My reaction when I found out I could download free audiobooks from sites with a library card

imjoshdean · 7 months

WHO'S DEWEY?!

dunkleheit · 7 months

HEY!...........What a wonderful kind of day.

GrizzledAncient · 7 months

[deleted]

Timbo2702 · 7 months

Jekyll Jekyll Hyde Jekyll Hyde Hyde Jekyll

Jekyll Jekyll Hyde Jekyll Hyyyyyyde!

Mcnoodlez · 7 months

Greatest. Arthur. Episode. Ever

taco_town · 7 months

A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K!

evanthesquirrel · 7 months

relevent

The ass was fat

pahool · 7 months

The biggest ebook/audiobook service for public libraries (by far) is overdrive. There are a few others, like NetLibrary and Recorded Books, but Overdrive is definitely the most prevalent.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get library cards for many different locations to increase your selection. For instance, I live in California, where most libraries have the requirement of state residency but don't have the requirement of city residency. So when I travel around the state, I collect library cards. I've got San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, Los Angeles (city and county, two different library systems), Santa Monica, and Anaheim.

When I want to search for a particular e-book or audiobook, I typically go here:

http://search.overdrive.com

Which allows me to search for a particular title to see if it's even available by Overdrive, and then narrow it down to California if it is. Then I can see if one of my libraries is on the list and it will provide a direct link to the checkout page.

Having multiple library cards is great for other reasons too. Most libraries will have a few subscription databases that are available to card holders only. Things like Rosetta Stone online for language learning, periodical databases like Proquest, Reference databases like Gale, newpaper archives, image databases, career assistance databases, Test prep materials, literature resource databases, all kinds of stuff available for free if you've got a library card.

Unfortunately, online resources are likely to shrink as libraries continue to get de-funded. California's new state budget cuts all state funding for public libraries for instance. :( However, libraries depend a lot on usage statistics for funding, and downloadable audiobooks/ebooks seem to generate a lot of usage, so it's likely these free services are going to stick around.

WilmaDickfit · 7 months

The ass was fat

GrizzledAncient · 7 months

http://libraryconnection.lib.overdrive.com/392BC1F0-F58F-4903-B3A6-65CA013F512D/10/435/en/default.htm

For people curious. I haven't had the chance to do it myself, but tell me if it works

DangLeverOn · 7 months

You'll shit your pants once you find out about torrents.

BowlingNight · 7 months

I hope this is the best 12 minutes of your day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEEMuABtJmU

Totally_Not_A_Spy · 7 months

If you live in Phoenix then use this resource.

http://phoenix.lib.overdrive.com

JaxMed · 7 months

Books on baseball, hockey, and soccer.

And even how to build yourself a cool door-knocker!

daechi · 7 months

"You got a library card? No? Then you're stupid!" - Samuel Jackson in "The Search for One-Eyed Jimmy"

f3nix · 7 months

This song pops into my head at least once a week.

ronin1031 · 7 months

Does this work in Canada? How can I tell my library card will work? I fucking love audio books and would love to be able to download them legally and not lose all of money.

tinylousianian · 7 months

I've used it! You're on the "honor system" for deleting it from your computer and your devices (if you've transferred it) - it stops playing once it expires on your computer, but not on your other devices (i.e. an ipod). Totally worth getting a library card.

guesto · 7 months

Wait you can do that? NICE.

capnjack78 · 7 months

Can I get a library card online?

therageriscrisp · 7 months

jesus.my fucking library isnt on there.

seashorecinderella · 7 months

And don't forget the Dewey Decimal System is your friend!

Bencool · 7 months

The fact that you could find a picture of that, is worth the upvote alone.

levinsong · 7 months

Most underrated kid's show.

Prairie_Dog · 7 months

Since it seems we're talking about the OverDrive Service that most libraries use, I thought I'd point out there is an App for that:

http://www.overdrive.com/Software/OMC/Default.aspx

Looks like most major computers and mobile devices are supported to some extent.

pplkillr · 7 months

YOU BASTARD. that is the catchiest fucking song, and now you got it stuck in my head. thanks, jackass.

[deleted] · 7 months

The second most dangerous thing in America: an anthropomorphic rabbit with a library card.

HuricaneRetarded · 7 months

Yeah, people really over look libraries, the one i go to you can rent video games, books, audio books, dvds, and people will openly let you copy PC games onto usbs.

red_firetruck · 7 months

Having fun isn't hard when you've got a medical card FTFY

CheshireC4t · 7 months

You've just changed my life!

wippyj · 7 months

LOLd and had a flashback of that song

mckulty · 7 months

I did a little happy dance when I discovered Overdrive. Then I dropped my Audible subscription and set up a monthly donation to my public library instead. Our county is bankrupt and my library needs the money much more than Audible.

So, I have about a hundred books sitting idle in my Audible library. Can't sell them, can't lend them, can't leave them in my will when I die. If somebody finds a way I can donate those licenses to my library then I'll sign up for Audible again.

It will be a tragedy if public libraries are forced out of business by commercial publishers and distributors.

bobdobbsjr · 7 months

If you are looking for free audiobooks, there is always LibriVox.

INeedTreeFiddy · 7 months

Relevant.

http://imgur.com/gallery/Tc7xz

makenzie71 · 7 months

What sites do you use? I primarily use my own library, but if there are others....I must know....

Awesomeade · 7 months

I watched this episode while home sick from school in a complete delirium, the Jeckyl Hyde part freaked me the fuck out.

Galexy26 · 7 months

The ass was fat.

