Downloadable Audio Books Are Here.
The Belfast Free Library now has audio books available to download from your home over the internet. All you need is your library card number to download books from the Maine InfoNet Download Library!
Explore the growing collection of downloadable Audiobooks and use your library card barcode to download Audiobooks to your personal computer, transfer them to an MP3 player, or burn selected titles onto a CD for listening on the go. Using the Maine InfoNet Download Library is easy! There is a “Quick Start Guide” at the website to help you get started. The guide walks you through the basics, from getting started to downloading to burning to a CD. In just a few minutes, even the newest user can be enjoying a downloaded title. PC users will download the “Overdrive Console” to manage your downloads; for Mac users, only the books in MP3 format are available.
You may have a maximum of 2 titles checked out from the Digital Library. Downloaded titles are checked out for 7 days and are automatically returned to the library. The Maine InfoNet Download Library does not currently offer movies or music downloads (we may offer this in the future). We offer both WMA and MP3 Audiobook formats. OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks are compatible with many devices including most cell phones, PDA’s and MP3 players such as iPods®. The WMA Audiobooks work only with PC based machines and Window Media compatible portable players and devices. Please see the “Plays on” icons that display with each title for compatibility assistance.
OverDrive Media Console is a free application designed to use the OverDrive titles available for download at many public library and retail websites. Built with the user in mind, OverDrive Media Console makes downloading easy and convenient. It offers a variety of playback and title navigation options including multiple playspeeds, bookmarking, and a “resume from furthest point played” button. For those who prefer to take their content “to go,” OverDrive Media Console has built-in Transfer and Burn Wizards, allowing users to transfer OverDrive titles to portable devices and burn to CD in just a few clicks. OverDrive Media Console is an all-in-one solution for enjoying OverDrive titles.
OverDrive titles are often divided into ‘Parts’ to make downloading quick and easy. Each Part of an OverDrive MP3 Audiobook is no larger than 36MB. This means that you can begin to enjoy a typical title after one Part has finished downloading (approximately 2 minutes on a high speed Internet connection) instead of waiting for an entire book to download (approximately 12 minutes on a high speed Internet connection). If only a given Part is of interest, you can simply download that desired Part.
Parts are divided into logical sections, such as chapters for audiobooks. The beginning points of these sections are MediaMarkers™, which are displayed as hyperlinks. When you click on a Part, the MediaMarkers associated with that Part are displayed. Simply click on a MediaMarker to jump directly to, and begin play at, the MediaMarker. OverDrive Media Console also includes the conveniences of skipping back 15 seconds, advancing to the point furthest played, a variety of playspeed options, and bookmarking.
OverDrive Media Console offers a built-in Burn Wizard, allowing you to burn audio titles to CD where permitted by the publisher. The Burn Wizard brings the convenience of MediaMarker navigation to your CD player by creating a new track on CD for each MediaMarker in the Part. Select individual Parts to burn to CD, or burn the entire title - the OverDrive Media Console Burn Wizard provides options to suit your needs. You don’t need to install additional software; everything you need is incorporated into OverDrive Media Console.