Comments on: How to Keep Overdrive Audiobooks Forever https://bookishnerd.com/overdrive-audiobooks/ Tue, 08 Apr 2025 15:31:42 +0000 hourly 1 By: Jack Lindsay https://bookishnerd.com/overdrive-audiobooks/#comment-34 Mon, 06 Feb 2023 21:59:36 +0000 https://nerdybookgirl.com/?p=77252#comment-34 As of February 2023, all the libraries that let you use the legacy Overdrive app to download (and keep forever) audiobooks are switching over to Libby. But there’s an easy way for Mac users to create MP3 files using Libby:

Get the Audio Hijack app or any other app that lets you record computer audio. I’ve only tried it with Audio Hijack but I’m sure there must be others for Mac and PCs too. Open up the Libby app on your computer, which will let you listen to it on the computer. Start a new recording that captures system audio. Start the recorder (in this case, Audio Hijack’s System Audio capture) and then just turn on the Libby reader and let it run for the duration of the audiobook. I use an old computer so the process won’t interfere with my other work. I can turn the volume all the way down so it just records silently. The volume of the computer speakers is inconsequential, the recording of the MP3 that you’ll get is going to have a constant volume. Audio Hijack’s interface shows you an equalizer bar so that you can see that the sound is recording, and it shows you how much time has elapsed and how big the file is at any time. It looks like it uses about 40MB or so per hour of recording. When finished just go name the file and, if you wish, convert the mp3 to an m4b if that’s your preferred format using a program like Audiobook Binder. You’ll now have a file that you can keep, and you can “return” your audiobook early to the library so other people won’t have to needlessly wait.

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By: persona incognitae lectricis https://bookishnerd.com/overdrive-audiobooks/#comment-33 Wed, 05 Oct 2022 01:12:58 +0000 https://nerdybookgirl.com/?p=77252#comment-33 Note that the Overdrive app is no longer offered on the current version of their website. To get it in Windows you need to go to an earlier archived copy of the app download page at https://web.archive.org/web/20211026213124/https://www.overdrive.com/apps/overdrive/ and click the “Download for Windows Desktop” button at the bottom; this will let you download (from https://web.archive.org/web/20220102082356/https://static.od-cdn.com/ODMediaConsoleSetup.msi ) an archived copy of the installer which will (albeit slowly) install the Overdrive App on your computer. I’m not sure if the “Available for Mac” link works, though since it appears to lead to another installer file I’d guess it does; the “Download for Windows 8 & 10” link just takes you to the Windows Store, which also doesn’t work. (Note that this is as of October 2022; if the installation depends on interacting with some feature of the Overdrive website that they might disable in the future, it may break.)

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