Free OverDrive Audiobook App Enables Wireless Downloads from Libraries

Topic: 

On April 21, Overdrive announced a free audiobook app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, available now in the Apple App Store.

From the announcement: "With OverDrive® Media ConsoleTM for iPhone, users can now wirelessly download MP3 audiobooks from OverDrive-powered library and retail websites to their Apple® device. Audiobooks for over-the-air download are available from more than 10,000 libraries worldwide."

Has anyone out there tried this? I don't have the requisite device so I can't give it a test-run. This strikes me as huge news. If anyone reading this tries the app out, please post results in the comments.

Comments

I was browsing the app store when I ran across this, then I noticed all of the publicity it was receiving. I commute a lot to school and work so this has been one of the greatest apps I have downloaded because it gives me something to listen to and I don't have to sync to my computer, and it's free. It works well with the library system I use, they have audiobooks with an OverDrive platform that can be downloaded right of the website with a valid library card. The only restriction is that it can only play MP3 and does not work with WMA files. It takes a little time to download, however, they are pretty big files so it's understandable. If your library (or any other website) uses this software just use your iPod/iPhone to open the website you would normally go to on your computer and download the same way, the OverDrive app will pop up and do the rest for you. It is an awesome app and I'm still playing around with it. I would definitely recommend downloading it. If you have any questions or discover any cool new tricks feel free to let me know on [email protected]

Cheers!

Yep, this is excellent news--thanks so much for posting your experience!

"shelfcheck" or @elloyd74

I tried this application and was not thrilled with the results. I had initially thought that it would allow me to browse the collection via the application and found it frustrating when I still had to use the website. I also had trouble getting IPod compatible audiobooks even though I selected that from the categories.

Bookmarking is very nice

Ugh. I got the Overdrive Media Console onto an iPad. It's totally confusing until you realize it's just a handler, not a directory like the iTunes store or the App Store. And then it just sucks.

Why does Overdrive suck on the iPad? Because you can "check out" any book you want, but unless it's in MP3 format, you've just wasted a checkout slot for the next 21 days. Ha-ha, sucker! Overdrive will let you check it out and then refuse to download it. And you can't return it, either -- so if you've tried two different books, neither of which is in MP3 format, you can't check out any more e-audiobooks for three weeks.

But it's easy enough to avoid non-MP3 books, right? Well, sort of. If you drill down through the links on the sidebar, you CAN find a list of all MP3 books available. Yeah, all 32 of them, at my library (and I live in a major city) -- most of which seem to be out-of-copyright anyhow.

Sorry, Overdrive, but this remains a much more attractive choice until you get rid of your DRM.
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