What brought you to LV, and why do you volunteer here?

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » March 23rd, 2015, 4:59 am

I'll start - I discovered LV when I had a job in the country and was doing a LOT of driving. I got fed up with the radio and all my CDs, I'd listened to all the decent audiobooks in the local library (and some others, let's not mention the Dan Brown books) and my hubby asked me why I don't download audiobooks from the internet? I found me some sci-fi novels and I was hooked!

I listened to many books, and heard the disclaimer so many times I just kind of blanked it out, until the last chapter of a novel I was listening to, when the reader said "For more information... AAAaaaand to Volunteer! Please visit Librivox dot org." And I thought, hey, I could do that!

When I joined they were just finishing up the Scarlet Pimpernel and Anne of Avonlea, so I read for both of those, then I got a part in Pride and Prejudice when it was orphaned

then someone said to me "oh, one day you'll be BCing books here, you know!" and I said "no way..."

Which is why I'm currently BCing 2 DRs, 2 chapter books and a play!

My daughters really like listening to audiobooks in general and DRs in particular - the younger two don't read well on their own yet. I also like to think that after I'm gone perhaps they and other children will enjoy listening to the stories I'm creating for them!

jessieyun0404 · Post by **jessieyun0404** » March 23rd, 2015, 5:23 am

I'll started to know LV when I was discovering about free audiobooks in Android app - and then I saw that there was my favorite book - The Phantom of the Opera DR! I started to listen it, and as Beth said, I decided to become a volunteer when I heard "for more information, or to volunteer, please visit..."

Then I started to look for librivox.org, and found that anyone can volunteer, and make contributions! I made up my mind and started to make it. I recently enjoyed "A Christmas Carol DR" (I love DRs!

) - which I turned it on every night when I go to bed.

I thought that there are not much South Korean volunteers here - not many of them knows LV - so I decided to make some Korean (Hangul) audiobooks, but sadly, I found that there is not much book around here to read. But, I am doing a lot of fun here, and I glad to be working and volunteering

MBraymiller · Post by **MBraymiller** » March 23rd, 2015, 7:03 am

My wife and I have been married over 30 years and one thing we have done from the very beginning is that I read to her at night. I've read hundreds of novels aloud to her.

We both listen to audiobooks and for a time I would download and burn copies of LibriVox recordings for her to listen to. After she finished one particularly good one, she asked me what I would need equipment wise to contribute. After telling her, she surprised me the next Christmas with a nice new shiny microphone.

It took me a while to get started, but I've been enjoying it a great deal since, though I have not submitted more than a couple dozen bits and pieces here and there.

tovarisch · Post by **tovarisch** » March 23rd, 2015, 7:24 am

I came across a link to "books should be free" site (it now is called "loyal books" or something like it) while looking for audiobooks online. It is a portal to archive dot org, I think. After listening to Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and some others I started looking for Russian recordings there, but couldn't really find any reasonable selection, so decided I'll try to help out... Of course, I found quite a few nice English language projects along the way too, and that afforded me really good practice of my second language. And don't get me started on the community... It's mighty fine to belong here, I say.

Ladeebug · Post by **Ladeebug** » March 23rd, 2015, 7:51 am

Hi all,

I had a similar start with Librivox as Elizabby. I was sick of the radio, our talk radio station was shut down and I had nothing to listen to on my commute. I borrowed all the audio books from the library and turned to the internet for more.

After hearing "Librivox.org" over and over, I looked it up one day. I read all the posts on volunteering and decided to give it a go. I cannot record books at the moment (no microphone, a very old computer and a noisy toddler), but I really enjoy proof listening.

Tawnya

EstherbenSimonides · Post by **EstherbenSimonides** » March 23rd, 2015, 8:16 am

Hi,

I had heard of Project Gutenberg, and found that there were audio books on it, too. The links always led to the 'LibriVox' site. I watched all the videos, and knew what to do before I ever got my welcome email. It's been lots of fun!

commonsparrow3 · Post by **commonsparrow3** » March 23rd, 2015, 9:42 am

Several things led me here --

(1) My family have always been readers-aloud. We began recording some of our reading about twenty years ago, with a simple cassette recorder, so as to include a sister who had moved out of town. So reading into a microphone seemed like a completely natural thing to do. My sis used to joke that it was too bad we didn't have some modern equivalent of the paid reader who used to read aloud to the workers in the old cigar factories, because that would be the perfect job for me, nothing to do but read aloud all day -- Aaahhhh, that'd be the life!

(2) A few years ago, I picked up a job delivering pizzas, which meant I was on the road many hours a day, which really cut into my reading time. I belonged to a book club which was reading Jane Eyre, and I wanted an audio version that I could listen to in the car. The only audiobook version in our library was checked out. My favorite librarian pointed me to LibriVox, where I found what I needed. I liked what I found, and stuck around to listen to more books. After a year or so of listening, it seemed like time to pay back the gift by contributing something.

(3) When I feel like I'm a small useless bit in the world, finishing a little job for LV lets me think, "Well, I managed to accomplish one useful thing today; I'm doing something worthwhile and productive with my free time." Even if I haven't got the best of voices, I've found a place where competitive talent doesn't matter, where all that matters is putting the books out there for people who need them -- people with visual impairments or physical issues who are frustratingly cut off from paper books -- working people whose work keeps them from picking up a book, but allows plenty of time to listen to books.

