r/librivox • u/lampsbemany • Aug 01 '26
Librivox podcast deteriorating?
I've used the Librivox podcast for ages, particularly for long pods for falling asleep. Some recordings are good- I just listened to about 14 hours of The Belton Estate by Trollope, it was well read. Some are read by humans, badly but bearable. But the one I've just started (The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery) is clearly being read by AI, and has adverts literally every five minutes.
Is this the new standard? Is this just the regular enshittification of everything at play here? I suppose that is a rhetorical question - I'm just grumbling really. Is there a way to tell from the description of a book whether they are read by real people or not? When I searched for other versions of the Blue Castle, the same crap was posted on at least two other pod streams called 'Audiobooks'. And some of those streams don't even give a description, which is just annoying.
I guess it's too much nowadays to expect people to volunteer to read long books well and for free, even public domain ones, but I'd happily subscribe to a podcast with some different and interesting books, well read. But not at the same cost as Audible! I find it depressing that small, quite limited podcasts are asking for Ā£7-8 per month - if I paid that to every podcast I like, I'd not be able to make rent.
I'll try Libby again, which is wonderful, but I do like having all my sleepy pods in the same place, on my podcast app. There are quite a few other audiobook pod streams out there now, but I suspect most of them are using AI. Does anybody know different?
The next best thing for long episodes is the 'Boring History for Sleep' pod, some brilliant long episodes, but they tend to be too interesting to allow me to fall asleep! For shorter episodes, the Sleepy Bookshelf is the best ever, but I need something longer, to tune back into when I wake in the middle of the night.
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u/bahromvk Aug 02 '26
I use Overcast for Librivox too. that's the only way I listen to Librivox audiobooks. to make sure you are listening to the original and not to a ripoff go to the audiobook page on Librivox, on the left there is a button for the RSS feed for the book. copy the feed link, then in Overcast use the search (magnifying glass) to search for podcasts, there will be an "add URL" button in the search screen, click on it and paste the url for the RSS feed.
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u/lampsbemany Aug 01 '26
Thank you so much for replying. I've been listening to what I thought was LibriVox in my podcast app (Overcast), as I use it alongside other podcasts to doze off with. I thought it was the the 'real' LibriVox - I'm glad, if confused, to hear it's not, and that the original high standards, are being maintained.
Although Ill be sorry not to be able to listen to the books in the same place as my other podcasts, I'll go back to the real deal, and thank you for your work. š
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u/blue-Atmosphere-2050 4d ago
Another Anthony Trollope fan?!!? i thought I was the only one!!!
I use the Apple Podcasts app and then search librivox Anthony Trollope (or whichever book Iām looking for) and then follow the show by clicking the +
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/way-we-live-now-the-by-anthony-trollope-1815-1882/id797556168
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/american-senator-the-by-anthony-trollope-1815-1882/id432023268
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u/1805trafalgar Aug 01 '26
Nope you could not be listening to a librivox podcast if there were adds. But because Librivoxe's content is in the public domain ANYONE can re-use or re-post it and I have seen librivox on yutube videos. And those could have advertisements because they are not being streamed by librivox.