Sunday, April 23, 2017

Audiobooks from the King County Library: my first experience

I've been a happy Audible subscriber for some time, typically with a subscription for 1 book per month. Occasionally I'd rip quickly through a book and take the 3-books-for-$35 deal they offer ...

But I recently tried my local library's audiobook system.  It's misleading:


It says "MP3" but it's actually a file ending in .ODM. A little Googling around shows that it works with a phone app called Overdrive:


It's a little bit strange to use, having you choose your local library and only then start downloading the book that you checked out. After you get it set up, though, it's terrific: automatically downloads several CDs worth of a book to your phone so you can play it all the way through without changing disks.

My first experience of this format was a book I read years ago:


I had previously learned that I tend to skim fiction and I get a fuller experience in audio, and this experience confirmed that analysis. I didn't remember half of the details, just the high-level overview.

So despite the slightly clunky interface, this is well worth trying ... I returned The Stupidest Angel so grab it quickly!



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