March 26, 2004
New releases today:
Ah Sunflower by Scott Ennis
A Tale About the Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was by the Brothers Grimm
Stories from Asheville vol 5 by Justin Meckes

For a limited time, "Ah Sunflower" and "A Tale About the Boy..." will be available in AAC format, in addition to the regular MP3 and Ogg Vorbis standards. If AAC turns out to be a hit, we'll make that a standard as well.

March 24, 2004
Added a FAQ and a growth targets page.

March 19, 2004
New releases today:
Leaves of Grass Book I: Inscriptions by Walt Whitman
The Magic Shop by H.G. Wells
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
Stories from Asheville vol 4 by Justin Meckes

March 12, 2004
New releases today:
The Kiss by Kate Chopin
Stories from Asheville vol 3 by Justin Meckes

March 11, 2004
"If they can't make a go of this, it's proof that the democratization of media, importance of fair use and customer trust and all the rest are just pipe dreams." --Jonathan Peterson, Amateur Hour [new window]

March 8, 2004
The Future Tense [new window] interview was broadcast this morning in Minnesota and will be on As It Happens tonight. Check your local NPR schedule for times or visit the above link to just listen to the interview.

March 6, 2004
For a limited time, we're offering David Rowland Grigg's "A Song Before Sunset" via Amazon Honor System Payments. It's our first audiobook to cost a dollar, so it's the first one eligible for a non-Bitpass form of payment. Purchase it, listen to it, and discuss it with the author and other science fiction fans in the forum.

Dial-up customers, please see this announcement in the forum. The "incomplete download" problem might be over.

March 5, 2004
New releases today:
A Song Before Sunset by David Rowland Grigg
Songs of Robin Hood by James Leigh Hunt
Stories from Asheville vol 2 by Justin Meckes

Looks like it's next week for the Future Tense story.

March 4, 2004
Jon Gordon, host of Minnesota Public Radio's Future Tense inverviewed me yesterday about Telltale. I wasn't expecting so much publicity so soon. For a guy selling audiobooks, you'd expect I'd be a little more eloquent than I was, but it will be edited before it airs--and that's probably tomorrow. Future Tense is heard in Minnesota during NPR's Morning Edition and in the rest of the United States during broadcasts of CBC's "As It Happens." The broadcast should be online around the time it airs, and I'll be sure to link to it.

March 1, 2004
"There aren't many tracks up there yet, but as a certified audiobook addict, this is as exciting an idea as I've heard in a long, long time." -- Author Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing [new window].

February 29, 2004
MP3 samples now available for all three recordings for sale.

February 27, 2004
Newly released at launch:
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry
Stories from Asheville vol 1 by Justin Meckes
A Dog's Tale by Mark Twain
The Glove and the Lions by James Leigh Hunt


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- New audiobook provider Telltale Weekly launches with DRM-free recordings for under a dollar.

New unabridged audiobooks are released every Friday in MP3 and Ogg Vorbis formats. The site uses the Bitpass micropayment solution to offer recordings for as little as 25 cents and still be able to fairly compensate artists. All recordings from Telltale Weekly are DRM-free, so users may use the files on an unlimited number of computers, CD-Rs, and players for personal use.

Many of the current and future recordings offered by Telltale Weekly are of performances of texts in the public domain. These are produced with the intention of releasing them under the Creative Commons Attribution License five years or 100,000 sales after their first appearance on the site, whichever comes first. Every purchase helps to build and fund a free audiobook library, and Telltale Weekly hopes to create at least 50 such recordings each year.

Feedback is welcome and encouraged.

1. Funding a Free Audio Library
   Telltale Weekly seeks to record, produce, and sell performances of at least 50 public domain texts a year, with the intention of releasing them under the Creative Commons Attribution License five years or a hundred thousand sales after their first appearance here, whichever comes first. Your purchases help us to build and/or contribute to a free audio equivalent of an online library. Read More
   
   
2. Quality Recordings by Compensated Artists
   To do each text justice, Telltale Weekly is committed to using professional-grade equipment and experienced actors, and pays for both (in addition to bandwidth and royalty fees) by charging as little as 25 cents per story, much of which goes to the artists. Read More
   
   
3. BitPass and Micropayments
   The BitPass payment solution is based on the founding belief that the most important criterion is ease of use. Using Bitpass, Telltale Weekly can offer audiobooks for as little as twenty-five cents each in a system that makes purchasing as easy as surfing the web, with no software downloads or installations required. Read More
   
   
4. DRM-Free MP3 and Ogg Vorbis Audio
   In additon to the popular MP3 format, all texts at Telltale Weekly are available in the Ogg Vorbis open, free audio compression standard (.ogg). Telltale Weekly will also voluntarily donate a portion of every Ogg Vorbis purchase to the Xiph.org Foundation (creators of the standard). And after paying for a recording, you can listen to it however and wherever you want for personal use, so every MP3 and Ogg Vorbis download is DRM free. Burn away. Read More