Check It Out

Tweet the Library, or, Downloading Mac or iPod Compatible Audiobooks

November 17th, 2009 Tana

In the last week we’ve answered our first two reference questions via Twitter.  While it might not be the fastest or most private way to contact us with a question, we’re happy to answer the questions we see via Twitter or Facebook or our other social media accounts.

Which brings us to the answer to one of those two reference questions, which is more complex than Twitter’s 140 characters allow… One of our followers, in response to a post announcing our excitement that we now offer e-book and iPod compatible audiobook downloads through the OverDrive Digital Download Center, requested that a sidebar search category be created for Mac users to find compatible downloads.

Madison Public Library is part of a statewide consortium that runs the OverDrive Digital Download Center, a collection of nearly 5,000 downloadable audiobooks, video, music and now e-books.  We can’t update the sidebar options to say “Plays on Mac” but if you look at the sidebar, you can choose either “iPod-compatible Audiobooks” or “View all MP3 Audiobooks” to find titles you can use.  iPod-compatible audiobooks can be transferred to an iPod or iPhone through iTunes on either a Mac or a PC.  MP3 audiobooks can be played on a Mac OR transferred to iPod or iPhone.  Also, if you do a title or author search, there are icons for each title showing what formats the title come in.  Screenshots of menus and download steps for getting OverDrive Media Console are on our Flickr photostream.

Background info: Audiobooks comprise the largest part of the Digital Download Center collection.  Most are - for various digital rights management reasons - available only as WMA (windows media audio) files for playing on a PC or WMA-compatible devices.  Recently, one fourth of the WMA titles became iPod compatible when users access the files using the most recent version of the OverDrive Media Console (software required to use OverDrive).  As of today, there are 4065 WMA audiobooks, 218 MP3 audiobooks, 1000 iPod compatible WMA audiobooks, 318 videos, 178 music albums, and 232 eBooks in the collection.

Entry Filed under: Ashman Branch, Audio Books, Central Library, Hawthorne Branch, Lakeview Branch, Meadowridge Branch, Monroe Street Branch, New Materials, Pinney Branch, Research Resources, Sequoya Updates, South Madison Branch