Thursday, July 8, 2010

More Accessibility: Free Audiobooks Available Online

To follow-up on my last entry about making the Internet more accessible to people with visual or reading difficulties, I thought I would highlight online sources of free audiobooks. Most of these are included on the libraries page of my website: The School and Home Library: The Online Library for Home Schoolers.

LibriVox
Free audiobooks from the public domain (public domain works are creative works that are not protected by copyright and may be freely used by anyone. In the U.S., this includes books published before 1923, works for which the copyright has expired, books for which the author failed to establish a copyright, and works by the U.S. government). You can receive books in thrice-weekly podcasts, download complete books from the catalog, or subscribe through iTunes.

Bookshare Free accessible books and periodicals for individuals with print impairments (loss of sight, visual impairment, physical disability, learning disability, developmental disability and ESL). Free reading software and Braille options. Others may join; however, registration and annual fees apply.

Project Gutenberg Over 32,000 free books to download to your computer, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, or other portable device. Human-read and computer generated audiobooks. Sheet music. All materials are in the public domain.

Accessible Book Collection High interest, low-reading level digital texts (formatted for individuals with visual disabilities) for qualified people with disabilities. The html text can be used with text-to-speech software. Subscription required.

Internet Archive A free digital library of Internet sites (active and archived), downloadable software, movies, audio, live music, ebooks, and texts including children's books, fiction, historical texts, and academic books. Software is available to convert text-to-speech for users who have blindness, low vision, or learning disabilities.

For text-to-speech software, see the last entry in this blog or consider:
  • vozMe Install a speech synthesis bookmarklet into your browser. Then, just click the vozMe button to listen to the text. Free!
  • Humanware Hardware and software for individuals with blindness, low vision, and learning disabilities.
  • Don Johnston Software for a variety of learning disabilities or impairments including autism.
Members of Bookshare (see above) may obtain Humanware VictorReader Soft Bookshare edition or Don Johnston READ:OutLoud software free with their membership.

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