Project Gutenberg

[jamiethearcher]

Has anyone been to this site?

The purpose of Project Gutenberg is to put books that are now in the public domain on the internet so that people can access them freely.

I have read several books from here, and enjoyed them all. Its great because I can load many of them onto my PDA, so I always have a choice of great works to read.

 

[Phlegmak]

Has anyone been to this site?

The purpose of Project Gutenberg is to put books that are now in the public domain on the internet so that people can access them freely.

I have read several books from here, and enjoyed them all. Its great because I can load many of them onto my PDA, so I always have a choice of great works to read.

Yes, I've been there.

 

[jamiethearcher]

I should also add that they provide many books in multiple languages, so everyone can enjoy this site!

 

[blackheart]

I wish it were in PDF format though.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

I used to read all the Tarzan books there! It's great!

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I read a couple of books there.

 

[Masquerouge]

Is there a similar site for music that's now in the public domain? Wait... is there actually such a thing as music in the public domain?

 

[Padma]

I love Project Gutenberg. I have downloaded many classics from there (and then further formatted them for better viewing on my PDA).

@Masquerouge: Of course there is music in the Public Domain. Like literature, everything produced since the 30s is locked up by draconian copyright laws, but everything produced earlier is available.

 

[Masquerouge]

I love Project Gutenberg. I have downloaded many classics from there (and then further formatted them for better viewing on my PDA).

@Masquerouge: Of course there is music in the Public Domain. Like literature, everything produced since the 30s is locked up by draconian copyright laws, but everything produced earlier is available.

But does this apply to classical music? Because I've been searching for a site where I could download classical music, under the impression that it fell into the public domain and thus was free. But then I seem to recall that the copyright laws apply to the INTERPRETATION of the classical piece, and thus any recent interpretation would not be available.

 

[blackheart]

But does this apply to classical music? Because I've been searching for a site where I could download classical music, under the impression that it fell into the public domain and thus was free. But then I seem to recall that the copyright laws apply to the INTERPRETATION of the classical piece, and thus any recent interpretation would not be available.

http://search.singingfish.com/sfw/home.jsp

 

[jamiethearcher]

I love Project Gutenberg. I have downloaded many classics from there (and then further formatted them for better viewing on my PDA).

@Masquerouge: Of course there is music in the Public Domain. Like literature, everything produced since the 30s is locked up by draconian copyright laws, but everything produced earlier is available.

How do you improve the formating for a PDA? I usually just read them in MS word format, through documents to go, but if there is a better way, I am all ears!

 

[Till]

I have downloaded a few books, but didn't read them very far in the end. It just doen't feel right to read books on a monitor to me.
Besides, many public domain works are available for priting costs at bookstores. I bought a lot of classics for 2-3bucks each there.

 

[Padma]

How do you improve the formating for a PDA? I usually just read them in MS word format, through documents to go, but if there is a better way, I am all ears!

Since I have a Palm, I use the Palm Markup Language and DropBook to create a .pbd file.

Yeah, it's slower and harder to go through the entire document inserting chapter breaks, etc., but I like the final result.

Edit: Here is a good guide on converting Project Gutenberg files to .pdb files.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

this smells like Copyright problems all over

 

[mdwh]

But does this apply to classical music?

Copyright laws don't distinguish between genres of music - yes, there is plenty of classical music which is no longer under copyright.

Because I've been searching for a site where I could download classical music, under the impression that it fell into the public domain and thus was free. But then I seem to recall that the copyright laws apply to the INTERPRETATION of the classical piece, and thus any recent interpretation would not be available.

I suspect the problem is that a performance would still be covered by copyright. So you either need to find a recording which isn't covered by copyright (difficult, considering we're talking life+70 years, or whatever it is), or find someone who's performed it, and made it freely available.

 

[Maniacal]

I prefer having a book that I can carry around and can get out of a library and is not subject to survival as a piece of electronic data.

 

[blackheart]

this smells like Copyright problems all over

Check up on copyright laws. Things published in America before 1930 have had their copyrights expire by now.

 

[luiz]

I can't read books from monitors, but it sounds like a great site.

 

[Padma]

this smells like Copyright problems all over

Not at all. Check the site. They only "publish" books that are in the public domain. This means *mostly* books that were written before the 1930s. (Some books written since then have actually been deliberately placed in the public domain.)

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

So book Copyrights have a 75 year lifespan? But what if they are still selling 75 years later? I'm sure Alexandre Dumas wrote The Man in the Iron Mask more than 75 years ago, but I just put out $7 for it the other day. Didn't the publishing company buy the rights to print that book, even after 75 years? I'm sure these online publishers have bought rights to the book, but how about the millions of people that will use those resources, get to read entire books without ever putting out a penny for the priveledge. It'll put the book service out of buisness! I better stock up on my printed novels, in 20 years they'll all be gone and I can make a fortune selling antique codexes!
I can hear myself now, telling my grandchildren about the old-fashoned 'paper books,' back when we ate cheeseburgers and used that silly gasoline stuff