Hi David,
You wrote:
so command-I does not show it as an audio book. Can you change it?
You're thinking about iTunes. With OverDrive you use OverDrive's own
console to play, transfer, download, burn, etc. The OverDrive Console
will transfer tracks to the iPod when it's connected, but it doesn't
put any of these tracks into your iTunes library. In my post (still
attached at the bottom) when I mention the menus to navigate to access
the audiobook, those are only on my iPod -- not in my iTunes library.
So, no, you can't edit or change any of these files. And just because
the WMA DRM is not added to the files does not mean there are no
restrictions on their use. For example, for my library the borrowing
period is 21 days. At the end of 21 days, I will not be able to play
these files through the OverDrive Console or transfer them to my
iPod. I could ignore the messages asking me whether I want to delete
them, but I can't play them until I get another .odm file for that
book that allows me to play them.
The digital downloads are just like regular library books in that
regard. There are not unlimited copies. The library pays OverDrive
(or NetLibrary) for a number of "seats" that can be active and
borrowed at any time. If you have a copy "checked out" another patron
cannot "borrow" that book until your copy is "returned". Of course,
you don't actually return the book. It just becomes available for
check out again at the end of your borrowing period. There's also no
way to "return" digital download books early. Your license to play
these books just expires.
Hope this clarifies things.
Cheers,
Esther
----- Original Message -----
From: "Esther"
Hi David,
You asked:
When you look at the info for one of the books, is it listed as an
audio
book?
No, as I mentioned in my post below, when you transfer a library's
digital download audiobook from OverDrive.com onto your iPod using
their "Transfer" button, it is listed on your iPod Nano 4G under
Album, Artist, Genre, etc. but it doesn't show up in the Audiobooks
section of your iPod. That makes sense when I think about it, since
originally only audiobooks purchased from Audible.com or the iTunes
Store would show up in that category. You're working from the
OverDrive media console (built for the Mac) when you play, download,
or transfer (to iPod) the downloaded Audiobook. It basically shows up
as a series of parts that would each correspond to one audio CD worth
of play (e.g. about 74 minutes) if it were burned to CD. Some of the
OverDrive titles can be burned to audio CD during the period they are
checked out. This is like Audible's or iTunes' policy. The actual
files you download are compressed, so each part's file is about 33 MB
in size rather than 700 MB for an audio CD (about podcast quality in
encoding bit rate). You're expected to delete any files from you iPod
and destroy CD copies you've made once your subscription expires.
Cheers,
Esther
P.S. Most public libraries now maintain audiobook collections on CD
and have online catalogues that are very accessible through web
interfaces. You can search the catalogs and put in requests on the
web. There are options to notify you by email when these requests
come in. This may be easily used even without digital downloads.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Esther"
Hi David,
I just tried all this, and it works fine with VoiceOver. I have a
downloaded MP3 file playing right now on my iPod Nano 4G, and the
titles are announced. You'll need to have a library card set up with
your local public library, and the library needs to subscribe to
OverDrive.com for audiobook downloads and also have subscription
selections in the category "OverDrive MP3 audiobook file" -- not just
WMA audiobook files.''
The OverDrive console installation for the Mac is fine; I ran this
first.
When you check out a downloadable book, you have to download a
license
file (that will expire at the end of your checkout period). This
will
show up in your Safari downloads directory (e.g., you can find it
with
Command-Option-L and open it in Finder from the Downloads window, but
it will probably just go to the "Downloads" folder under your user
account.) The license file will have a name that starts with the
title of the book, and ends with an extension type of ".odm". I
double-clicked it (by holding down Command, Option, and Shift keys,
and tapping the space bar twice) to open the OverDrive Console.
When you download parts of books, I didn't notice a progress bar, but
there might be one on the Console window. You can go to your
"Documents/My Media/MP3 Audiobooks" folder in Finder and look under
the folder created for each book to see whether the parts are there,
There's a "Transfer" button that works to send the files to your
connected iPods. The help has information on command sequences to be
used in the case of the iPod Shuffle. You must have the checkbox to
"Manually manage your music" checked on the iPod to use the transfer.
Oddly, the tracks don't show up under Audiobooks -- you can find them
under the "Recently Added" smart playlist, or under Album (Book
Title), or Artitst (Author), or Genre, etc. but not under Audiobooks.
Hope this is of interest.
Cheers,
Esther
