eBooks and eAudiobooks - Quick guide

eAudiobooks

What are they?

eAudiobooks are digital versions of a recorded reading of a book (or book condensation) that you download and listen to on your computer or compatible portable device.

There are 3 digital audio formats: mp3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Audio Coding (.aac). We are only purchasing titles the first 2 formats.

What is mp3?

It is a patented digital audio encoding format. It is the most popular audio file format available.

What can you use an mp3 with?

You can obviously use this on dedicated mp3 players, including Apple devices such as iPods or iPhones. Most home computers play mp3 files, once you have an application such as RealPlayer installed (available for free download).

What is WMA?

WMA is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. WMA files are about half the size of mp3 with the same audio quality.

What can you use a WMA with?

You can use WMA on any Windows PC, but also with applications such as RealPlayer (on a PC). You cannot play WMA on Apple products unless supported by Windows-formatted software.

For details look at Overdrive's resources page.

eBooks

What are they?

eBooks are an digital versions of traditional print book that can be read by using a personal computer, eReaders or smartphones

eBooks generally come in 2 main formats: Portable Document Format (.pdf) and EPUB.

What is .pdf?

It is a file format enabling document exchange created by Adobe. The files cannot normally be edited.

What is EPUB?

EPUB is short for Electronic PUBlication and is a free, open and allegedly ‘future proof’ standard developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). The text display can be optimised for the particular display device used to read the EPUB-formatted book.

What can you use EPUB and .pdf with?

It works with most PCs and Macs though software that reads .pdf files such as Adobe Reader, Fixity Reader and PDF-XChange Viewer is needed (the software can usually be downloaded for free). They also work with most eReaders with the exception of the Amazon Kindle.