Library dropped Overdrive for 3M. You could be next!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I get 20 items. I was wrong on Freegal - it's been upped to 5 songs.

Oh, thanks for the info on Freegal. I haven't used it for a while and didn't know about the increased limit.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I haven't sampled Prime music. I should check that out too!

You probably already know this but Freegal allows you to keep 3 songs per week. It's not a borrowing system.

I had no idea that there were so many options for audiobooks. I've only used Overdrive and Audible. I love to listen to audiobooks on my iPhone while I work out. This will give me more options to find specific titles.

Prime Music's pretty good once you find stuff you like, but it's 1 million song catalog is weak compared to Spotify's 20 million song catalog. Major groups are missing from Prime. No Beatles, for example.

Yeah, I know you can keep the Freegal songs, but I have no need for it. Thanks to streaming radio, Prime Music, and YouTube, I have no need to pay for music anymore. The one exception is the classical music I buy from Amazon using free MP3 credits.

Lots of audiobook options for sure; but with my needs being satisfied through OverDrive and Audible, I have no need to use them. That said, I will take the free audiobooks offered by other providers (Downpour, Tantor, etc).

Are you aware that we have a forum for audiobooks? -- Everything Audiobooks

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Are you aware that we have a forum for audiobooks? -- Everything Audiobooks

Yep! I think that's awesome. I'm a lurker there. I should frequent it more and participate in the discussions.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I only have access to audiobooks in OneClick. I just created an account and checked one out to listen to while I exercise later. Thanks for the tips! The book was not available on Overdrive or 3M.

I've tried some of the other platforms before, but they weren't as easy to navigate as OverDrive. Since I had no compelling need for their content, I never went back.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I get 20 items. I was wrong on Freegal - it's been upped to 5 songs.

Now I understand why you have so many cards. Thanks again for the info.

That would be a plus for Hoopla, but I haven't used it for some time now. My main reason for multiple cards is content variety and the ability to be on multiple waiting lists.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Yep! I think that's awesome. I'm a lurker there. I should frequent it more and participate in the discussions.

No more lurking... participate

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Since you apparently will soon have several collections available to you, and if you often know the title of the book you want, look into this:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=187919

I installed this search plug-in today. Awesome! That will save me time in the future. Thanks for the tip.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I was wrong on Freegal - it's been upped to 5 songs.

It varies by library. I get 2 at one library, 3 at another. I get 10 for Hoopla but since I rarely use it that's ok.

I also use Zinio, though I haven't found time to read magazines recently. (I can always find time for books!)

[FizzyWater]

The nice thing about Zinio is you don't have to read it right away. If there's an issue you want to read, it's yours to read whenever. I don't know how that works in terms of the license, but I'm grateful for it.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

...I need to check out Hoopla. I don't realize that it was more than audiobooks and also had movies!...

Last spring Hoopla announced that they would be adding e-books to their service sometime this year. All quiet from them since then. I wonder what went wrong.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Last spring Hoopla announced that they would be adding e-books to their service sometime this year. All quiet from them since then. I wonder what went wrong.

Thanks for this info. I thought this statement was especially interesting.

hoopla digital's transactional-based model allows for all eBook titles to be available all the time, with the publisher being compensated each time a title is read. "All titles are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Jankowski. "Through the hoopla digital platform, publishers will now have the opportunity to showcase backlist and midlist titles, as they do their frontlist; financially benefiting from all transactions.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

The nice thing about Zinio is you don't have to read it right away. If there's an issue you want to read, it's yours to read whenever. I don't know how that works in terms of the license, but I'm grateful for it.

And you get back issues as well. My library included the last year of its magazines, and ones I really like are not affected by age.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Well, after a few months of using 3M I thought I'd provide an update.

The best thing about this thread was my discovery of the Overdrive search plug-in for calibre. Thank you! I have added many "empty book records" to my calibre library to keep track of book club recommendations, challenge lists, etc. This search makes it really easy to find where I should go to borrow or purchase the book. It's fantastic!

The biggest benefit of 3M is that my library was correct when they said that it will allow them to have books that their patrons want. They've come through on my requests within 2 days on average. Before I would have looked on Overdrive and then bought the book at Amazon if it were missing. Now there's an excellent probability that the 3M library will add it if I request it. My Overdrive consortium has not added any of the books that I've recommended!

My library has been expanding their collection so the selection has improved. I have found many books that are on 3M and not Overdrive so I suppose competition is a good thing....

3M updated their iOS app this week. It fixes margins, page numbering, filtered searches for ebooks versus audiobooks, and some other things that I didn't like. That makes it much more useable! The desktop version is still an outdated, ugly and slow interface.

In summary, I still prefer Overdrive as a library lending service. I'm getting use out of my additional library cards. Having additional Freegal picks per week is great, and I'm really liking OneClick for audiobooks.

Thanks all for your great advice!

[BearMountainBooks]

Thanks for the update!

I haven't had any luck getting the library to order books for overdrive either. I've tried quite a few times, but no dice.

[eschwartz]

I have access to the Brooklyn 3M library. They haven't accepted a single one of my recommendations to date, but every library I can access that does recommendations has listened to the first few recommendations on OverDrive (and mostly ignored me since then).

I find that excuse hard to swallow -- what, do they have some special rule that the acquisitions librarian is only allowed to listen to recommendations if they are submitted through 3M? Nonsense!

I suspect fishy business...


Glad to hear you are making use of the plugin.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I have access to the Brooklyn 3M library. They haven't accepted a single one of my recommendations to date, but every library I can access that does recommendations has listened to the first few recommendations on OverDrive (and mostly ignored me since then).

I find that excuse hard to swallow -- what, do they have some special rule that the acquisitions librarian is only allowed to listen to recommendations if they are submitted through 3M? Nonsense!

I suspect fishy business...


Glad to hear you are making use of the plugin.

3M is the only choice for my city librarian to make digital ebook acquisitions. They dropped Overdrive. When they belonged to Overdrive, it was part of a 12-city consortium so book recommendations went to a consortium board for review. Makes sense to me that my city has more control now because it's their budget only and no more consortium compromises.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Thanks for the update!

I haven't had any luck getting the library to order books for overdrive either. I've tried quite a few times, but no dice.

My recommendations were mainstream choices and not that obscure. Most of them were missing books in a series or the library had other books by that same author. I thought that might mean a greater chance of them going through. I don't know how long it takes to go through the consortium review and approval process. Weeks? Months?