Changes coming to OverDrive on Tuesday, May 19th

On Tuesday, May 19, OverDrive will be making two noticeable changes.

First, there will be a new listening option for audiobooks called OverDrive Listen. Similar to OverDrive Read for eBooks, OverDrive Listen offers the same ease of use: simply browse, borrow, and listen right in your browser with a single click. There is nothing to download nor is the installation of software required. All you need is a compatible web browser. Just as OverDrive Read is the quickest and easiest way to read our eBooks, OverDrive Listen will become the quickest and easiest way to listen to our audiobooks so you might mention this to your customers who are weary from installing software and creating accounts.

Second, OverDrive is retiring the WMA format for audiobooks, i.e. removing them from our collection, which will leave only audiobooks in the MP3 format. MP3 is the format most widely accepted across all listening platforms and this will help those customers who check out a WMA title using their laptop/desktop only to be confused when they can't see or download the title to their mobile device using the OverDrive app. OverDrive has been working with publishers to obtain MP3 copies of all WMA audiobooks and while they won't be 100% successful in doing so, I hope this will not cause too much of an inconvenience for our customers.