Librivox books on Amazon

Ariverlion · Post by **Ariverlion** » December 20th, 2023, 12:42 am

Hello, I don't know if this is something already known, but I noticed that Amazon/audible are selling Librivox audiobooks on their site.

Specifically I noticed a book I did for Librivox:
https://librivox.org/human-all-too-human-a-book-for-free-spirits-by-friedrich-nietzsche/
https://www.amazon.com/Human-All-Too-Book-Spirits/dp/B0B9824JMG/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Aaron+Rivera&qid=1703058070&s=audible&sr=1-2

Is this legal and know to the community? Why is Amazon able to make a profit on Librivox books?

Post by **annise** » December 20th, 2023, 1:13 am

Our books are all released into the Public Domain - public domain means anyone can do anything with them legally.

If you want to report it to Amazon you can - some platforms do not like being used to sell books that are available for free on line

Anne

Ariverlion · Post by **Ariverlion** » December 20th, 2023, 1:18 am

Okay, just checking. I happened to notice it today and I didn't know if that was still within public domain law to copyright Librivox work and sell it.

Winnifred · Post by **Winnifred** » December 20th, 2023, 1:40 pm

Two of my solos are up there (one of them multiple times) and the funniest part of it is that I'm told I can't access them in my country!

sjmarky · Post by **sjmarky** » December 22nd, 2023, 6:49 pm

This comes up every couple of months. We refer to these as “pirated” and has been going on for a long time. I’m probably the most pirated Librivox reader. And no, there’s nothing you can do about it. Just like anyone can take a Project Gutenberg text, add some art and in intro and sell it as an ebook. It’s just you have to accept when you do a Librivox recording.

msfry · Post by **msfry** » December 28th, 2023, 1:30 pm

So what, do they strip off the LV disclaimer from each file, maybe add something of their own? They do apparently make a new cover., probably easier than trying to erase LibriVox off the artwork.

Someone at Librivox should learn how to do this, and teach us the ropes so we can be the ones earning the money for our own work. While I freely give for free to readers, I don't particularly like supporting grifters.

sjmarky · Post by **sjmarky** » December 28th, 2023, 1:55 pm

msfry wrote: ↑December 28th, 2023, 1:30 pm So what, do they strip off the LV disclaimer from each file, maybe add something of their own? They do apparently make a new cover., probably easier than trying to erase LibriVox off the artwork.

That's exactly what they do. Sometimes change the reader to a fake name. I've been "Arthur Vincet" a number of times. LV covers don't meet Audible standards so they make a new one.

jondalar1988 · Post by **jondalar1988** » February 9th, 2024, 3:01 pm

I realize I'm beating a dead horse here, but.......while I've been aware for some time that some of the productions on librivox have been offered for sale on Audible, I wasn't aware they included commercials!
However, when checking out my reading of the ASV Bible on Librivox, I learned it was placed there by a podcaster and contains lengthy Cox commercials. But, at least, he left intact the librivox disclaimers. caveat emptor.

edit: Just did some more checking and discovered that the same person (Valerio Di Stefano) has placed a TON of librivox recordings on Audible as podcasts (he has 238 there) and has copyrighted all of them! Is this kosher?