Speaking of Audiobooks: Accessing Audiobooks Through Your Library
For years, I have wanted to write a column on borrowing library audiobooks. In my experience, “checking out an audiobook” from the library has been reserved for the occasional hard copy (cassettes or CDs). I haven’t really taken the time to figure out digital audiobook library borrowing. Oh, I tried about five years ago and found that my Apple device was incompatible. Being the technophobe that I am, I quickly gave up.
But things have changed since my failed attempt to digitally borrow an audiobook. The selection is much more impressive and the technical aspect has improved. Remember, we’re talking about your library here. Who loves to help folks enjoy books more than your library? The help is there to get you started.
In our July 2014 Speaking of Audiobooks column, I mentioned my desire to feature a column on accessing audiobooks through libraries. I requested help from our listeners since my knowledge level, as evidenced here, is indeed low. Thanks to Mel, Diana, and Rachel for stepping up and contributing to today’s column.
Last month I started a new regular feature at Speaking of Audiobooks – For the New Listener. Today’s column targets not only existing audiobook listeners but the new listener as well. Listening to audiobooks through your library is an excellent way for the new listener to become acquainted with a number of new authors and narrators for no cost other than their listening device.
Hard Copies
Let’s start with the easy stuff – those hard copies. Diana Neal is a librarian with Fayette County Public Libraries, in southern West Virginia, a library system that includes six branch locations and one bookmobile library in a county of 50,000 residents. I asked Diana, “What percentage of your library’s audiobooks are hard copies? Are they only CDs or do you still see an occasional audio cassette? Is checking out a hard copy still a common activity?”
Our library phased out all but a few of the audio cassettes; the ones we kept were older titles for big name authors like Patterson, Cussler, and Griffin. (And by few, I mean less than 150. And in the last year those have gone out maybe a handful of times. If we had the money, we would replace them with CD copies and delete the cassette version.)
Of our current audiobook collection, about 45% are hard copies with 97% of those being CD and 3% Playaways (which is a self-contained MP3 player). The Playaways, however, will probably be the next format to phase out as they are extremely expensive and easily broken.
Our patrons do still checkout hard copies but not so much in the winter months. Our peak “time” is during the high travel times of the year as well as those months when truckers are on the roads. Some months, we can checkout over 100 CDs in one month at one branch, other times, we may only check out 50. We have requests every month for certain titles in hard copy audio, so some people are still enjoying them!
Downloading Audiobooks from Your Library
Downloading audiobooks from your library can still seem like a tricky puzzle. But things are improving and if you haven’t tried borrowing audiobook downloads from your library recently, it’s time to try again. Yes, at one time it was a game of “You can do this but not here or you can’t do that there but, yay!, my library allows it!” Or it was a “My device works here but not there – wah, wah!” type of thing. And selection issues remain – some libraries have one book while a second library has another.
Although there is still a bit of confusion with library borrowing, overall the entire process has become much more user friendly. Diana gives us a picture of how their patrons start borrowing digital content.
Most of our patrons start with a conversation like this: “My [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][insert well-meaning family member name] bought me this device but I don’t know how to use it, can you help me?” We provide a basic tutorial on how to use their device then segue into telling them about our digital library. The majority of these patrons aren’t as familiar with computers, internet, electronics, etc.
For those patrons more familiar with their devices and the internet, there are handouts we give to patrons on where and how to start. OverDrive requires a library card and pin number to use the service and we show patrons how to start there. Once they have that completed, the other side of the sheet shows patrons the website. On the homepage of the website, there are collections for patrons to peruse or they can search for specific titles. At a library’s or patron’s request, staff will offer “tours” of WVDELI (our digital collection) showing how to get the most out of the site and answer any questions. We also offer assistance through email and telephone for those patrons unable to get into a library.
As an example of what your library’s digital collection may look like, check out Fayette County Public Library’s digital collection.
There are also a number of libraries that allow out-of-state residents to access their digital collections for an annual fee. One such library is the Free Library of Philadelphia where out-of-state residents can obtain a card by paying an annual fee of $50.00.
