When Kobo’s parent company, Rakuten, purchased OverDrive last year it seemed like an obvious move for them to add OverDrive support directly to Kobo ereaders like Sony used to have on their ebook readers before they quit making them. After a year and a half of waiting, built-in OverDrive support has finally come to fruition […]
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Not Much Happening with Kobo Lately, Still No OverDrive Integration
Things have been unusually quiet out of Kobo over the past several months. It seems like there’s rarely anything new to report lately; it’s getting harder and harder to come up with new Kobo-related article ideas. They haven’t released a firmware update for their ereaders since early December. They used to issue updates a lot […]
Big Library Read: Get American Sniper eBook and Audiobook
OverDrive has another “Big Library Read” going on from now until the end of March where you can download the ebook and/or audiobook of the #1 New York Times bestseller American Sniper by Chris Kyle. The Big Library Read allows you to borrow the ebook and audiobook from your public library without any wait lists […]
Public Library eBooks and Audiobooks More Popular Than Ever
One great thing about ebooks is that fact that many public libraries around the world support ebook lending for free. All you need is an internet connection, a library card, a device to read on, and some time to read. Downloads through OverDrive’s library lending service increased by 24% in 2015. They set a new […]
OverDrive Expands into Japan, But Why No Kobo Tie-in Yet?
Earlier this past week, OverDrive announced that they have just launched their library lending services in Japan. The Ryugasaki Public Library is the first Japanese public library to offer OverDrive’s digial collection to patrons. The Itako Public Library is also getting set to launch their new OverDrive-powered website soon. The lending program provides access to […]
OverDrive Adds Dyslexic Font Option to Reading Apps
OverDrive updated their reading apps last week to add some new features, most notably they added the option to use a dyslexic font for reading ebooks. Standard fonts often present a problem for people with dyslexia because they make it hard to differentiate words, as the letters tend to get mixed up and jumble together. […]
Rakuten Buys OverDrive; What’s it Mean for Kindle Library Books?
There’s big news in the ebook industry today. Rakuten has announced that they are purchasing OverDrive for 410 million dollars in cash. The acquisition is expected to be finalized next month, April 2015. OverDrive is the leading platform for ebook and audiobook lending to public and school libraries, with over 30,000 supported libraries worldwide. Rakuten, […]
OverDrive Fixes Technical Issue with Kindle Library eBooks
Yesterday OverDrive announced that they have resolved a technical issue with their library ebook lending service that had caused a number of Kindle-formatted ebooks not to appear available for lending. The glitch affected newer titles added to the system since the beginning of this calendar year. Now that OverDrive has become aware of the issue, […]