UK folk..... go to your local library, join it, use your new library card and PIN to open accounts on the Libby and BorrowBox apps. Once that's done you get free international magazine and newspaper subscriptions, if you wish to read them, as well as book borrowing, obvs!

It's excellent!

I could not get Overdrive working on my Kobo: no matter what I did, it would not let me add a library card to the system. The Libby app (whether an actual app on my phone or the web interface) was working perfectly fine with two different library cards.

After much searching, especially on `mobilread.com`, I found a solution. I logged out of my account on the Kobo. I then logged in again and was then able to add a library card to Overdrive. This did mean that all Kobo files had to be re-synced. However, as all of my books are managed by calibre, I wasn't worried about losing any of the actual (and specifically any side-loaded) contents.

I can now borrow and read library books straight from my Kobo again or borrow them via Libby and then sync to the Kobo. Now, if only koreader supported Overdrive...

This was all motivated by my wanting to read the Dune graphic novel which I could only seem to be able to read via a web browser (). I've yet to see how readable this will be on a grey scale Kobo, mind you. Watch this space. I might have to go out and buy a colour one...

Other audiobook readers, this happened to me on 3 different apps now so I wanted to alert others of this. As I usually do, I look up what new books my favorite narrators have narrated. Now, when I click on the narrator name, I am treated with audiobooks with their AI clone instead of their human narration. I already checked. That narrator is alive and still is recording audiobooks. Always listen to audiobooks before you make a purchase/borrow. Even now, it is incredibly obvious which ones are AI and which are narrated by the original human. This has happened to me on Hoopla, Libby, and on Audible so far. I know the audiobook narrator I looked up works for Recorded Books. It would not surprise me if they claim that they will never produce AI narrated audiobooks and then turn around and exploit their narrators without them knowing about it.

I took the liberty of emailing the narrator about this. This was his reply.

Robert,

Thank you very much for alerting me about the clone of my voice. As a Black narrator, this deeply troubles me, especially since I did not make this clone nor did I authorize it's creation. I will be extra vigilant as to what publishers I work with in the future and will make my displeasure very clear. I cannot thank you enough for your advocacy and for alerting me. In a hostile world that's more than willing to embrace this technology, we desperately need more people such as yourself.

Thank you again, my new friend!

Listening to CARELESS PEOPLE: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost ldealism - A Memoir (2025) - Sarah Wynn-Williams. Read by the author.

Reason hundred and twelvty-three why I my e- reader + a library subscription.

This book is wonderful; the more I read, the more engrossed I am.

One of the first warm sunny days of the year, perfect for sitting on the balcony!

I had a conversation this afternoon with the director of my regional public library, about Libby. She said that tagging books as Notify Me is what tells her what to buy. Libby notifies her about the requests for books from users, and if any book has more than three requests, she orders it. So using Notify Me is important!!!
#Libby #PublicLibraries #Books

The #Libby app is so cool.

Developers, if you're designing a book app, turning the page for VoiceOver users isn't exactly intuitive. When I am reading a book on the Libby app, for example, an eBook, I have to turn a page every time VoiceOver makes it to the end of the page when I am having it read all. I'd love it if the app would just automatically go to the next page but this is super hard in app development for some reason. Even the Bookshare app is like this. Why? Even when I am reading via Braille display I don't wanna stop to turn a page. It's a digital file. It isn't a print book. Let me scroll like it's 1999 and an HTML document or a giant text file or Word document or *anything else* than what this fresh hell is. #Apple #Libby #WebDev #Accessibility #A11y

Still pleased Queer Liberation Library bought all my books so far! QLL is a free nationwide, online, Queer library! https://libbyapp.com/search/queerliblib/creator-1071868/page-1 @reading @bookstodon #Library #Libraries #Libby #LibbyApp

I’m trying to figure out if this is a glitch in Libby or the libraries. What usually happens is, I have an e-book and or audiobook that is about ready to be do. When I go to renew the title, it says that other people are waiting on this title and there’s usually four or five people Ahead of me. When I request to be placed on hold, as soon as my checkout period is over, I receive a notification in my email that says the book is ready for you, but I checked on the title and it says that there are three people ahead of me, but I can still check it out. I’m not sure this is a glitch or a relief! #Books #Libby #LibbyApp @bookstodon

Quite late to the game, but I’m considering getting into #eink #ebook readers and ideally buying #drmfree ebooks (I don’t mind paying a bit more for those). Looks like choices are very limited nowadays, at least for the major publishers. Ideally also on a distraction-free device without ads and without a full fledged mobile OS like Android. #Kobo and #PocketBook seem the most reasonable choices, apparently also with #Libby & #Overdrive integration for public libraries in #Canada. Tips welcome

For the #Amazon strike, if you're a #Kindle #reader now would be a great opportunity to try another #ebook store. This isn't comprehensive and I'm not being paid for it. It's just some options to think about.

#Smashwords is great for folks who like to read #IndieAuthors. They also publish things that Amazon things are too naughty for you and they have one of the better author payouts as far as I can tell. #Kobo has a subscription service which is competitively priced with Amazon's #KindleUnlimited and, because they don't require exclusivity, you can get a wider variety of books in #KoboPlus.

Your local #library may also partner with a service like #Hoopla, #Libby, or #cloudLibrary to offer you access to free ebooks and #AudioBooks and the writers still get paid with those options.

Does anyone know more about the technology of Overdrive/Libby, used for ebooks/audiobooks by some library systems in the world? It is also supported by some e-readers (notably Rakuten Kobo).

It seems to be a commercial and proprietary technology ? Would be a shame that it is not an open standard and that libraries have again made themselves dependent on a 3rd party for such a fundamental part of their mission.

OK, looking for advice. Any recommendations for an #eBook reader that works well with #Linux? Or a reader that comes with #overdrive or #Libby pre-installed? I really don't want a Kindle. I tried a Koba Libra Color because I thought it had Overdrive, but it doesn't in my location. I mostly want it for reading library books, but even workarounds like #WINE were giving me issues, and it was more trouble than it was worth. #halp #ebookreader

oha: verkauft #Libby/ #overdrive Daten an Werbende? Laut Datenschutzerklärung (https://company.cdn.overdrive.com/policies/privacy-policy.htm) sollten die Informationen aber geschützt sein ...

Outsourcing von eBooks ist natürlich in vielerlei Hinsicht problematisch

https://wandering.shop/@Johannab/112245006084621711