--- title: Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 description: Find out why Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection is one of the best inventions of 2023 canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324762/project-gutenberg-open-audiobook-collection/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T05:11:27.252Z og:title: Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 og:description: Find out why Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection made this year's list og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324762/project-gutenberg-open-audiobook-collection/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt059783b01fc091c9/698a41a9929fadf937bfa4e4/best-inventions-2023-project-gutenberg.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 twitter:description: Find out why Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection made this year's list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt059783b01fc091c9/698a41a9929fadf937bfa4e4/best-inventions-2023-project-gutenberg.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 24, 2023 # Listen Up Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection by [Chris Stokel-Walker](/author/chris-stokel-walker/) ## Chris Stokel-Walker  Audio books concept with books and headphones Audio books concept with books and headphonesGetty Images Project Gutenberg is the oldest digital library, started in 1971 to make e-books more accessible. But CEO Greg Newby says it “isn’t great at either creating or distributing.” So Microsoft and MIT teamed up to make the Open Audiobook Collection, using text-to-speech tech to turn 5,000 books into free, synthetically narrated audiobooks, now available on Spotify. The software fueling the project was also released at no charge. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324762/project-gutenberg-open-audiobook-collection/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324762/project-gutenberg-open-audiobook-collection/"},"headline":"Listen Up","datePublished":"2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T05:11:27.252Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324762/project-gutenberg-open-audiobook-collection/","keywords":["list","franchise","ecommerce","Magazine","best inventions","Best Inventions 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt059783b01fc091c9/698a41a9929fadf937bfa4e4/best-inventions-2023-project-gutenberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Stokel-Walker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-stokel-walker/"}],"creator":"Chris Stokel-Walker","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt059783b01fc091c9/698a41a9929fadf937bfa4e4/best-inventions-2023-project-gutenberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324762/project-gutenberg-open-audiobook-collection/","name":"Listen Up"}}]}] ```