Borrowing eBooks and Audio Books from your Public Library

I have finally figured out how to borrow ebooks and audio books from my library. I'm so excited about this new technology. Okay, so it's not new, but I'm of an age where I didn't grow up with a personal computer, eBooks weren't invented and audio books were on cassette tapes. I'm a self-taught on a need-to-know-basis technology woman.

I had a first generation Kindle, which I loved, except when I read it for too long of a stretch and it froze up on me. The fix was a paper clip jammed in the reset hole, which was fine, until I was on a long distance train and had no paper clip. I did beg one in the lounge car from a lovely young business woman. I sold my  Kindle shortly thereafter because I was salivating over reading magazines on the NOOK Color. I loved that but they changed their magazine formats and I didn't take to the new layout. It was fun to play games in full color, but I longed for the cell phone connectivity of my old Kindle, which let me buy new books anywhere, without a wifi connection.

I recently treated myself to a Kindle Touch 3G Wifi. I am over the moon with it. It weighs much less than the Nook, I only have to charge it once every five days instead of daily like the Nook, and I don't need a wifi connection to buy a new book. I can get one anywhere, any time. Including on the train. Amtrak does have some wifi train routes and wifi in their stations, but they limit how much bandwidth or juice or whatever you can use. They won't allow large downloads, so I couldn't download a new magazine on the train with my Nook. But I can get one anywhere on my Kindle, which uses 3G technology.

I finally was able to figure out the steps to borrowing eBooks and audio books from my library. I signed up for an Overdrive Media account from my library's website. I downloaded the software and was able to have free eBooks sent directly to my Kindle. Audio books are more involved, I have to download them to my PC then transfer them via cable link to my Kindle, but it's worth it not having to drive to the library to pick up and drop off the scratched CDs that sometimes don't play. The selection is limited. But there are some bestselling books from last year along with some I've never heard of but sound interesting.