Give someone a special gift this Valentine's Day which is high in value and low in cost. Use free audiobooks to create a customized and personal collection of romantic literature.
Free Audiobooks at Librivox
Librivox is an initiative that allows volunteers to record and publish literature that is in the public domain on the Librivox website. The finished recordings are also in the public domain and this means that unlike copyright protected audioboooks, people can access, save or redistribute the Librivox recordings. People can therefore create their own personal audiobook collection and share it with others.
This allows people to give very personal and thoughtful gifts that are also free. Sharing favorite love stories or other pieces of literature with others is very personal, particularly when this is accompanied by a few words about the story – perhaps the giver may share the reasons why it is special or when and where it was first read or listened to.
To Make a Gift of a Free Romantic Audiobook
Very little is required to make a gift of a free audio version of a piece of romantic classic literature:
- Computer with Internet access and ability to write cds
- Blank cd
- Images or other means of decorating the cd case
To Download the Audiobook
Downloading audiobooks from Librivox is very straightforward:
- Go to the Librivox website and use the search facility to find the relevant audiobook for download.
- The quickest way to download an audiobook is to pick the 'zip' option. This will download the entire audiobook in one zipped file. While this might take a few minutes to download, depending on the connection speed, it saves having to down load each individual file. When the zip file has downloaded, double click to open the files.
To Write a CD
Audio applications such as iTunes and RealPlayer will burn cds from the library.
- To create a customized cd, simply copy the relevant files into the library and use the 'burn cd' option to create the cds.
- A cd generally holds 80 minutes of audio recording. A long audiobook, therefore, will stretch over several cds.
CD Presentation
Presenting the cds nicely is a good way to make the gift that little bit extra special. There are many different ways of cd presentation including printing labels or decorating the case. Free cd label creation software will allow customized cd labels to be created. Other options include customizing a cd with free systems such as LightScribe (see How to Customize CDs for more information). The cd case is simple to decorate and customize with photographs or other images. This is a lovely way to give a personal finishing touch to the gift.
Using free audiobooks to create collections of customized and personal romantic literature makes a very special gift that will be long appreciated.
Kate Pullen - Kate Pullen is a freelance writer specializing in arts and crafts , and is an accomplished craftsperson. As well as being a designer / ...
