Overdrive Review
Overdrive Is a free application that offers eBook lending services to its users.You know how you visit the local library in your city when you borrow and book to read?
That is what Overdrive does except that is a digital application that grants you access to over 30,000 libraries round the world. They offer services that allow users to borrow eBooksfrom their libraries and also audio books and streaming video content.
Even though the application could be a bit slow sometimes, it is a great app to use because of the vast number of books you have access to and the cheap price at which you gain that luxury.
To use overdrive, you would have to sign up to create your account and it is available on different platforms like Android, iOS and Windows. So, to create your account, you would have to first download the application from any of your application stores, install it and sign up. After that, you would need to add your library so that you can access digital book from their digital books library.
You can also search for books that you want to read via filters like the authors of the book, title of the book and ISBN number of the book. You can alternatively search for the books by their categories like Fiction, Nonfiction, Romance, Most Popular and Mystery.
Overdrive also works with a couple of big guys in the publishing industry like Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Random House and Hachette so it would be a rare event not to be able to find a popular book or a best seller you want to read on their platform but most times you will have to wait before it gets to your turn to borrow some of these popular books because just the same way your local libraries have a certain limited number of physical books available at a time, Overdrive also has a certain limited number of digital copies of a book per time.
So, when you ever encounter a book the you want that is checked out, you place it on hold and when it becomes available, Overdrive will send it to you via email. Whenever you borrow a book from Overdrive, you will be required to return it over a certain period of time. This period of time which is called the loan period is completely dependent on the library you are borrowing from and not Overdrive.
The eBooks on Overdrive can also be downloaded in e-pub format to any device you are using like Kindle, your web browser, your tablet or your smart phone. With Overdrive, you can also change the preference of the eBook to your choice settings like the colors of the background, the size of the font, the style of the font and also the line spacing. You can also highlight texts in the eBook and add notes where you want to but these set of features are only available when you are reading in browser mode.
Overdrive also allows all of its users to synchronize their books across different devices but the tweak to that feature is the fact that you have redownload the books after confirming your library card number on all the devices you want to be able to access them on. After that, Overdrive will ensure that your progress is maintained and promptly synchronized across all those devices.
Oovoo is a free application but it also sponsored by ads. These ads are not part of the application and to avoid seeing the ads on your own application, you would have to upgrade the application to the premium version of the mobile application by paying $4.99 every year.
With oovoo, you can also go beyond video chatting which is the most popular feature to sending text messages and making normal voice calls to all numbers within and outside your country of residence. Since oovoo is mostly used by kids and teenagers, it is very significant to inform and educate them on the importance of safety and privacy because if they don’t change their privacy settings on this application and keep private information to themselves, then it means that anyone anywhere can search for them, find them and contact them via text chats, video chats or voice calls.
HOW OVERDRIVE WORKS
To start using Overdrive, first of all, you would need to download the application from your most preferred application store and install it. You can also visit omc.overdrive.com to download the application. After successful installation, you will be asked to create an Adobe Id and give your permission for it to work together with Overdrive but if you have one already, you can just fill in your sign in details already and give your permission too.
Once you are successfully signed in to Overdrive, you would need to add your library and you can do that by searching for your library in the “Add a Library” section using either the name of the library or the city it is located in. After you have chosen your library, you will also need to fill in your library card number or pin. Once you have completed all these processes, you can now start borrowing eBooks and audio books via Overdrive. Sometimes, you might encounter a digital book that is not available for borrowing at that moment. When you get such experiences, all you need to do is place it on hold and once it is available, Overdrive will send you a notification via email so that you can come and borrow it but in other cases where the book you want to read is available, you will be granted access to download the book immediately. When you borrow books on Overdrive, remember to read them as quickly as possible because they won’t remain on your bookshelf forever. Every user has a limited amount of time to read a book and you can see the day it would get expired so make the best use of what time you’ve got and finish reading the books you have borrowed before their expiring date.
Overdrive is free and all the books you borrow from Overdrive are also free. Remember that Overdrive also supports synchronization across multiple devices but you would need to have the application installed on all these devices and your already borrowed books redownloaded on all these devices.
Once a book gets expired, Overdrive just removes it from your bookshelf on their application so you don’t have to worry about having to rush back to the library to return a book before your deadline elapses.
To
User friendly application and interface for both adults and kids.
· Available for both males and females.
· Mobile application available in Android version.
· Mobile application available in iOS version.
· Desktop application available for both Windows and Mac OS.
· Video call features.
· Text chat features available.
· Voice call features available.
· Group video chat of up to 12 people.
· Free ad supported version.
· Premium version available without ads for $4.99 per year.
· Age limit of 13 years and above.
In the event of any challenge and you need to contact Overdrive, you can contact their support personnel via email at androidcontact@overdrive.com. You can also visit their website at www.app.overdrive.com for more enquiries.
· Avoid revealing personal information on your status message, profile names and user names.
· Be wary of the information your profile photo reveals like your home address, school address or somewhere people can easily recognize and find you.
· Be cautious of the information your profile video which is popularly known as an OoVie reveals like your home address, school address or somewhere people can easily recognize and find you.
· Go to your privacy settings on the application and choose “People who know my email address or OoVoo ID” in response to the question “When people search in OoVoo, who can find me?” This will restrict strangers and people you do not know from finding you on oovoo and sending you messages.
· Do not share your oovoo ID with everyone. Keep it private as well as your email address and other personal information.
This app is absolutely amazing. Now I can read as much books as I want to read without bothering about the stress I would usually go through to visit my library and then pick out a book. At one time, the book I wanted to read was one that the library did not have so I recommended that the library get the book only to receive a mail from my library weeks later they had gotten the book and I could read it now. I was intrigued.
I have always used Audible for my audio book downloads for a very long time now but I just discovers Overdrive about two years ago and since then it has been my go to application for listening to audio books. One of the features I love most is how I can start and stop the reading of my book while my phone is still locked without having to unlock it… that is pretty amazing. I still love Audible more though because I get to keep any book I download forever so I don’t have to hurry when reading to meet up with a certain deadline but then I also noticed that this restriction is from my library so the Overdrive application in itself is a wonderful application.
I have always found it difficult to read since I had my second baby because I am always trying to clean their mess up, feed them, nurse them, rock them and keep them happy but since I found Overdrive, I can do all that and still read as much books as I want to by using their audio book feature. In recent times, I found out that most of the books on my to “To Read” list had already been read and I was excited. Sometimes, I think this app is my miracle.
Overdrive works on my Kindle device too which makes reading my books very easy. Most times, after I have used my phone to read a book and I want to continue on kindle, I can continue from where I stopped so I am always on the same page irrespective of whatever device I am using.
I don’t like how I have to wait for a long period before I get access to some books but the application is super accessible up to the point where I can even download books from my library in the middle of the night in my hotel room when I am on vacation. I am also able to download up to 10 books at a time. I don’t think this app is unbeatable.
Overdrive is an interesting application to use but you could also do with a few more options so you could pick the one that suits you. Below, I have outlined 10 applications that could pass as alternatives to the Overdrive application.
Owing to the hustle and bustle of our days in recent times, it is not easy to come by free periods one could utilize to visit the library and get books to read. Even buying hard copy books are almost a bore because we rarely find the time to read them. This application I have mentioned and explained is a great solution to this problem as you could easily go about the normal business of your day while listening to audio books. You could also skim through the eBooks on your device at your leisure period.
It is a great way to utilize you brain power and keep yourself up to date with the trends and get exposed to new ideas while enjoying yourself.
Do you have an experience with Overdrive? Good or bad, kindly use the comment section below to give us your brief Overdrive review.
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