Recordings that are a part of this cheap-now, free-later program will be clearly marked with the date of "release" at the bottom of Telltale Weekly page. Paying to hear the recordings now (and for the next five years) helps to cover the costs for the production, recording, and bandwidth of the performance you purchase, and supports future releases so that we'll still be producing new audiobooks by the time our first one hits the free world.

So we're looking to build an audiobook equivalent of Project Gutenberg one text at a time. Potentially any free library---online or otherwise--or P2P network will be able to redistribute these recordings with and without the latest compression technologies. Not all work will be sold before its free release.

What does the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license mean? It means that--after a Telltale Weekly recording has been released under the license--anyone will be free to (a) copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and (b) make derivative works all with two conditions: attribution, and non-commerical use.

Credit to the creators of the work must be given--in each case the author of the text performed, the performer of the work, and Telltale Weekly. And the work may not be resold or otherwise used commercially without permission of the work's creator. Fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above and the attribution condition may be waived with permission of Telltale Weekly.

Find out more about the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License here [opens a new window]. Works already announced to be released under a CCL Attribution-only license are unaffected by this change. You can read about the CCL Attribution-only license here [new window].

In the meantime, these recordings offered are DRM free and, once purchased, can be copied as many times as you like for personal use. Please wait until they are released under the license before sharing or distributing.

In addition to meeting the costs of bandwidth and equipment, Telltale Weekly believes that artists deserve to be compensated. So as low as our audiobook prices are, a significant chunk of a twenty-five cent sale goes to the producer(s) and performer(s) of the work (and/or the author/copyright holders when the text being performed is not yet in the public domain).

Telltale Weekly also believes that you don't have to overcharge customers in order to compensate artists. So we use...

Your BitPass account works just like a prepaid phone card, and no personal information is transmitted to the payee (in this case Telltale Weekly). That means you can buy any and every audiobook we offer, and we still won't know it's you (or even that it's the same person). As one Bitpass user said, "Short of being able to stick a quarter in your floppy drive, I'm not sure how much easier it could be."

Bitpass is a great way to support independent artists and a great way for artists to ask for support. Check out comic creator Scott McCloud's The Right Number [new window] or some of the other listings at Bitpass.com [new window] for more Bitpass offerings and information.

Let us know what you think of Bitpass. We also allow for Paypal shopping cart purchases for combined orders of $3 or more, but Bitpass and micropayments are what makes this site possible.

In additon to the popular MP3 and AAC formats, all recordings at Telltale Weekly are available in the Ogg Vorbis open, free audio compression standard (.ogg). Thomson Multimedia, the creators of MP3 compression, requires that a 2% royalty be paid to them for any commercial use of the their codec if gross revenues surpass $100,000 annually (we should be so lucky). In support of Ogg Vorbis, Telltale Weekly will voluntarily donate 2% of Ogg Vorbis revenue to the Xiph.org Foundation (creators of Ogg Vorbis) annually, regardless of total revenue. This is in addition to the 1% of all gross revenue that will be donated to Xiph.org (see Charitable Giving, below).

Your favorite MP3 player doesn't support Ogg Vorbis? Tell the manufacturer about it. Here's [new window] the feedback form for the iPod, which is as good a place as any to start. And visit Vorbis.com [new window] to learn more about Ogg Vorbis.

Let us know if you have another format you'd prefer, or have any comments about the current offerings.

1. Ashoka
   Investing in unprecedented world-changing ideas.

2. Electronic Frontier Foundation
   Defending Freedom in the Digital World

3. Geekcorps
   Technology volunteers enabling communities worldwide.

4. Project Gutenberg
   The internet's oldest producer of free electronic texts.

5. Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
   The nation's educational library for those with print disabilities.

6. Wikimedia Foundation
   Maintaining and Developing Open Content

7. Xiph.org*
   Building a new era of open multimedia.

You may make unlimited copies of purchased audio files for personal use on an unlimited number of computers, portable devices, and CDRs.

Audio files purchased at Telltale Weekly may not be redistributed or shared online or off. They say that selling DRM-free digital files invites piracy (and ironically that giving people what they want is no way to run a business). Let's prove them wrong. In the case of the many Telltale Weekly recordings that will be released free eventually (see MissionMission, above, for details), this audio also may not be redistributed or shared until it is released with a Creative Commons License (5 years or 100,000 purchases after a piece's first appearance at Telltale Weekly, whichever comes first).

EXCEPTION: Users may freely redistribute purchased recordings to the print disabled--including but not limited to the blind and dyslexic--so long as public access to the work is reasonably restricted, and those receiving such a redistribution are not charged for the use of the recordings.

All downloaded files are zipped (compressed and collected for easy opening on most computers) and, depending on operating system, may require a third party unzipping tool. Telltale Weekly recommends Stuffit Expander from Aladdin Systems, Inc., free for Windows and Mac [links open in a new window]. Info-Zip [new window] offers an unzipping tool for just about any other operating system.

If a zipped file will not open, check the size of your zip file. Most problems, especially if you are on a dialup internet connection and are downloading one of the larger audiobook files, are due to incomplete downloads. Try downloading the file again.

Javascript and cookies must be enabled to use Bitpass. You may download a Bitpass-purchased audio file up to 10 times within 10 days of your purchase. All subsequent downloads must be made on the same computer (with the same browser) originally used to purchase the file. It's a cookie thing.

Bitpass shares no information with Telltale Weekly, except what was purchased and how many times. So we don't get your personal information, but you don't get a practical receipt. Kind of like buying a gumball. Use the feedback form if you experience any difficulty.

Those purchasing via PayPal should receive an email confirmation with download instructions within a few minutes of making a purchase (please note $3 minimum total for Paypal orders). However, PayPal users should note that "eChecks" are not an "instant" payment method and may take 3-4 days to clear/process before download instructions are sent.

A reading/performance/recording of a text is ONE interpretation, and not THE interpretation, and quite possibly not YOUR interpretation. While faithfulness to the author's text and intent is generally attempted, mistakes may be made and opinions may vary.

Telltale Weekly believes that works of the past should be able to be discussed critically both by considering the context in which they were written and by looking through the lens of today. It is the policy of Telltale Weekly to not remove any potty language or bigotted crazytalk from the original texts, so that accurate examinations may be possible. Parents are encouraged to review any recording before playing it for their young ones.

Performance of a given text or the availability of a specific recording is not necessarily an endorsement of the text in question by Telltale Weekly or Alex Wilson Studios LLC.

Email addresses are never bought, sold, shared, or otherwise abused. Visitors will not be added to the Telltale Weekly update list or be sent any additional offers by filling out the feedback form or contributor forms, or by making a purchase via PayPal or Bitpass. Please review the privacy policies of PayPal and Bitpass for information about how your information is stored and used on their ends.