibriVox items to an iPad or small MP3 player, which would be impossible for her to use. I would like to download some LibriVox recordings that I think she would enjoy. I don't think this can be done on the type of device that she has. However, I'm wondering if there is any type of MP3 player, CD player, whatever available that I could buy to download books for her, which would have audio instructions for her similar to the machine that she has?

Thank you.

Post by **aradlaw** » October 20th, 2017, 11:37 am

I guess it would depend on what sort of talking book player your mother has, does it support .mp3, ogg or VBR M3U file formats ? All are available from our catalog at archive.org.

Post by **annise** » October 20th, 2017, 12:43 pm

I don't have personal experience but I do know that a member with a mother in a similar situation used to provide her with audio CDs that she either made herself or brought on eBay . CD's of most LV work are available there at a fairly low price.

Anne

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » October 23rd, 2017, 7:29 pm

I’ve had success with this. Looking at information online, I learned that the type of player Mother-in law has does have a USB port. When she demonstrated it for me she didn’t show me the port, so I doubt she even knows that it exists. I found a used player online like the one she has. I ordered it with the idea of experimenting by loading a book to a USB drive to see if it would work with this machine. It works just fine, so I plan to download a lot of LibrVox books that I think she’ll enjoy, put them on a flash drive and mail it to her. I think she’ll enjoy them a lot. Success!

Post by **annise** » October 23rd, 2017, 10:51 pm

That's great to know , much better than having to use hundreds of disks

Anne

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » December 1st, 2017, 1:30 pm

Update: I spent time researching LibriVox for books my mom-in-law will probably like. I also found several radio programs (Old Time Radio) from archive.org that I think she'll enjoy. I loaded 51 items to the flash drive. As her eyesight is nearly gone, I also made a short recording with the titles of books (or radio programs) loaded to the drive and a brief description of each one. The flash drive size is 32 gigabytes. All the items that I loaded to the drive filled it just a little more than halfway. With so much space she'll have no problem downloading library books to her computer then to the flash drive.

While searching for books and radio programs for Ann, I found several that I thought sounded interesting and very good, so copied everything from the flash drive to my computer. Now I have tons of listening material for my own entertainment - not to mention all the books sitting on the shelves, begging to be read.