eBooks, AudioBooks and more

Exploring this topic seems to have uncovered even more free content out there on the web that I was happily ignorant of before. Now I need to find even more hours in the day just to enjoy all of these excellent resources!

Project Gutenberg has been around for many years now, and is an archive I already knew about. It still has a rich and extensive catalogue, but I don't find the presentation compelling, it seems too hard to find content. I understand their choice of plain text formats for ensuring the greatest portability and future compatibility but it is not an appealing format to read. While being completely familiar and comfortable with the technology, I do prefer to sit (when I get that much free time) and read from a book that I can take anywhere, without all of the other distractions of being online. Where I think the collection of texts has great potential is as a source for various electronic book formats, whether they are on PDAs, smart phones, a laptop, or devices such as Amazon's Kindle e-book reader.

I took a look at the World eBook Fair site but it seems to be rather confused, trying to link in a multitude of other sites, which are better accessed directly as far as I can tell.

The LibriVox site is a different matter, it is well organised and harnesses the technology much better. When I look at Project Gutenberg, I think 'why would I want to read a lot of old books', but browsing the catalogue at LibriVox I recognise many classics that I have always thought I might read. Being able to listen to them in audiobook format is a better option for my busy lifestyle, using the time spent commuting productively.

One thing that might not be obvious immediately is that many of these sites archive other types of media in addition to books - treasures include sheet and recorded music, photos and film (the Apollo 11 lunar landing for example).

Another site worthy of mention is the Internet Archive, another excellent collection.

Something to provide a break from all of this reading, here's a slice of Australian cinema history. Found this at the Internet Archive, a 1920 version of 'Robbery Under Arms'.

The archive article can be found here.