Now let’s hear from two other Speaking of Audiobooks regulars!
Rachel’s Experiences with Library Listening
I’d love to share some of my experiences; you never know who might be listening and might be able to help improve the process.
Just for some background – I live in Brooklyn, NY and have a Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) card but my husband works in Manhattan so he also has a New York Public Library (NYPL) library card. With access to four of the five boroughs of such a large city, you would think I would be able to get my hands on anything – unfortunately so not true. Many of the narrators and books recommended in the Speaking of Audiobooks columns are unavailable at the two libraries I have access to.
Both library sites work the same way and are based on OverDrive – you download the program to your computer (there is also an app, but I use my desktop). To find audiobooks you can either go to the e-book/audio link from OverDrive on the website, or find it in the general catalog which will lead you to the OverDrive catalog to check out. (You may have to set up your library account again in their catalog). After you check your book out, you need to download it (a button right near the book cover as displayed in your account). It automatically opens the OverDrive program. With a few clicks you can download and then play it on the computer or transfer it to another device (I use a SanDisk MP3 player). Because you use your library card to check out books, you can only access books from library sites where you have their card. If anyone else knows of a way to access other library systems or lending sites, I’d love to know that too!
If the book expires before you delete it on your own device, OverDrive will pop up a message to that effect the next time you open the program and force you to delete it. If you’ve downloaded it to a separate device they have no way of forcing you to delete it from there, so technically you can listen past the expiration, and deleting it is really based on the honor system; I always do, but I can see that being abused. One recent improvement is that you can now return the book from the OverDrive program to the library rather than just deleting it from your computer/app and waiting for it to expire before it comes off your card.
Digital copies of the books are treated like physical copies – only as many as the library owns can be borrowed, so you will likely have to put something popular on hold, and if there are only a few copies the wait can be pretty long.
I’m not sure who does the ordering of the e-books/audiobooks, but it is likely not someone who is an avid listener. Very often when the library finally does get books in a series, they do not start with the first one. For example, Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series – both libraries only have Books 4 and 5. It’s as if they hear from somewhere about a popular author or series and start ordering from the current one, without considering how people might like to listen to a series of books.
Another oddity – I cannot borrow and download J. D. Robb’s new novels. I need to put the CDs on hold at the NYPL – the BPL doesn’t have them at all.
I enjoyed listening to Barbara Rosenblat’s narration of the Amelia Peabody series but cannot download them for a re-listen as they are not available in that format.
While I enjoy listening to books, I rarely want to re-listen and audiobooks are very expensive. Therefore, I borrow from the library rather than using Audible or another service. I borrow physical (and e-books to a lesser extent) from the library as well. While I enjoy reading, there are few books I’m willing to buy for myself (the aforementioned Amelia Peabody series being the exception, and those were mostly purchased as used paperbacks).
Mel Burns – Advice for Library Audiobook Downloads and Comparisons
I have access to five libraries and I check their e-media catalogs daily. For audiobooks, I mostly use OverDrive and only occasionally use Recorded Books (OneClickdigital) and Hoopla. The last two are not user friendly in my opinion. Recorded Books catalog is unusually difficult to search and downloads take forever and the streaming has never worked on my Acer netbook or on my iMac. Hoopla is streaming only and a real pain in the butt. I have tried several times to listen to audiobooks and watch films and it is ALWAYS buffering. Our wifi is strong and so is the wifi at my office and on campus, but it is never smooth, so as I said before, I rarely use it. I have not attempted to use their apps for my Kindle, mobile, iPod, or iPad. I don’t listen to audios on my phone, but I have a colleague who downloads a few chapters at a time to her iPhone 6 and never has trouble with the apps, though she mostly uses OverDrive and Audible.
