Public domain explained
Each audiobook layer—text, translation, narration, cover, and description—needs its own rights evidence. Public-domain badges are United States only; the same titles are often free at LibriVox, Archive, and Gutenberg. Internet Archive or Open Library presence alone is not clearance; LibriVox is our preferred existing-audio source.
Works on this shelf come from open collections such as LibriVox, the Internet Archive, and Project Gutenberg—corpora that publish under United States public-domain rules. That is ourcorpus policy, not a per-book legal opinion.
audioshelf.org is offered to visitors in the United States. Public-domain badges sayListed PD (US) or Verified PD (US)—not a worldwide claim. Access from other countries may be blocked at the network edge.
Free elsewhere
Public-domain audiobooks and texts are often already free at LibriVox, Internet Archive, and Project Gutenberg. audioshelf helps you compare recordings, listen in one place when possible, and keep context (sources, rankings, and notes)—not exclusive ownership of the underlying work.
Content rights are layered
A book being listed on Internet Archive or Open Library is not enough clearance on its own. Open Library warns that rights may still apply to contributed data. Each title needs separate evidence for:
- the original written work
- any specific translation
- introductions, annotations, and other editorial material
- the narration recording
- cover artwork
- illustrations
- summaries or descriptions we show
- music or sound effects (when present)
Per-work public-domain badges follow evidence tiers (asserted → attested → verified). A bare catalog flag is not enough for a “Public domain” badge.
Preferred sources
For existing human narration we preferLibriVox, which states that it works to ensure recordings are public domain in the United States. Internet Archive items can be used when license metadata is cited, but archive presence alone is not clearance.
Project Gutenbergtext is generally reusable in the US, but the Project Gutenberg trademark anddistribution licenseinclude commercial restrictions. We link to ebook landing pages (/ebooks/…), not raw text files.
AI narration from Gutenberg text
If narration is generated from a Gutenberg ebook, the source header, footer, and license block must be removed from the narration input; Gutenberg branding must not appear on a commercial audiobook; source URLs and verification records are kept internally; public links point to the ebook page; and we do not imply Project Gutenberg sponsorship or partnership.
Always follow the license notes on the provider’s page. See alsoPrivacy for how embedded playback shares technical data with hosts. Report a rights concern: Copyright & takedown(copyright@audioshelf.org).