PocketBook eReaders Getting Libby App to Access Public Libraries

A few days ago OverDrive announced a new partnership with Pocketbook to bring the Libby app to PocketBook ereaders.

This gives people the option to borrow ebooks and audiobooks from public libraries directly on Pocketbook devices using the PocketBook x Libby app. The app supports downloading ebooks for offline reading, but the press release says you have to use the web browser to listen to borrowed audiobooks.

They say that users can also manage holds using the app, and it supports using multiple library cards at once. They also say that titles can be sampled before borrowing.

At this point it’s still unclear which Pocketbook models support the new PocketBook x Libby app. So far the PocketBook Era Color is the only model specifically mentioned, but the press release says the following: “Availability will expand soon to the entire line of PocketBook e-readers and e-notes.”

I haven’t been able to find any information about any of this from Pocketbook themselves. It would be interesting to know when they intend to start rolling out software updates to add support for the new Libby app. Is the Era Color the only model that supports the app right now? Are they going to update older models, or is this just going to be available for current devices? There are a lot of unanswered questions, and their website doesn’t say anything about any of it yet.

This new Pocketbook OverDrive partnership has some notable advantages over Kobo ereaders with OverDrive support built-in. With Kobos they don’t support getting audiobooks through libraries, and their OverDrive integration only supports using one library card at a time. Plus with Kobos you have to use their store to find and access OverDrive titles, and not all library titles are available through Kobo (some require sideloading with ADE). But maybe Kobo will eventually add this Libby app now that Pocketbook is doing it; there’s no reason why Kobo ereaders couldn’t support it too.