FulgrimTG · 7 months

The ass was fat.

AccipiterF1 · 7 months

Ugh. Audio books. I once listened to Ed Asner read an Elmore Leonard book in which he went falsetto for the female voices. Can't unhear!

bombproof · 7 months

too bad overdrive media player is a pain in the ass.

snapplejuice · 7 months

ich liebe kindle

debman · 7 months

Well, time to try to getting that song out of my head again for another decade.

Stevensa · 7 months

Does this also work with ebooks?

sirin3 · 7 months

You can do that just as well without a library card, from darker sources.

Then you don't have to wait for other people to "return" them, don't have to crack DRM to play them on Linux, can hear them as long as you want and can hear whatever you want.

schmeebis · 7 months

Similarly, my wife just found out she can check out ebooks to her Kindle from the local library. So awesome.

polkdadotduh · 7 months

as a future librarian, i approve this message.

MintySquinty · 7 months

Whenever i sing this song, i do the dance too, and the Jekyll Jekyll Hyde one too.

kss114 · 7 months

my library participates. It's good unless the book is in high demand, then you still have to sit on a waitlist.

RIPelliott · 7 months

got this same thing outside my dorm room door....except with fake id instead of library card

heyitsshiv · 7 months

THIS WAS MY CHILDHOOD!

ActionLeagueLater · 7 months

Except Overdrive is a pain in the ass. And (in Baltimore at least) you have to wait in a queue of 300 people to listen to anything good.

trollfessor · 7 months

Doesn't it work with music too? I think you can get 5 free songs a week, or something like that.

phrees · 7 months

Listened to Damned by Chuck Palahniuk on this the other day.

A limitation of the service is a lack of support for a range of devices in particular formats. It's very frustrating to see a title available for Windows but not OSX - that kind of behaviour just encourages ~~piracy~~ transcoding.

sepist · 7 months

My girlfriend works for the NY library system in this particular department it's good to see people on the internet are becoming more aware of this

New_Boot_Goofin · 7 months

DORA WINIFRED! DORA WINIFRED!

moxiedrinker82 · 7 months

Wait wait wait....can you honestly do this? (free audio books with library card) If so, how?

m0laria · 7 months

Um I don't see Los Angeles Public Library on there...what is the point of this service?

TickleRunner · 7 months

It's awesome. I currently have Infinite Jest and George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows checked out on my iPad (I also borrowed the first 3 books of the ASOIAF series through OverDrive), and read Murakami's 1Q84 through Overdrive as well. All of these books are 1000+ pages long so I'm glad I didn't have to lug them around. The waitlist for the more popular books is long, but I just put a bunch of eBooks on 'hold' and it's always a nice surprise when you get the email notification that your eBook is ready for checkout. The wait itself isn't that long because the library usually has more than one digital copy.

For anyone living in Philadelphia I highly recommend getting a library card, the system is really easy to use. If they don't have the book you want as an eBook, you can always have the actual book transferred to the library closest to where you live. You can check out books and eBooks at the same time. I also have an NYPL card but have yet to use their OverDrive system.

anonymous11235 · 7 months

How do libraries get around the horrible horrible copyright laws?

Romanator3000 · 7 months

BUT WHO'S DEWEY?

jpdisco · 7 months

Anyone know if this is available in louisiana ??

joetheschmoe4000 · 7 months

Actually, my library has a program called Freegal, which allows you to download 3 free and legal songs per week. The selection library is pretty limited, though, so I ran out after about 70 songs

Savij · 7 months

Stop right there, criminal scum!

pornfkennedy · 7 months

I'm not even blind and I think audiobooks are the best invention. I'd do anything to be the next George Guidall. Nowamsayin?

themightyscott · 7 months

About 25 of the albums on my MP3 player are from loaning CDs and ripping them straight to my computer. For a while it was great, then they ran out of good music :(

HeyyZeus · 7 months

Holy crap this is awesome! Thank you for this!

DeuxRouge_frogs · 7 months

I didn't know this was a thing you could do.. You my dear have made my day a little bit brighter. Thank you.

[deleted] · 7 months

My mom still sings this when she visits

Creebjeez · 7 months

Tell me! Tell me how!

fourthlifeproduction · 7 months

This episode is probobly the main catylist for my literacy.

lagopodous · 7 months

Librarian pirates!

NEEEEEN · 7 months

A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K!

dcannons · 7 months

I got excited too, until I actually tried to download one. They are full of DRM and I couldn't put it on a CD to play in the car, which is the only place I'd ever actually listen to a full audiobook.

Plus, they had some weird shit where they only had "one copy" to loan out, so I had to wait several weeks for the copy to be "returned". I assume it was some licensing thing or else they have no idea what a computer is.

I spent half an hour getting frustrated trying to download a book I wanted, gave up, and had a DRM free copy in 2 minutes off Pirate Bay. Several weeks later I get an email that my digital copy from the library is now ready for check-out. Never tried their audiobooks again.

Renoxo · 7 months

Anyone here a fan of Bustrantor the Hungry Robot? All he wants to do is eat.

snarkhunter · 7 months

WHAT!!??!?!!

thechem · 7 months

holy shit

Xotz · 7 months

Fark I hate i hate you Americans! Wish we had this

ɐıʃɐɹʇsn∀ uı ǝʌıʃ I

funny

NEW! No gore or porn (including sexually graphic images). Other NSFW content must be tagged as such

MODERATORS

funny

NEW! No gore or porn (including sexually graphic images). Other NSFW content must be tagged as such

MODERATORS

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login