Most of us have started to convert to ebooks.  While ink and paper are the method of choice for the purist reader, most of us do not have the ability to carry our library with us and pick and choose books we want when we want them.  That is the gap that ebooks attempt to bridge.  However, personally, I am not a huge fan of paying for things that I do not get a physical copy of.

OverDrive is my go-to source for ebooks.  OverDrive, despite its misleading name, is one of the most popular ebook sites out there.  All you need to access the site is your public library card.  OverDrive will take your library card and allow you to rent ebooks and audiobooks right from the comfort of home for FREE.  I personally have used this to get some school books and saved a bundle renting from OverDrive.

OverDrive has something for everyone.  If the book you want is not able to be rented by that library card, then start to collect cards as you travel to expand your library.  Don’t like the way it looks? Change the font for your reading pleasure.  You can also half or double the playback speed of audiobooks. The only downside seems to be that it works like a library.  This means that what you get from OverDrive is just rental and they only have a limited number of copies based on the library that you are renting from  as well as the rental time.

OverDrive is also available as an app.  Get it from Google Play Store , Apple App Store, Mac Store, Windows Store, or Windows Phone Store.  They are even available on Kindle and Nook.  The apps will sync your bookmarks and rentals across all your devices and some versions of the apps will also allow you to rent videos.  That’s right, Android and iOS have movies and tv series available to rent from OverDrive.  This is all free through the library card that you entered.

With such a wide range of features and compatibility, it can get very confusing.  OverDrive has this Getting Started page to help.