Download these apps and enter your Kent Memorial library card number to get free audiobook loans.
Whether you exercise regularly, spend time in the car, or prefer occasional relaxation without Netflix or television, listening to digital audiobooks can be a pleasant accompaniment.
You can download or stream audiobooks for free with your Kent Memorial Library card via three apps they recommend, Libby, Hoopla and The Palace Project. All are available for Apple and Android devices.
Although I’ll be discussing audiobooks, some of the apps also offer free downloadable ebooks, magazines, comics, and movies. So, if you want that digital content, check each app.
You can also search the Kent Memorial Library catalog for audiobooks, but I’ve found it isn’t as sleek as the apps they recommend, requiring multiple steps and limiting you to listening in your browser.
Ease of use; long loan period-I’ve used all three apps and find them straightforward. They all offer audiobook loans for up to three weeks.
Each differs in its collections and available audiobooks, so you might need to try all three if you’re after a particular title.
With the Hoopla app, all audiobooks are available for immediate download, and you’re allowed up to three loans per month. It offers a Kids Mode that only shows content suitable for kids 12 or under. You can add audiobooks to a Favorites folder for future listening by clicking a heart icon. The app does not offer a sampling feature, which is a common complaint aired on Reddit and Facebook.
Libby, owned by OverDrive, offers a huge selection, many new and popular titles, and lets you filter searches by multiple criteria, such as subject, language, age group and availability. It has a Play Sample link. You can borrow seven audiobooks at a time and save titles by tagging, which lets you set up separate categories, such as “summer listening.” Libby is available through Bibliomation, a Connecticut consortium of over 60 libraries to which Kent Memorial belongs.
The Palace Project, a national nonprofit created by libraries for libraries, consolidates titles from Libby, other library systems, special collections, independent presses, some Amazon Publishing and Audible titles and others. It lets you sample audiobooks through a Preview button.
The Connecticut State Library offers The Palace Project to Connecticut municipalities at no cost. Using federal grants, it also purchases some audiobooks and distributes them at no cost. Suffield residents have access to 4,850 of them, and the town pays nothing, according to Brad Bullis of the state library.
Titles aren’t always immediately available with Libby or The Palace Project, so you can request holds. But beware: I’ve waited months for popular titles on Libby.
With all three apps, you can sync your listening across multiple devices.
Not all audiobooks are created equal. I’ve found some audiobooks more inviting than others.
Narrators can be hard to understand. For my wife and me, British narrators are not always clear, nor are those playing multiple male and female roles or imitating accents.
Some audiobooks offer chapters that you can select from; for others, it’s one long stretch from start to finish. Then you need to be careful not to move the slider on their progress bars, or you’ll spend time easing it back and forth to find where you left off.
A 300 to 400-page book can take 10 to 12 hours to listen to. All three apps let you adjust the narrator’s pace.