Not all libraries have Hoopla and Recorded Books, but most have OverDrive. OverDrive is fantastic! I have the OverDrive Media Console for audios on my computers and the OverDrive app on my Kindles and iPad. I LOVE IT. I read all my e-books from the library on OverDrive app (which is e-pub) because it is easier and has less steps than Kindle’s process. The audios work well too. I just bought a Kindle HD 6 for listening and viewing while traveling and commuting and it’s perfect for library audiobooks. The download process on all my devices is quick, unless using public wifi at a cafe or the like. And with OverDrive, it is easy to download as many chapters as you wish, so that you don’t take up too much space on your mobile. The instructions for downloading the book listening apps for all compatible devices are on the library e-media page. OverDrive is the simplest and their tech help is always immediate and helpful.
For example on Seattle’s OverDrive page, these devices are listed:
Kindle
Kobo, Nook
iPad, iPhone, iPod touch
Windows
Mac
Android/tablets….and there is more. All you need is a library card in good standing and a compatible device
These are the libraries I use: Los Angeles Public (LAPL), County of Los Angeles, Santa Monica Public (SMPL), and Seattle Public (SPL). Recently I set up an online account for my Mom at the Maricopa County Library, which is part of the Greater Phoenix Library system, and it has a huge catalog of both digital and CDs. My Mom listens to CDs and there is always a long wait list. I stopped listening to CDs about ten years ago… too much to carry around and too many things that can be damaged or lost.
As far as holds, it depends. As an example, it’s February 19th and here are three audios that were added to the LAPL catalog today along with the holds as of noon: Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman (48 holds). J.R. Ward’s The Shadows (14 holds) and Suzanne Enoch’s Mad, Bad and Dangerous (8 holds). All of these are listed pre-release. Most libraries will only get one digital copy where as most branches of the LAPL will have a CD copy. Sometimes a popular author like Sherry Thomas will have more digital copies – LAPL has four copies of His at Night. Then there’s Nora Roberts (NR), hugely popular, but there is usually only one copy of her audios available. And… the availability of NR digital titles is funny. I’ll break down and get the hard copy of her audios. Years go by before her latest are added to OverDrive.
Ninety-five percent of my downloads come from LAPL and SPL, both e-book and audiobook. Around 2000, the Seattle library received a grant and became part of an early pilot program for e-media. The main provider was Recorded Books (RB) and that later changed to OverDrive. SPL no longer offers RB. We moved to Santa Monica in 2004 and have a five-branch library with a state of the art main branch. We even have a Carnegie library – our Ocean Park branch. SMPL has a great print catalog, but their e-media offerings are small compared to LAPL and SPL.
LAPL has 14,231 fiction audiobooks – 2,500 are romance. SPL has 13,005 – 2,016 are romance. LAPL adds books once or twice a week, where SPL goes weeks sometimes without adding new books.
I found Georgette Heyer, Ilona Andrews, and all those wonderful Marion Chesney romances in the OverDrive digital audiobook catalog. I still buy audios, but I get more through the library. You might want to check out the LAPL e-media page. Here’s the link: http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/e-media
My thanks goes out again to Diana, Mel, and Rachel for sharing with us today.
Library Download Options (if available)
I imagine there are more – please tell us about any I have missed. These promotional descriptions are directly from the sites so no personal opinions included herein.
OverDrive – Borrow eBooks, audiobooks, and more from your local public library – anywhere, anytime. All you need is a library card.
Recorded Books – OneClickdigital – OneClickdigital brings exclusive Recorded Books eAudio, as well as content from all major publishers, together with an eBook service. Combine eBooks and eAudio in one collection, offering the most comprehensive platform for your content. Curated title lists feature the best literature in a wide variety of genres along with an outstanding collection of award-winning Children’s and Young Adult titles.
Hoopla – Allows you to instantly borrow free digital movies, music, and more with your library card. Simple to access and use, without the hassle of having to return the items you’ve borrowed, all you need is your library card, a web browser, smart phone, or tablet to get started.
Now – Let’s Hear From You
One thing I do know about digital library borrowing is that there is always more to learn and many helpful details for users to share. We have only started the discussion today. Please ask questions, share what you have learned, or add to our discussion in our comment area.
Ending Notes
Check out our Speaking of Audiobooks Facebook page to see romance audio updates, industry news, and links to articles on interest.
