Libby Library App for Free Audiobooks

You’ve probably heard of Amazon’s Audible, where you can purchase and listen to audiobooks. However, in the last few months, I’ve been really appreciating my library’s Libby app. And from what I understand, this is available to readers worldwide!

Here’s a quick overview of the Libby app:

• It’s free!
• You’ll need a library card for set-up.
• Just like a library book, you don’t own the book indefinitely. You check it out for up to 21 days at a time.
• You can only have 5 audiobooks at a time.
• There’s a maximum of audiobooks you can put on hold at a time… I think it’s 5?
• If you don’t have access to the internet, sometimes your audiobooks won’t open, even if you’ve already downloaded it to your phone. (More about that later)
• There is a filter in the search to specify if you want an audiobook, book or magazine (Note: the search bar is the bright red box at the top)
• You can add bookmarks as you’re listening, but I haven’t figured out how to return to those bookmarks (it was easy to do on OverDrive).
• You can tag books that you want to read later (Note: Removing tags is a quirky process but doable once you figure it out)
• If you’re not ready to listen to a book that’s come off hold, you can have it “delivered later” and specify how many days
• Random bug: If you listen to an audiobook in long enough stretches, it will suddenly speed up from 1 to 1.25 reading speed.
• Once your check out days are up, the book automatically “returns,” but you can check it out again if you need more time.

In the last month alone, I’ve “read” 11 books!

Depending on the book, I’ve waited for weeks or months for a book, but IMO, it’s worth not having to buy it. We listen to audiobooks on long car rides or I listen to them while doing household chores.

Listening to an audiobook has become a regular part of my bedtime routine – no screens!

But as mentioned previously, if I’m somewhere with bad reception, it’s frustrating not to be able to continue listening to a book.

An example of some of the error messages I frequently see:

But again, this is small potatoes considering the books are free. If I wanted a book that badly, I’d buy it on Amazon’s Audible.

I still prefer the old app, OverDrive, to Libby because of Libby’s quirks. However, I’m hopeful they’ll make it more user friendly as time goes on.

If you’re wondering about more recently released books, Libby has those too! Through Libby, I’ve listened to books like:

I’ve found listening to books that the author reads makes it that much better of a novel!

If you’re interested in trying out the Libby app, learn more about Libby or download it to your device »

Have you tried Libby before? If so, what are your thoughts? And, if you know how to bypass the internet issues I’m experiencing, please let me know! Comment below!