Free audio prose sites

People used to feel self-conscious about wearing hearing aids. Nowadays it's normal to see people young and old with wires dangling down their cheeks. The mp3 age is here. For 10 pounds or so you can get a featherlight player that can store hours of literature and be a dictaphone too - useful for when you're suddenly inspired. It's perfect for journeys, weeding, hoovering and insomnia - a return to the oral tradition. You can fill up for free, though you need a computer on the internet. Broadband helps a lot too.

Once you've set up your software you just say what you're interested in and your MP3 player gets loaded up with new items each time you plug it in.

The files tend to be called "podcasts", though that doesn't mean you need to have an iPod. Note however that some files are only available via Apple's iTunes site (mostly in the Podcasts - Arts - Literature section). Some files online can only be listened to "live" (while you're connected to the internet), and some files are in formats that standard MP3 players won't play. The files listed below are all downloadable, and available as MP3 files. Poetry's available, but I find prose more suitable. Here are some sites

Tim Love
Updated July 2008