For those new to our Speaking of Audiobooks column, be sure to check out our audio archives for further recommendations and discussions.
Our affiliated Goodreads group – Romance Audiobooks – keeps growing and now has 971 members. We started this group five years ago for discussions in between Speaking of Audiobooks columns. Come on by to share your latest listen or contribute to a number of our ongoing romance audiobook discussions.
Enjoy your listening.
– Lea Hensley[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
I am thinking of buying a joomla template from template monster and importing it into joomla.. . How hard are they to import? Is it plug and play easy? Or will I need to configure plugins etc.. . Thanks..
I enjoy audiobooks from the public library, unfortunately the romance selection is limited. I’ve made some suggestions, including those on the AAR winner lists, but without success. None of the libraries in my library system (CT) purchased ‘Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie’ and one library purchased ‘Lord of Scoundrels’ – both highly regarded as audiobooks! I think the reasons are related to the high price of audiobooks for libraries with tight budgets and the fact that romance titles compete with titles from more acceptable genres and lose out.
My library, Sacramento Public, CA has the 3M Cloud Library as well and just added eAudiobooks. They work pretty much the same as their ebooks, obviously just listening instead of reading.
Here is the site that the library the linked me to with the how to videos. http://www.3m.com/us/library/eBook/support.html
Thanks Jason!
You know one of the things I miss about library borrowing? At one time, you could find old cassette tapes of audiobooks recorded years ago. Some of these books aren’t available digitally and can’t be purchased either new OR used as they just aren’t out there for sale. LaVyrle Spencer’s Morning Glory is one such book. Issues with rights come up and these books disappear. Sad.
Anyone who lives in California can apply for a card at most major cities, counties and suburbs libraries. However you must prove you are a California resident or a temporary resident. The policy is the same you must physically apply in person and renew the card in person. Los Angeles County Library which has a nice audio selection allows renewal over the telephone.
My sister lives in another state and I helped her get two library cards here in California one being LAPL. Each year when she visits she renew her cards in
person. Wish California had a statewide Overdrive database, sadly not. Each library has it’s own private collection of audio and ebooks.
This is a great help for people that may have been hesitant to try audiobooks. I’ve become an avid audiobook fan (usually suspense/thriller and UF) and I’m grateful I live in a county that has invested well in their digital selections. I haven’t tried Hoopla but the OverDrive and OneClickDigital apps both work well on my android phone. When I first started listening a few years ago, I’d went through the bother of transferring to an ipod but that got old quickly. I agree that OD is more user friendly than OCD and is the app I use by far (besides what I buy through Audible) Thank you Susie for the info because I didn’t realize Amz did that though I do remember getting a free ebook once and then picking up the audio version for less than $3.
I also noticed just today that audiobooks I previously couldn’t check out because of the dreaded WMA format have now all been changed to MP3…yay! I now have lots more books/authors I’ll be able to give a try.
I haven’t started listening on my phone – yet. I’m so bad at dropping things that I’m afraid my phone would suffer. But I may be forced to one day as the selection of MP3 players (I use an iPod nano) seems to be diminishing.
Here’s a slightly complicated *helpful hint* but I hope SOMEONE out there will benefit!! I borrow tons of ebooks (mainly kindle format) from my library (New York Public Library, my beloved). I also like listening to audiobooks. The trouble is, the audio inventory at my library is much smaller than the ebook library so I am often waiting for ages for the book to be free.
I have a small hack (which admittedly does cost a little $) and have been using Whispersync for Voice (the Amazon service where if you get both the e and audio version of the book you can toggle between the two). The best part is that the audio is seriously discounted when you already have the ebook – EVEN if that ebook is a borrow!
So, if you can’t borrow the audiobook via your library (waiting list is too long or your library doesn’t have it), you can try to borrow the the Kindle version of the book. Then you go into “”Manage my content and devices”” in your amazon account and find the book you just borrowed. You click on the little button to the left of the title and you’ll see a pop up where it says “”Add narration”” with a little headphones icon. It’s often at a pretty good price (I’ve gotten audio version of the books for less than 3.99). You can read and listen (or do both at the same time!) in your kindle app or device. Or listen in your audible app.
