Disclaimer: many of the links below require the “iTunes (Find out more about iTunes)”:http://www.itunes.com jukebox software to open.
Last Friday I downloaded the speeches from the 2004 Democratic National Convention (”Day 1″:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?selectedItemId=19512249&playListId=19512249, “Day 2″:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?selectedItemId=19512258&playListId=19512258, and “Day 3″:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?selectedItemId=19552242&playListId=19552242) from the iTunes Music Store, where “Audible.com”:http://www.audible.com/adbl/store/welcome.jsp is offering them for free. Perhaps of more interest for folks on both sides of the political spectrum, I also downloaded the “Executive Summary from the 9-11 Commission’s Final Report”:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?selectedItemId=19336197&playListId=19336197, also offered for free. The iTunes Music Store also has the “Final Report press conference”:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/20/wa/com.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction/pickITMSLink?songName=The+9-11+Commission+Final+Report+-+Press+Conference+%287%2F22%2F04%29&searchType=1&artistName=Thomas+Kean+and+Lee+Hamilton&plid=19086040&id=19086040&playlistName=The+9-11+Commission+Final+Report+-+Press+Conference+%287%2F22%2F04%29 and the “unabridged edition”:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?selectedItemId=19587519&playListId=19587519 available.
I’m actually pretty excited that Audible.com took the laudable step of making these recordings freely available. I find it very cool that I will be able to have my own personal archive of these historic events; something very tangible to pass along to future generations in addition to my own storytelling.
I hope that these offerings are setting a precedent for future releases–every American with their own “Library of Congress”:http://www.loc.gov/ on an “iPod”:http://www.apple.com/ipod/ 
August 12th, 2004 at 11:09 am
One note: for those interested in listening to one of the most hyped speakers of the convention (outside of Kerry), Barak Obama’s speech comes on Day 2, at approx. the 45:20 mark and runs to the 1:01:45 mark. I believe he is followed up by Ron Reagan (President Reagan’s son).