(4) Besides the above reasons for being here, there's also one reason why I stayed -- because the folks I've met here have been so friendly and helpful. It's like a cross between a digital audiotech college and an eclectic book club all rolled up in one. Just a nice place to hang out.

kukailimoku · Post by **kukailimoku** » March 23rd, 2015, 10:47 am

I took the app-to-Librivox route. I downloaded the audiobooks app and the disclaimer text brought me hear. My commute is 35 minutes each way and I also walk for 40 minutes at lunchtime and Librivox has become a constant companion.

DACSoft · Post by **DACSoft** » March 23rd, 2015, 10:55 am

My story begins about 5 years ago, when I purchased a Kindle (version 2). While looking for some free ebooks to download, I found Project Gutenberg (PG). After about 9 months of avid reading of books from the site, I wanted to give back, and followed the link to Distributed Proofreaders (DP). I've been a volunteer there ever since, producing about 70 books (so far) through DP for PG.

Just before uploading an ebook to PG, there's an optional step at DP called smoothreading. Volunteers read for pleasure, but look out for those hard-to-find errors that sometimes get through the earlier processes. I generally smoothread all my projects, and in the summer of 2013, having 2 nephews and a niece for the summer, I began smoothreading aloud to them (most of my projects are juvenile books). They enjoyed my reading, and I greatly enjoyed reading to them. When they went back home for the school year, I thought that maybe ... just maybe ... others might enjoy my reading also.

Having heard of LibriVox (LV) a few years earlier, I took another look the site, and was pleased to find that I could volunteer my services reading aloud, and (hopefully) give others similar enjoyment as I had done for my relatives. So it was a natural step for me to record for LV some of the books I produced for PG. (1 down, 2 more in progress, and 66 to go

)

I've been here a year and a half, and enjoy it immensely!

miss stav · Post by **miss stav** » March 23rd, 2015, 11:21 am

So... Why am I here? I am blind. My only way to read is listening to audiobooks, because brail gives me a headache. My father wanted to inlarge my selection of audiobooks, so he found this sight for me. It took me two years to relise that some books need me to give them a push. So I am siill here, giving that push. I want other blind people to enjoy the rair audiobooks I find. My challenge is to try to find these books which might otherwise not be recorded because they are not well known and lend my hand. Of course, many others also do that, but there are mor books then we could possibly grapp by ourselves... SO, there are enough books for everybody.

Post by **annise** » March 23rd, 2015, 1:53 pm

I discovered audiobooks in our local library and enjoyed listening to them but the supply was limited, my daughters said there were free ones on iTunes so I started listening to various History books and found many of them were from LibriVox so I had a look , found the forum and thought maybe I could help out a bit by PLing a section or 2.
So I did

Anne

Cori · Post by **Cori** » March 23rd, 2015, 2:27 pm

I was looking for free French audiobooks and there was a thread here about doing Les Liaisons Dangereuses. I got really excited about the possibility for using LibriVox as a way to proofread Distributed Proofreaders' books before releasing to Project Gutenberg. As it turned out, that was a terribly impractical idea. And Les L D didn't get finished for another two years. But I just kinda hung around anyway.

I continue to volunteer here because I like making something for posterity. Both the books and the community, in my view, do that.

Post by **MaryAnnSpiegel** » March 23rd, 2015, 5:57 pm

I had watched North and South (BBC Richard Armitage version) and wanted to read the book, but didn't have time. So a library friend pointed me here and I listened instead. After listening for a while during my commute, I thought . . . I can do that! So I bought a mic and started. Stav encouraged me to BC a project jointly with her. Lars ended up reading the whole book so it was a very easy initial BC project!

MaryAnn

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » March 23rd, 2015, 10:52 pm

I can't quite remember how I first found LV. I know that the first book I listened to was Beautiful Girlhood by Mabel Hale. It was recommended to my mother somewhere. About the same time I saw a link to the Librivox recording of the first three Elsie Dinsmore books. Anyway I though that it was something I might like to do. Also I thought that it would help improve my speech. At least that's what I told Mum. So I started recording and haven't really stopped though I've been going fairly slowly sometimes.
I had a plan. It involved finish my solo early in 2014, coordinating a book and then a Dramatic Reading. I recorded the last chapter of my solo in the last week of 2014. I've been involved in one DR and coordinated a tiny one. I'm on the verge of starting a bigger one. None have been the book I've wanted to do for a while. I've done the first chapter of the other book I wanted to coordinate. I'm not disappointed though. I've done something.

barbara2 · Post by **barbara2** » March 24th, 2015, 2:47 am

MBraymiller wrote:My wife and I have been married over 30 years and one thing we have done from the very beginning is that I read to her at night. I've read hundreds of novels aloud to her.

We both listen to audiobooks and for a time I would download and burn copies of LibriVox recordings for her to listen to. After she finished one particularly good one, she asked me what I would need equipment wise to contribute. After telling her, she surprised me the next Christmas with a nice new shiny microphone.

Lovely story!

Best,

Barbara