The caveats of course, are that the book has to be borrowed in kindle format (.mobi or azw) and the book has to be synced with audio (there are more that 50k synced so chances are pretty good). You can search in amazon for “”whispersync for voice””. And that you have to pay some $.
I’ve seen this discussed over at our Romance Audiobooks Goodreads group. I don’t consider it a hack since Audible/Amazon allows it. :)
Thanks for sharing here.
It seems the US is way ahead of the UK on this. I can only speak as to what’s available in my part of the country (Essex) and while Overdrive is used together with another service, the name of which escapes me (it used to be One Click Digital, but it seems they don’t use them anymore), the number of romance audios available is paltry. And of that paltry quantity, I’d say around 80-90% of the titles are books by two or three authors – Nora Roberts and her alter ego, J.D Robb and Maggie Macomber, Susan Mallery… and that’s about it. That was on the Overdrive listing. On the other, there were about 80 romance titles listed IN TOTAL.
Perhaps the service in other parts of the country is better, but I very quickly abandoned the library in favour of my Audible subscription (which I think is a little cheaper in the UK than the US).
Possibly someone else will chip in with info on digital listening in the UK. I must admit that I have to wonder why. Could those pesky geo restrictions have anything to do with library downloads?
That thought had occurred to me – I mean, only about 10% of Tantor’s catalogue is available digitally in the UK, and they’re a major romance publisher. Or it’s just that the UK has a different approach to romance. Maybe we’re too snobbish about it or something – over here you can’t (easily) buy most historicals, for example, in a bookshop. You might get some Julia Quinn and maybe the odd Mary Balogh or Eloisa James, but that’ll be about it if you’re lucky. But those authors WE think of as big name – Tessa Dare, Lorraine Heath, Grace Burrowes… I’ve never seen any of their books in a bookshop over here.
I have to qualify that by saying I rarely go to actual bookshops any more – I know I’m almost certainly not going to find what I want, so it’s Amazon all the way for me! But based on the few times I HAVE browsed the shelves, there’s nothing. That’s gone off at a tangent, but it’s because I wonder if there’s a similar attitude among those who purchase digital content.
Mind you, if the content isn’t available, then that’s just as much of an issue.
I will have to see if I’m able to access the digital catalogues in any other counties and make a comparison.
WONDERFUL column, Lea! I check out audiobooks via the Overdrive app on my Android phone – that’s how I consume pretty much all my audiobooks these days. I absolutely love the app, and the ease of searching for new titles (all of which feature samples right through the app, so I can listen before downloading). The app remembers where I am in the listen, and can bookmark (although I rarely use that feature). My only complaint is that the name of the narrator is sometimes hard to locate in the overview section.
I’m fortunate that I have access to two large library systems, so have thousands of titles to choose from (and have even seen several of my own go by, LOL!).
That’s one thing Hoopla does better than the other apps – it’s the easiest one in-app to find the narrator name. Overdrive’s site has good narrator info, but once downloaded it’s hit/miss about whose voice I’m hearing.
Thanks Xe!
Easily locating the narrator is extremely important to me but, knowing me, I wouldn’t be searching out an audiobook without already knowing the narrator.
I use two libraries constantly – Houston Area & Harris County – and have apps for both as well as for Overdrive, Recorded Books/One Click, and Hoopla on my iPhone.
I always check the Overdrive sites for both libraries first when there’s a title I want, and love that I can have both a hold list and a wish list through Overdrive, since I’ve usually hit my hold limit and need a place to stash titles I want to add as soon as there’s space. It’s also the service with the best functionality for listening, even back in the days when it was a process of downloading to my desktop, then transferring to my MP3 player.
