LibriVox audio recordings of e-books are a treat to hear on my new Nokia N770—I especially liked a narrator’s performance at the start of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s This Side of Paradise. So Branko’s coincidental post on LibriVox’s second birthday was super-timely for me.
I’ve hooked the N770 up to a cheapie Radio Shack radio, now selling for $39.97 and worth every penny. My 770’s net.radio tuner carries settings for half a dozen stations, but LibriVox, too, will be welcome listening. Oh, and notice the positioning of the Fitzgerald photo and the angle of his eyes? Is his ghost looking covetously at the radio? Climb out of the grave, Scott, return to your mortal self, and I’ll give you the radio—however you may feel about the Sonny Bono Copyright Term 
Extension Act and the Bono-covered Great Gatsby. LibriVox is use of the public domain at its very best, making me all the sadder that LV can’t do Gatsby in addition to Paradise.
Twenty-two audio segments in MP3, read by different narrators, make up Paradise, some 80,000 words long. In lengths of no more than about 30MB at the most, they’re rather digestible for most portable players and audio-capable handhelds with sufficient storage. No DRM to clutter things up on your player! And aren’t audio books one reason to order a 2G memory card for the 770?
Readings made for walkin’
More than ever, I can see the value of audiobooks—for walks and commutes and the rest—and simply don’t want them to divert dollars from e-books. My local library in Alexandria, VA, is one of the offenders, alas. The LibriVox recordings are free and don’t divert money from anyone.
The big question of the moment is: What to do about the N770’s battery? I understand that you’ll hurt the 770 if you leave it plugged in constantly, which on most days would be more convenient for me. Hello, Dr. Ellen Hage and others? What are your suggestions based on your own experiences? Speaking of Ellen, she’s of a different school from me when it comes to listening while reading—she’s not as big on it. Other opinions? What kinds of reading music do you like, if any? I’ll go for anything from Dylan to baroque (no snobbery or deep knowledge of classical music: I just like it).
Links of the day:
–Yes, Amazon.com still has N770’s for $140, and what I’ve said above applies to the N800, selling for $360 there.
—Universal is joining EMI and others in trying out music unencumbered by DRM, and Slashdotters wonder if music DRM isn’t in “critical condition,” even if part of the reason is Universal’s desire not to rely so much on Apple.
The e-book variety of DRM, of course, persists—maybe in part because of publishers’ investment in paper infrastructure and fears that it will crumble amid e-piracy. Problem is that the pirates love to scan or even type out paper books. DRM “protects” more against revenue than against the evildoers. See roundups from Google and Techmeme, as well as items in the New York Times and Ars Technica.
I still intend to do yet another piece proposing a logo for the IDPF that would cover DRMless book—with the issue not being DRM itself, but the group’s standard is already more or less ready for titles without “protection.” So why diss publishers like Baen, which actually hate DRM? Serve the DRM lovers with a second standard, if DRM is what they really want.
–The old Blackmask site, a mix of a store and pub domain collection with more than 20,000 titles, seems to be making progress toward getting out of beta—with a new name in use: Munseys. We reported that earlier; the real news is the site is filling up with content, including Lost by the River, a mystery by David Moynihan, the proprietor, along with pulp fiction by other writers. Hey, I like those covers, and I see that Lost is a free Creative Commons work in E (paper edition for $11.96). David is a legend in PD circles and was shut down during a copyright battle. See earlier TeleBlog items about his struggles over the Doc Savage and Shadow works, well as a fascinating account at MobileRead.
I disagreed with David’s interpretation of copyright law, but have missed Blackmask. While Manybooks.net is now doing the multiformat act, both sites have been an important part of the pub-domain ecosystem. (Via an email list for Project Gutenberg.)
Image below: Novel by Munseys owner David Moynihan.
Regarding your battery question, just treat the Nokia like any cellphone. I charge mine up and then unplug the charger and leave it alone. Then I charge after every use. If you want the real story on how to treat the battery, for the Nokia or anything else, just go to:
http://batteryuniversity.com
I don’t see why leaving it plugged in should hurt the battery, by the way. Most good chargers will reduce their output as the battery charge increases and when the battery is full they will put out only a trickle to keep it charged. Replacement batteries are pretty cheap, by the way, if you don’t get them from Nokia.
Paul B re battery: Thanks! Glad to know that replacements are cheap and that keeping the thing plugged in shouldn’t hurt the battery. That addresses the issue of falling asleep and then having the battery run out of juice—when you might need the Nokia in the morning. Now I do remember batteryuniversity.com. What a great pointer. Thanks! Given all the help you’ve provided people through the TeleBlog, MobileRead and the Palm site, I’m tickled that the NYT wrote you up! – David
David,
I didn’t know that leaving it plugged in would do harm. No, I don’t listen to music while reading, but I do switch from reading a book to listening to it. When I read Cell by Stephen King, I would listen when walking my son to and from school, then go back to reading when I got home. I really liked it.
Re: the radio. I don’t understand. How is it connected and what is the purpose?
Ellen
Regarding lithium batteries, the information at the link posted by Paul is correct. Use the Nokia (or other device) normally, avoiding total discharge, and recharge overnight. Don’t worry about leaving the charger plugged in. I do this with all my devices that use lithium batteries and get 2-3 years of use from a battery.
Related to audio books, there are lots of OTR (old time radio) programs available at archive.org and elsewhere. If you want a pseudo-audio book experience, download some of the drama productions (Mercury Theater, Academy Award Theater, Philco Radio Hall of Fame, Suspense, Escape, etc.). There are also westerns, comedies, detective/cop shows, juvenile shows, you name it.
With a very few exceptions, OTR programs are public domain, as the copyrights were not renewed. Certainly, the shows on archive.org should be safe to download and enjoy. The one major exception that I know of is CBS Radio Mystery Theater which is still in copyright, although there are groups that collect and trade these shows.
I have been collecting OTR for a while and have about 200GB of MP3 files. Most of these programs are as enjoyable to listen to today as they were decades ago.
Regarding OTR, XM Satellite Radio has a full-time OTR channel which I often listen to on long trips. One can also record it and save the programs for playback later on.
Everyone re batteries: Thanks for enlightening us with your experiences, not just citations! One of my favorite uses of the blog! Ellen, by net.radio for the N770, I meant the usual streaming–the Net-transmitted versions of WETA, etc.; the “channel” switch is simply one of the home page apps. However, yes, the N800 actually does have a nice little FM radio built in. Thanks! David