# netlibrary.com - download ebooks and audiobooks for free (legally) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netlibrary-com-download-ebooks-and-audiobooks-for-free-legally/317620 "2005-08-18T18:05:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netlibrary-com-download-ebooks-and-audiobooks-for-free-legally/317620/1 "2005-08-18T18:05:59Z")
I’ve mentioned this in a couple other threads, but maybe it deserves a thread of its own. If your library is a NetLibrary member library, you can get an account with [www.netlibrary.com](http://www.netlibrary.com), and “access their library’s eContent collection, which can include eBooks, eJournals, audiobooks, and reference resources”. ([http://www.netlibrary.com/Help/HowToAccessNetlibrary.aspx](http://www.netlibrary.com/Help/HowToAccessNetlibrary.aspx)) I get the most use out of it by downloading audio books for my commute. To listen to the audiobooks, you must have a device that supports protected/secure wma audio format, which the iPod does NOT support. But lots of other devices do. My one beef is that the audio books are in two formats, “CD (34 kpbs) and Radio (4 kpbs) quality”. Sorry, but 34kpbs is nowhere near CD quality, and sounds like a scratchy AM station. It’s OK for an audiobook, but still incorrect to call it CD quality. I haven’t tried the 4 kbps “radio” quality, it must sound like something Edison recorded and stored at the bottom of a swamp. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netlibrary-com-download-ebooks-and-audiobooks-for-free-legally/317620/2 "2005-08-18T20:32:59Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I get the most use out of it by downloading audio books for my commute. To listen to the audiobooks, you must have a device that supports protected/secure wma audio format, which the iPod does NOT support. But lots of other devices do. If you are talking about the Overdrive Audio Book format, all you need is a desktop computer that supports wma format, and then you can burn the audiobook to CD and listen to it anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netlibrary-com-download-ebooks-and-audiobooks-for-free-legally/317620/3 "2005-08-18T20:40:37Z")
> [@MisterThyristor](#): > > If you are talking about the Overdrive Audio Book format, all you need is a desktop computer that supports wma format, and then you can burn the audiobook to CD and listen to it anywhere. Not sure, I never heard of that format. In any case, it might be possible to burn netlibrary’s wma to CD, although you’d need some method to break it into multiple CDs. The audiobook I’m listening to now, for example, is a single file that’s about 15 and a half hours long. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netlibrary-com-download-ebooks-and-audiobooks-for-free-legally/317620/4 "2005-08-18T20:47:56Z")
The Overdrive control panel (a free download) allows you to break it into multiple CDs. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netlibrary-com-download-ebooks-and-audiobooks-for-free-legally/317620/5 "2005-08-19T01:20:20Z")
Well, there’s no mention of “overdrive” at [netlibrary.com](http://netlibrary.com) that I can find. It just says “the only requirement is that the device must be able to support playback of secure or protected wma files.” ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netlibrary-com-download-ebooks-and-audiobooks-for-free-legally/317620/6 "2005-09-01T18:07:52Z")
CNN had an article about this: [http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/26/libraries.downloads.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/26/libraries.downloads.ap/index.html) looks like Overdrive and Netlibrary are two seperate things.