ENTERTAINMENT
Build your collection of old films Internet Archive
www.snipca.com/30480 In 1998, a controversial US Act extended the original 75-year copyright expiry period for films (and other works) to 95 years. This extension resulted in a 20-year freeze on films entering the public domain, which is when they become free to distribute and download. That wait ended on 1 January this year (dubbed Public Domain Day), resulting in an influx of new copyright-free films.
Recently added films to the public domain include Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last! (featuring the iconic clockface scene – see image below) and Charlie Chaplin’s The Pilgrim. See the full list at www. snipca.com/30507.
While the UK has its own copyright laws, any film entering the public domain in the US is bound to become available on download sites globally – including the Internet Archive.
This treasure trove of digitised content is not as easy to navigate as some other sites (and we’ve always found it rather slow), but its Movies section contains a huge collection of free classic films (including the aforementioned Lloyd and Chaplin comedies), comedy shorts, documentaries and more. Once you’ve found a title to download, look for the Download Options section at the bottom right of the window – here you’ll find all the available download formats.
Get free ebooks Project Gutenberg
www.gutenberg.org Whether you read ebooks on a dedicated e-reader or on your phone or tablet using, for example, Amazon’s free Kindle app ( www.snipca.com/30481), you’ll need some titles to fill your device.
Your first stop should be Project Gutenberg - a huge library of free ebooks. All are in the public domain, meaning they’re out of copyright and therefore free. So while you won’t find the latest bestsellers, you’ll have access to over 58,000 titles, including classics such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Open Library
https://openlibrary.org If you don’t want to be restricted to out-of-copyright ebooks, try the Open Library, which is part of the Internet Archive. Here you’ll find popular titles including bestsellers from the likes of Terry Pratchett and Stephen King, which you can either read via your browser or download using the Adobe Digital Editions reader ( www.snipca. com/30482).
Mimicking a traditional library, the ebooks are only available on loan. Each loan lasts two weeks, after which the ebook will be ‘returned’ and then made available to others. If an ebook you want is currently loaned out, you can put yourself on its waiting list (see screenshot above).
The Open Library was criticised in January by the Society of Authors (SOA), which accused it of breaching copyright. The SOA threatened legal action if the Open Library doesn’t stop scanning books by UK authors without permission (read the Soa’s open letter at www. snipca.com/30483). It’s not the first legal threat the Open Library has faced, though, and we suspect this resource will be around for a long time to come yet.
Listen to classic audiobooks Librivox
https://librivox.org If the thought of wading through Tolstoy’s 1,225-page literary masterpiece War and Peace sounds too much to bear (though you can
download it as an ebook free from Project Gutenberg www.snipca.com/30484), why not have someone else read it to you instead?
Librivox is home to free audio recordings of Tolstoy’s epic and hundreds of other out-of-copyright titles. We found some of the longer books have a different people reading each chapter, but most shorter books are narrated by one person. If you want to get involved, you can even volunteer to narrate books yourself or even proof-listen to new recordings before they’re released - find out more at www.snipca.com/30485.
Print your own board game Printable Board Games
www.printableboardgames.net If you have a printer, some plain paper and a pair of scissors, this website will give you hours of entertainment. From Battleships (see screenshot right) to Backgammon and Mahjong to Master Code Breaker, you’ll find printable games to suit all tastes. Instructions for each game are included in the PDF download and the latest uploads include a range of printable, if somewhat flimsy, paper dice ( www. snipca.com/30486).
Host a murder-mystery dinner party BBC Good Food Murder Mystery
www.snipca.com/30487 Host a dinner party with a difference by downloading this free murder-mystery pack from BBC Good Food. Not only will you get full instructions for the game - including character profiles and clue cards that you hand out to your guests - but also recipes for the three-course meal to serve along with the game. You can even download invitations to print out and send to your guests.
Immerse yourself in a simulator Flightgear
www.flightgear.org There are plenty of expensive flight simulators. The latest version (11.30) of X-plane ( www.x-plane.com), for example, was released just last month and – although impressive – will set you back £45. But you can take to the skies for free with the open-source Flightgear.
This was also recently upgraded (version 2018.3.1) with improvements to aircraft, scenery and cloud formations - all of which combine to create a truly immersive simulator. Bear in mind, it’s a huge download at 1.54GB – and that’s just for the main program. Once that’s installed, you can download from a large choice of new aircraft (including a Boeing 747, see screenshot below) and background scenery - all for free.
You’ll need a spare few hours to get accustomed to the controls, but there’s plenty of help online. We recommend new pilots should use the tutorials at https://home.flightgear.org/flying.
Open Rails
http://openrails.org Open Rails is a free simulator aimed squarely at rail enthusiasts. It’s regularly updated (version 1.3 was released last December) and based on Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS), which hit the buffers in 2009. Although you don’t need MSTS to run Open Rails, it’s able to detect an old installation and will import any MSTS routes and trains it finds.
If you’re new to Open Rails, follow the option on the homepage to download the Starter Kit. This installs the main program along with the Australian Zig Zag Railway route and some tutorials. Launch Open Rails, select a tutorial from the Activity menu on the left, then click Start in the Single Player section (bottom right).
You can download more routes and trains, including Edinburgh to Linlithgow on a Sixties British Rail diesel train (see screenshot above), by going to Downloads, Content on the Open Rails website.