Oooh! Thanks! I found some books I want to read right away. I have aWindows laptop too, so perhaps I will check out books for both. I mean, those that I can listen to on Windows, and the others for Mac. Hmm ... interesting.
Jane On 11/20/08, Esther <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Jane, > > You wrote: >> Does anyone know if the software will work on iBooks, or do I have to >> put it on the iMac? > > The requirements for the Mac OverDrive Console are: > > Intel(R) or PowerPC(R) processor > Mac OS 10.4.9 (or newer) > iTunes(R) v7.6.2.9 (or newer) > QuickTime(R) v7.4.5 (or newer) > > and you can go to the link for "Download OverDrive Media Console" at: > > http://overdrive.com/software/omc > >> >> I finally have found out that mPhiladelphia Free Library--or whatever >> the title is--will let me download audio books through OverDrive, so >> this is a nice addition--if I can get it to work. > > You need to check whether your local library subscribes to OverDrive > for audiobook downloads. You also need to find out which, if any, > titles your library carries as MP3 downloads. That repertoire is > currently much smaller than their WMA offerings with digital rights > management. > > In your case, the web page is at: > > http://freelibrary.lib.overdrive.com/ > > If you don't already have a library card, you should do their on-line > sign up for one. > > I would use VO-U to navigate to the "Digital Media Advanced Search Link" > > You can run various searches, but the key thing is to set the popup > for Format: to "OverDrive MP3 Audiobook" > > I also opt to set the Results per page popup button to the maximum > (25) to minimize the number of pages I have to visit. > > There's an optional checkbox for "Only show titles with copies > available" that you might want to use the first time you run your > search. (This assumes that you want to get a book file to try right > away. On a longer term basis, you'll want to put in requests for > specific titles regardless of whether they're available right away. > You should get an email notification when they get "returned" and are > available for you to download.) > > Make sure that you select the MP3 version of a title -- you can check > whether you can burn, play on a Mac, transfer to iPod, etc. > >> >> Can you keep the audio books? Burn them to CD? Or do they go away >> after whatever the time-limit is? >> > > You can only play them for the period of your borrowing period. > (You're supposed to destroy copies that you burn to CD for personal > use or delete copies that you transfer to your iPod once your > subscription expires.) What happens is that the files will no longer > play, transfer, burn outside the subscription period. > > Generally, the ability to burn to CD depends on the publisher. Naxos > usually lets you burn to CD (but then they also have their own > download store which will sell their audiobooks without DRM). That > might not be true for recent titles. Blackstone is also pretty good > about this. Some publishers won't let any of their books get burned to > CD, although they'll let them be played on your computer and > transferred to an MP3 player or iPod. What you may find is that the > publishers with more restrictive burning policies won't be offering > MP3 versions for downloads -- only WMA versions with DRM. So you won't > find (yet) MP3 files from Listening Library, for example, although > your library might carry some of those titles on audio CD for borrowing. > > Also, you'll have to read the instructions on how to transfer to the > iPod Shuffle -- it's handled differently, and you need to use iTunes. > > Hope this helps. > > Cheers, > > Esther >> >> On 11/20/08, David Poehlman >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> so command-I does not show it as an audio book. Can you change it? >>> >>> ----- 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 >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> > > >