If I can’t find a title through one of the library Overdrive collections, I check the library site itself for a CD, or a link to the book on One Click or Hoopla. One Click’s search functions are rotten, but sometimes they’re the only place to find older audios, like Dorothy Gillman’s Mrs. Pollifax series, almost all of which I listened to via One Click. Once I find / download a title, listening is easy enough. Sometimes a little glitchy, and One Click books always seem to have this weird thing (maybe from sample snippets) where Chapter 1 is broken into 2 parts – a five or six minute section, then the rest.
On Hoopla, with my iPhone I can download (usually – assuming I’m in a stable WiFi area) the entire book so I don’t have to deal with buffering while listening. The problem with Hoopla – and this is a BIG problem – is that the book is one big file. No chapter or part breaks. No fast forward or rewind buttons, just a ‘skip back 30 seconds’ and ‘pause/play’ button and a really small slider that goes from 0:00:00 to 13:51:15 (or however many hours/minutes/seconds long the book is.) There’s also a reading speed adjustment, a sleep timer, and you can bookmark (with more steps than necessary). I find myself bookmarking frequently ‘just in case’ something happens to lose my place as I, for example, go from house to car’s bluetooth, or I hit something wrong as I’m switching apps. And yet I never seem to have bookmarked recently enough to find my place easily when something does happen. And something happens at least once per book for me to lose my place. Sometimes Hoopla just feels the need to tell me I’ve lost my WiFi connection, even when I’m listening to a book I’ve downloaded, and in the process of dismissing the message I’ll lose my place.
It’s odd, I think, for a service that also has movies/tv shows to have such bad menu controls, but hey. The month-long check-out period and instant availability, plus the fact that sometimes Hoopla has something unavailable elsewhere means I’m going to keep using it.
Good to hear the limitations and pluses of Hoopla. It sounds like a possibility when I’m home although the lack of a rewind button would be aggravating. Still, I do a lot of listening when home and could dedicate one of my older iPods to a book.
I also have an out-of-state library card for the Houston Public Library, and along with that, Hoopla. That’s where I get the majority of my audiobooks now. They have such a good selection. Also, Houston has a feature where you can recommend audiobook titles for them to purchase. Our local library Overdrive system doesn’t offer that. They’ve purchased over half of the titles that I’ve requested so far.
As far as Hoopla goes, at first I was frustrated by their app, but for the last several months I’ve downloaded each title to my ipod and haven’t had any trouble with them playing. Also, I have a stylus that I use sometimes on my ipod/Kindle Fire, and you can move the slider much easier with that. I can go back or forward a minute or two in the book. With Hoopla, it’s just so nice to be able to get the book you want whenever you want it, just like with Audible.
I need to check into one of those Houston cards. Sounds just like the sort of selection I need.
I’ve used libraries for years to get audiobooks – both hard copies (CDs) and digital through Overdrive. Depending on where you live, neighboring library systems may offer access to their collections. I live in the metro Washington DC area and have access to 3 Maryland counties, the District and 4 Virginia counties and 2 Virginia cities. I’ve found that most systems carry the popular authors, i.e. Nora Roberts and Janet Evanovich but some systems specialize. An Australian author I love, Kerry Greenwood, is only available at one of the Maryland counties – but they have the entire series of 20 books. The best thing about having accounts at all of these libraries, is that you can browse the catalog from home. You put a hold on the books you want, select the branch where you want to pick up the hard copies, and they’ll notify you when your book is available. They usually give you 5 to 7 days to pick up your holds. Having multiple library accounts gives you a better chance of finding books in a series so you can read them in order.
The downside of using Overdrive is getting the books you want in order. Books 4, 5 and 7 may be available in a series but 1, 2, 3 and 6 may have a waiting list. If that’s the case, I download the titles that are available, put them on my iPod and wait until the others are available. Once the earlier books came available I download those and start listening in order. Then I delete them from my iPod. Multiple library accounts make it easier to find Overdrive books so you can read them in order. Just my two cents – happy listening!
I’m quite impressed with the selection of audios I’m seeing here. I live in Tulsa, Ok. and I thought our library’s digital selection was quite limited last time I checked (especially now when compared to what I’m seeing here). Need to check into possible access to other libraries although Oklahoma City is the only other large city in the state.
