The Audio Books Project

Project Gutenberg makes audio eBooks available for some of the same great literature available in plain text. Our listings are divided into two categories: Human-read and computer-generated audio books. These files can be very large, so are not well suited for people using a modem or other low-speed connection.

Human-read Audio Books

Thanks to AudioBooksForFree.com for our Arthur Conan Doyle series of human readings, and to LiteralSystems.org for work on new readings by volunteers. We are also working with Librivox, a similar effort to get people volunteering to read. Please consider joining them!

We are still adding new audio eBooks read by people, primarily through work by LiteralSystems.org and Librivox.

Browse our list of human-read audio books.

Readings by Computers

The computer-generated voices used in these books are similar to those on automated systems used by the blind, as well as some telephone automation systems.

Most of these titles were generated by Mike Eschman, but a few were made by other people. Over time, the procedures used to generate the audio eBooks changed, so not all audio eBooks have the same sound or pacing by the computer voice.

We have stopped adding computer-generated eBooks. Instead, we are working on methods to automatically make computer-generated eBooks on demand (that is, by choosing options, then getting the file within a short time).

We are aware of numerous anomalies in the computer-generated eBooks, and working to resolve them (slowly!). It turned out that many files were broken and lost: most of Jack London's works are missing, and our Charles Dickens Christmas Carol only has the "small print" license, but no actual eBook. We are regenerating some, removing others, and fixing what we can. If you find something wrong with one of the audio eBooks, chances are it's already on the list to fix, eventually.

Browse our list of computer-generated audio books.

Thanks to Mike Eschman for most computer-generated eBooks.