Free Ringworld Audio Book

[FSTargetDrone]

Last night, I saw on TWiT's Twitter feed that Audible is making an audio book version of Larry Niven's Ringworld freely available. You do not need a credit card, but you will have to create an Audible account.

Now, you have to download their player software and then the audio book files themselves once you have the account created and the player software installed by clicking on the "My Library Online" button on the upper right once you open the player.

There are different audio quality versions (I chose the highest-quality in two, 150+ MB files) available. The book is unabridged (why would you bother with anything else!) and runs for more than 11 hours. I just started it last night and I'm about an hour into it. I've never actually read the book before! The narrator is Tom Parker, though I am unfamiliar with him. He does a fine job though. You can also move the files to a mobile device, but I'm just running it on my laptop.

What's nice is that even if you close the player software, it remembers where you left off, so you won't have to fast-forward the reading to where you stopped it last.

Unfortunately, I have no idea if this will work outside of the USA. You have to select your country, though you don't have to provide a postal address. But for all I know the site looks at IP addresses to see where people are trying to download it from. Anyway, it might be worth a shot.

Anyway, here is one of numerous links pointing to the free book. Or just search for "Free Audible Ringworld" or similar if you don't want to use the link for some reason.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Will they pay you back for the time you spend listening to it?

If they had to choose a Larry Niven book to offer, they should have gone with The Mote in God's Eye. It is better written than Ringworld, less dated than Ringworld, and far less likely to offend potential customers with awkwardly-written, gratuitous sex scenes than Ringworld. Seriously, I was a 13 year old virgin when I read Ringworld, and I though that Larry Niven needed to get laid more.

Also, as a book with 3, maybe 4 characters and tons of exposition, Ringworld is going to be a seriously dull and no-frills audiobook. Harry Potter would make a much better "hook" of an audiobook than Ringworld, and it handles its subject matter in a more mature, considered manner. Plus the society depicted in Hogwarts is only slightly less believable than that in the Known Space series.

I suppose the price is right, though.

[FSTargetDrone]

Will they pay you back for the time you spend listening to it?

If they had to choose a Larry Niven book to offer, they should have gone with The Mote in God's Eye. It is better written than Ringworld, less dated than Ringworld, and far less likely to offend potential customers with awkwardly-written, gratuitous sex scenes than Ringworld. Seriously, I was a 13 year old virgin when I read Ringworld, and I though that Larry Niven needed to get laid more.

Also, as a book with 3, maybe 4 characters and tons of exposition, Ringworld is going to be a seriously dull and no-frills audiobook. Harry Potter would make a much better "hook" of an audiobook than Ringworld, and it handles its subject matter in a more mature, considered manner. Plus the society depicted in Hogwarts is only slightly less believable than that in the Known Space series.

I suppose the price is right, though.

First one's free, kids.

Heh if it's that bad then I guess I'm wasting my time!

[Swindle1984]

I loved Ringworld and hate Harry Potter. YMMV.

[Manus Celer Dei]

I'm not familiar with Audible, do you have to use their particular player software? Will their DRM and stuff get in the way of putting this on my iPod?

[Batman]

Now, you have to download their player software
You can also move the files to a mobile device

[FSTargetDrone]

Now, you have to download their player software
You can also move the files to a mobile device

Just to clarify, there is provision within the player software to move the files to a mobile device using a menu to do the transfer. I very much doubt simply dragging-and-dropping will work using a regular folder view. The files I have are ".aax" so I assume the player does some kind of conversion for the mobile. Not sure.

And here is a list of compatible devices.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I loved Ringworld and hate Harry Potter. YMMV.

I may have been overly harsh on Ringworld. I loved it once. Then I graduated from middle school. I just don't believe that the Known Space series has aged well at all and that Ringworld has always been a bit overrated. In fact, the most novel idea in the book is not the Really Big Thing that it's named after, but instead the main character's scientifically-ludicrous genetic trait.

To address your comment on Harry Potter, I am discussing the quality of the audiobook, which features some of the best voicework outside of The Simpsons, and not the text itself (although I am a fan). Ringworld simply doesn't lend itself well to the audiobook format.

[FSTargetDrone]

So far, I'm still enjoying it. This is the first time I've ever used an audio book and it's nice to just have it on for an hour or so while I'm doing something else tedious and annoying, like rebuilding my computer after a sudden drive failure (and I'd just finished my most recent back-ups a few days before-phew!).

[Swindle1984]

I loved Ringworld and hate Harry Potter. YMMV.

I may have been overly harsh on Ringworld. I loved it once. Then I graduated from middle school. I just don't believe that the Known Space series has aged well at all and that Ringworld has always been a bit overrated. In fact, the most novel idea in the book is not the Really Big Thing that it's named after, but instead the main character's scientifically-ludicrous genetic trait.

To address your comment on Harry Potter, I am discussing the quality of the audiobook, which features some of the best voicework outside of The Simpsons, and not the text itself (although I am a fan). Ringworld simply doesn't lend itself well to the audiobook format.

Fair.

A lot of people also get irritated by his failing to address various issues (which he didn't even think of until fans started telling him about them) with the Ringworld, but in a universe where someone can make a giant fucking ringworld out of material strong enough to survive the stresses (and a magical device that makes it soft enough to walk through, though I can't remember if that was bullshit or if it was just the matter transmuter that was bullshit.), a magnetic grid that generates solar flares and then focuses them into huge-ass laser beams, etc. is that REALLY a problem? Really? Anthropomorphic tigers with gravity drives aren't an issue for the hard-science people, a ringworld that could never possibly exist isn't a problem, but the attitude jets and mud recyclers are?

I enjoy the Man-Kzin Wars series more than the Ringworld series. It seems that other authors can do more in Niven's playground than Niven can sometimes. Though the story with the protector in book 11 just struck me as ridiculous Mary Sue-ing, and I'm still trying to find a copy of book 12.

[Simon_Jester]

What forced Niven to go for such a ridiculously strong material for the Ringworld wasn't so much the size of it, as I recall; it was that he decided to have a 2 AU diameter structure spun for gravity. The mind boggles...

Do you need improbably sturdy materials to build one if you don't deliberately spin it for gravity?