Project Gutenberg is, arguably, the oldest continuously operating online
content project in the world. From 1971 until the mid-1990s, there were
relatively few online resources for literary content. For this reason,
and also due to a general willingness to experiment and reach out to
broader audiences, Project Gutenberg has a great variety in the content
types offered.
Among the first 100 items, there are mathematical constants and a
musical performance. Government publications, notably the 1990 US Census
and the CIA World Factbook from 1990 onward, were also included. The
next few hundred items include movies, photographs of ancient cave
paintings, and the first non-English items (Virgil’s Aeneid, Cicero’s
Orations, and Caesar’s Commentaries, all in Latin).
Hundreds of audio eBooks are in the collection. Many were automatically
generated via text-to-speech software. There are also a number
of readings/performances by human readers, including from Project
Gutenberg’s partner, Librivox (www.librivox.org). Today, automated
text-to-speech is accessible by most people with a computer or
mobile phone, so there is less emphasis on that format. Human
readings/performances continue to be of interest, especially when the
performance, as well as the original Project Gutenberg source eBook, is
granted to the public domain.