Thing #22 - Downloadable Media

Well, maybe I should have taken advantage of the training that was offered a couple of months ago... As mentioned previously, I don't use my iPod all that much. That being said, I haven't had much interest in downloading books - I prefer to hold an actual book and read it myself. But it would be a shame to not take advantage of one of the services offered by the public library, so I tried out both netLibrary and OverDrive. 

My first problem with netLibrary was that I couldn't remember my user name and password! I had signed up with them back when it was new and couldn't get it to remember any of the email addresses I use now. Solved easily enough, by setting up a new account. Maybe I needed to spend more time on it, but I found it difficult to find anything interesting. Or maybe I'm just a picky reader...

OverDrive was a bit easier to browse, but like Jamie, I would have liked to be able to browse only Mac/iPod compatible titles. Or maybe sort the categories by format. Or more results per page. I also noticed a lot of titles had the option to "place a hold" instead of "add to cart", hopefully that means that people are using the service? Either way, you should be able to browse just the titles that are available. On the plus side, I really liked all the info you get on the title. Aside from the library friendly bibliographic info, it gives you reviews, an about the author bit, and then there's that Amazon-ish "If you like this title, you might also like these" suggestions. (I'm not sure how my being interested in I Am Legend means I might be interested in A Woman in Charge, so maybe that part's not quite working.)

So, I may have to chalk this one up as the Thing I didn't like. In the interest of public service, I'll practice it a bit more, but I don't see myself using this on a regular basis.