LibriVox is otherwise pretty normal, but this has me puzzled. The CD (!) case insert says: “Read by Justin Barrett, braindouche, Cow Nose the 50 Pound Cat, Sibella Denton, Esther, and Andrew Lebrun. Total running time: 00:54:13.” Seems insane to me. Why put the whole reading on a CD? Why 5000 digits? Why are there no chapters? What if they made a mistake? Did they double-check the result? Who needs any of that anyway?

  • iii
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    19 days ago

    It’s a good number. What number would you’ve chosen instead?

  • litchralee@sh.itjust.works
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    19 days ago

    My guess is that reading tomes like this is useful as a vocal exercise and can be a way of “getting one’s name out” for aspiring vocal talent. After all, what better way to showcase voice work on a resume than to point to examples online? As for the exact tome, it doesn’t really matter for this purpose but might as well also contribute to the wealth of human media.

    • iii
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      19 days ago

      The voice actors in this case were NASA employees.

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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        18 days ago

        Hmm, maybe this was considered for putting onto the Voyager Golden Record or something like it…?

        • iii
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          18 days ago

          Nah, it’s just fun

  • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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    18 days ago

    At the risk of calling someone’s work boring: Might help people fall asleep?

  • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Well, you can use the books as a form of random number generator. Maybe this can work for the blind in a much, much more compact form than a braille book (which, if you’ve never seen are fucking huge)? I don’t know. I’m sure whoever buys it has some reason they want it.