Supported Portable Devices 

What kind of portable device will play audiobooks from the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative Download Center?

Overdrive maintains an excellent resource page that lists known compatible players.  Overdrive continually evaluates new devices and will update this list accordingly.   In addition, you may want to review Overdrive's list of Frequently Asked Questions concerning audio devices. 

What can I expect to pay?

Of course you can spend more, but for about $80 (about what you'd spend on 3 books at a commercial site) you can buy a 512MB MP3 player and have access to hundreds of free downloadable audiobooks through your library.  Even the smallest, least expensive MP3 player will hold an average sized audiobook.  We give you the option of loading the book to your MP3 player in small parts, leaving plenty of room for your favorite songs.  

 

You can see a large list of player options at www.playsforsure.com and then look for reviews of the plays-for-sure players at www.cnet.com and a variety of other sites. 

Can I use this with my Mac or iPod?

OverDrive Audio Books uses copyright protection technology from Microsoft Corporation. Unfortunately the iPod (and Mac) do not currently support copyright-protected Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. The OverDrive Media Console is currently only available for Windows PCs. Windows Media Player on a Macintosh will not work as a substitute.

While many audiobook titles can be burned to a CD, they cannot be directly transferred to an iPod.

OverDrive, along with hundreds of online music and audio book providers, is hopeful that Apple and Microsoft can reach an agreement that would enable support for Microsoft-based copyright-protected materials on the iPod/Mac. At this point, there is no company that offers library circulation of downloadable audiobooks in the IPOD format.

Start your search for devices here:  www.overdrive.com/DeviceResourceCenter/compatible.asp.  You can look for reviews of these players at www.cnet.com and a variety of other sites.