While I love to read paper books and eBooks, there are times when I really enjoy listening to a book. Audio books have come a long way. Where you used to have to listen to books on multiple CDs, you can now get MP3 and other formats to purchase or borrow from libraries. As I have written before, check and see if your local library has a digital lending area. The Upper Hudson Library System does, as well as the New York Public Library. I often browse both collections for new reads on the go.
Over the weekend, when my son was sick, I wanted to listen to a book while he watched a movie. This allowed me to crochet and hear something. The first thing I did was to reinstall the OverDrive Media Console for Android onto my new phone.
Once I had the app, I knew that I wanted to add a book. I clicked on the “Get Books” icon at the top right and proceeded to add in my accounts with the two library systems. Now, when I am on the go, I can use my 4G LTE connection or Wi-fi to download new books on my account.
From here, your experience will be slightly different depending on the library that you are visiting. On the NY Public Library landing page you can select the type of book that you would like to search. I typically do an advanced search. Here I can select MP3 audiobooks that are available to download now. I can also specify publishers, genre, and more. As you can see, simply looking for MP3 audiobooks that were available now gave me a large number of options that was a bit overwhelming.
Thanks to my GoodReads list, I saw a book title that looked familiar. Sure enough they had Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster. I selected the title, checked it out, and within seconds it was downloading to my phone. Once you select your book to listen to, you can see the player and navigation pages below.
When you need to stop, you simply pause and close the app. The next time you begin and press the play button it will begin right where you left off.
Have you ever used the OverDrive Media App? I would love to know if you have any audiobook suggestions. As always, Tuesday Tales is about spreading love for books. Please share what you have read recently. Be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else.
Disclosure: I used the Lucid 2 by LG phone that I received as a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers to assist me with this post. All pictures were taken via the QuickMemo™ on the phone. As a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers, I share ways that I use my cell phone to make life easier. There is no other compensation. I am a long time Verizon customer, and all opinions are my own.
I just downloaded the app, but it seems to require a library number to download books. Which is kind of tricky in my particular library district. Oh, well.
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You can get a NYPL card for free as a resident of NY. I wrote about it here.
Is your library part of the Upper Hudson Library System (full list here)? If you are you can take digital books out from there as well.
Hope you can make one of those work.
[…] In addition to this, my handy dandy library app is great to request hard copies of books that I am not able to find online. In addition to this, I am able to take eBooks and audio books out via online library. I am able to read them on my Kindle app, or listen while on the go using my other favorite OverDrive Media app. […]