I’m a librarian in Wisconsin and here we have a statewide collection of downloadable audio and ebooks. That means that anyone who lives in the state of Wisconsin can go to their local library, get a library card and then have access to the statewide database on Overdrive. Right now there are 39,661 ebooks and 12,622 audiobooks in the collection.
Someone mentioned not being able to access the newest titles by J D Robb on Overdrive. There are still some publisher restrictions – don’t know if this is the why with the Robb books – but some publishers won’t sell to Overdrive while books are brand new. Others will only allow for a certain number of circs per item and then item has to be re-purchased. With a big bestseller you can bet that the library would provide the downloadable audiobook if it were at all possible. It just may not be possible.
There are still titles that get missed, so we welcome suggestions for purchase from the public for the selector to look at.
Jane – this is wonderful news for our Wisconsin listeners. And we hope that you will receive some suggestions after listeners see your comments.
Thanks for helping us understand more about the “”Others will only allow for a certain number of circs per item and then item has to be re-purchased.”” It sounds complicated yet I now understand more than I did just last week!
Jane – Based on your response I did a search on Overdrive’s site, and the last JD Robb they have in audio format is Treachery in Death. As there have been 8 books released since, it is no wonder I need to borrow the CDs. As Overdrive looks like it has all the books in the series (including novellas) until Treachery in Death, maybe you are right with regard to the publisher restrictions. Also, why would a publisher would force a library to re-purchase after a certain number of reads? Shouldn’t that be an advantage of purchasing digital copies, that you do not have to replace them as they cannot wear out?
Rachel,
Some publishers put circ limits on books (26 circs and have to repurchase) because they argue that books and other formats wear out. But the reality is most print books last long past that point and we have many books on cd that have circ’ed 100s of times. It’s an arbitrary number.
Libraries also pay far more for a digital copy (from many publishers) then a regular customer. So libraries really have to pick and choose with limited budgets.
I’ve used my library for at least the last three years for about 90% of my audiobook listening, using OverDrive. I’m not sure how it was years ago but I’ll bet you most of the issues were related to those audiobooks in the WMA format. Even today, I won’t download this format because of the many issues related to transfer. I transfer all of the books either to my iPhone or iPad for listening.
I’m fortunate that my library has a robust inventory and do well to start from the beginning of a series opinion most instances.
You are right! It was the dreaded WMA format. I still want to run when I hear that term.
Jonetta, you should be excited to know that Overdrive is in the process of changing the format of their audiobooks to MP3 now. It’s my understanding the WMA format is being eliminated! Doing this has made downloads and transfers much simpler now.
WMA – the single thing that kept me from pursuing library download borrowing (I don’t think I had a choice – it was WMA or nothing). Hope it is totally gone soon.
Thanks for that insight, Diana. I’d noticed that none of the newer titles are in that format. Recently, I was “”forced”” to download the Monkeewrench series by P. J. Tracy in WMA format because that’s all they had. It was a nightmare. Good bye and good riddance:)
I’d like to point out that anyone in California can get an LAPL card. The catch is that you have to pick up the card in person at any one of their branches. You can apply in advance and then drop by to pick up your card, but at some point you have to physically go there. It is very worth it though, as their library offerings are extensive and combined with using library books to buy whispersync titles there are few cheaper ways to listen. It’s worth the one time trip to L.A. to take advantage of this policy.
Thanks Jane. Just the type of advice we are hoping to hear!
Lea- thanks for putting this very informative column together. I have been an audiobook addict for almost 30 years- from tapes to downloads- and my main source for most of those years was the local library. My newest local library has an amazing number of book on CD and I will be checking some out- if I ever get caught up on my Audible TBL stack. I did try the Overdrive app several years ago but was not impressed. Maybe I should give it another try after reading the input above.
My daughter uses our local library regularly for her audiobook downloads that she listens to on her iPhone. So, I know that our library has updated its digital access in some manner since it now works with Apple products. It’s time for me to try again!