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Hi Tarana,
They went with 3M Cloud because the monthly costs of Overdrive were sucking up all resources. A consortium paid for the switch and combination of several libraries' collections to use the 3M Cloud so that actually benefits you a lot.
Yeah, I figured the only reason they're going is 'cause of Overdrive costs. And even though Cloud Library is very inefficient, it wouldn't SO wretched if it didn't have a couple significant problems for me...
1. It DOWNLOADS EVERY BOOK in "My Books" every time I log in and go to My Books. I have had books with 28 copies (yes, not kidding, the original and 27 redundant copies). At HOME, this is just as pain in the behind, but ON THE ROAD, when I'm using a metered connection, it's totally unacceptable. And SO FAR, the libraries haven't had a clue, and neither has Bibliotecha - though they DID ASSURE ME I'D BE HEARING FROM THEM WITHIN A WEEK... Several months ago.
2. It appears I can't download an audio book and put it on the device I want it on. I don't want it on my computer. I don't want it on my cell phone. I don't want it on my tablet. I want it a flash drive so I can plug it into the car and listen to the book.
This shouldn't a problem. I know cars, for at least the last SIX years have come with USB ports just for plugging in flash drives.
3. It's single threaded. Every time you want to change libraries you have to log out and back in. Which means you CAN'T check all the libraries you use for an author/title concurrently. Incredibly inefficient.
If you have technical problems, you are supposed to contact your library. If their technical people can't solve it then they contact 3M Cloud people.
Have you found a Cloud Library technical person at your library? My local library folks are nice, but they're definitely not "technical experts" in Cloud Library.
I don't know what device you are using.
I'm using a Windows 10 PC for everything connected to libraries and e-books. I've got a Nexus 9 tablet but I don't download anything directly to it.
I had the original 3M app and had to delete and redownload the app when it changed to Cloud about a month ago to get it to download the audiobooks to my Kindle Fire HDX. I also had to restart my unit. It WILL download the entire book track-by-track until it's done to the HDX, but the process appears to be slower than Overdrive. I suspect some of the errors you are getting are during a time that they are updating the library - try again when the library is open and see if that works better.
Yes, my tablet will download an audio book. Which isn't very useful to me 'cause I haven't found a way to get the audio book from the tablet to the flash drive... I've got various file browsers on the tablet, and I can SEE the files, but I haven't been able to do anything with them so far.
The audiobook function is mostly frustrating to those who used Ipod Nanos and other units that do not allow for an app function. So far though, I have no solution but I have lodged that complaint with the 3m tech guys who held the intro at my library - being able to sideload onto our devices is as important for we audiobook listeners as it is for ebook readers.
As near as I can tell, there are no more 3M "tech guys"... The last time I "got help" it was by a call to Bibliotecha, and they spent more time trying to find out how a mere "user" was able to contact them by phone and waste their valuable time than they did on the problem (these are the folks that promised to call me back within the week).
I haven't downloaded all that many audiobooks yet from the library, but I track when I have problems and then go in and get help.
HOW do you go in and get help? The Cloud Library website appears (if it's there I can't find it) to have no method to contact them by email and open a problem ticket or get technical support or any other support - as I said, if it's there I haven't found it. Nor do they appear to have a phone number published. As near as I can tell, they're trying to make it as difficult as possible to get help from the people responsible for this thing. On the one occasion I did get a person they kept telling me to talk to the expert at my local library, which of course, I'd already done.
Do you have a phone number for the Cloud Library "experts" or the 3M "tech guys" or even an email address for either?
FWIW, I have zero complaints about how the app works on the computer. It's been splendid all along with the only errors appearing to occur late at night and likely due to updates, as it works fine in the morning.
Are you using Cloud Library with multiple library systems? If so, HOW are you doing it so you can be connected to more than one of them concurrently?
Oh, and to answer your specific question, yes, it opens another browser window on your computer and streams. It's on the android device that it downloads entirely.
Yeah, I know. That's one of the things that's really annoying...
Overdrive isn't exactly great, but it seems a lot more usable than the Cloud Library, which has been around for at LEAST a couple years and should be a lot better than it is.
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