The self-stated goal of LibriVox is to record all the books in the public domain as audio files. Enlisting an army of volunteers, they've managed to release about 5600 titles, and continue to work their way through the sea of non-copyrighted books.
In Latin, "LibriVox" is translated roughly "voice freedom," and their (somewhat manifesto-like) subtitle is "Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain." What these books are released from isn't entirely clear, but they're definitely released to the public, which is increasingly turning to audio books over their print versions.
Because the work is all volunteer-based, there is a very broad quality spectrum among the books. Often, multiple authors will read a single text (each taking a chapter), and not all readers are created equal. If it's high standards you're after, you should probably look elsewhere, but there are plenty of easy-to-understand and relatively error-free recordings available here.
There are no new releases available from LibriVox; because their catalogue is restricted to books in the public domain, they pay no royalties. So if you need to get through a book and don't have time, check these guys out. You may even end up recording a few chapters yourself.
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