21,000 Librivox public domain audiobooks. Old-time radio shows. Thousands of LP record albums. Audio dramatizations of favorite books. All free online.
Table of contents
Librivox Free Online Audiobooks
The Librivox Audiobooks Collection has 21,000 books (as of December, 2025), with about 1,000 more added each year. Public Domain titles (books published before about 1930) were selected and recorded by volunteers. The collection contains most old classics (books you may have heard of) and thousands of other titles not available in audio anywhere else at any price.
Officially, there are two sites where you can access the Librivox collection: one at the home of Librivox and one at the Internet Archive Librivox page. Unofficially, there are several more sites that offer Librivox audiobooks, including one at YouTube that seems complete.
Finding audiobooks on Librivox
If you are searching for a title or author, use the Librivox home page or Internet Archive site.
At Librivox, put the title or author into the search box near the top right. You can also “browse the catalog” near the bottom of the front page for title, author, genre/subject, or language.
At the Internet Archive Librivox page, put one of these into the search box:
- title:(Type Your Title)
- creator:(Last Name, First Name)
You can use quotation marks instead of parentheses to get results that comply exactly with your search term.
3 Ways to Find Librivox Audiobooks by Subject
1. Use Century Past. Find the page that includes books on your subject at “Books by Subject Groups” or “A to Z Index“. Then scroll down to the audiobooks section and click on the topic(s) you’re interested in. Search results at the Internet Archive Librivox site will open.
Note: Not all Century Past pages have an audiobooks section.
2.Librivox Home page. Selecting Genre/Subject from the “Browse the Catalog” choices at the bottom of the front page will bring up a list of subjects, with a list of audiobooks at each subject.
3. Internet Archive Librivox page.
- In the Search bar type: subject:(your subject terms)
Be warned that this method will get incomplete results because metadata for many audiobooks in your subject area probably don’t contain the same keywords you use in your search. The Century Past approach (above) will get more extensive search results.
Note: If you prefer a particular Librivox reader, you can find all audiobooks recorded by that person by putting the reader’s name into the search box at the Librivox home page. Note the difference between “solo” audiobooks (the reader recorded the whole book) and “collaborative” (the reader only recorded one or a few chapters).
Audio Dramatizations of Books
Sherlock Holmes BBC Audiodramas
74 episodes, typically about 45 minutes each. These are modern professional productions.
Radio Performances of Books
Radio Shows based on books, or using books as jumping-off points for dramatic versions. Nearly 900 are here as of March 2023. They appear to be mostly BBC radio dramatizations 1985-2016.
Old Time Radio Shows
The Old Time Radio Researchers’ Collection
The mission of the Old Time Radio Researchers Group is to accurately preserve classic old time radio series from the past in order for future generations to enjoy them. This collection contains over 650 shows; many with dozens of episodes. Popular shows here include Dragnet, Richard Diamond Private Detective, The Whistler, Philip Marlow, The Great Gildersleeve, Let George Do It, Sam Spade, The Lone Ranger, Secrets of Scotland Yard, Challenge of the Yukon, Bing Crosby – Rosemary Clooney, Flash Gordon, Broadway is My Beat, Nero Wolfe, Amos & Andy, many more.
The Old Time Radio Showcase
Over 400 compilations, or collections, of old radio shows, mainly from the 1930s and 1940s. Some of these items have 100 or more episodes. A number of them were assembled by the Old Time Radio Researchers Group, which added informative introductions. Part of the content here is the same as in the previous entry, but here you can also find Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Shadow, The Black Museum (Orson Wells), Father Knows Best, Our Miss Brooks, Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Hopalong Cassidy, Johnny Dollar, Jack Benny, The Life of Riley, You Bet Your Life (Groucho Marx), Ozzie & Harriet, Dr. Kildare, Abbot & Costello, My Favorite Husband (Lucille Ball), Red Skelton, many more.
Record Albums Free Online
Recycled Records LP collection
More than 10,000 LP Records, mostly from about 1950 to about 2000. A portion of these contain only 30-second “samples” of each of the songs on the record. Many types of music, plus stand-up comedy routines, poetry, and more.
Unlocked Recordings
Over 22,000 LP Records. Another random collection, except that this does NOT contain albums with 30-second sample songs. Free records.
78rpm Records Digitized by George Blood, L.P.
As of early 2023 this giant collection contains 395,000 records, digitized for the Internet Archive.
101 Music Records LP Collection
About 30,000 LP records. Some have only 30-second ‘sample” songs.
78 Records – Daniel McNeil Collection
About 17,000 78rpm records, mostly covering American popular music throughout the first half of the 20th Century.
University of Illinois Audio Archive
University of Illinois Audio Archive – Continued
About 13,000 records at the first link, and around 12,500 at the second link. These include classical, jazz, popular, opera, movie soundtracks. Also recordings from Czechoslovakia and other eastern European countries from before WW II. For more description, go to either page and click “About”.
The Vinyl Box
Over 2,000 LP Record Albums, produced from the early 1950s to 2021. They all appear to contain complete songs (not 30-second samples), and include many albums by popular artists.
Related Pages on Century Past
Here are CenturyPast.org pages with books or other resources on related subjects. Use the top Menu to look through our 400+ pages.