Kindle & Libby App: Pros and Cons (and a demo!)

0:00 have you ever wondered if you should be using the Libby app versus like something like Kindle unlimited or even just paying for different Services should you be using both what's the deal I want to dive a little bit deeper on the Libby app itself today CU I know that there have still been some questions on how do you use it what are the benefits first of all it's free lots of people are curious about the benefits of using that over Kindle unlimited So today we're going to Deep dive into the Libby app some people don't even know what it is I love Libby I don't read fast enough to use Kindle unlimited so I think it's definitely worth it let's go on a deeper dive and talk about the pros and cons of using the liby app thanks for being here my name is Angie I am someone who likes to post

0:46 personal development content recently you guys have really been enjoying the Kindle related things I love reading I love self-development I love planning so thanks for being here and let's dive right into it so first of all what the heck is the Libby app the Libby app is a software system that a lot of libraries have partnered with if your local library decides they want to give you digital access to different resources there are things like overdrive there's RB digital and then there's Libby Libby is now powered by overdrive that's besides the point there's tons of apps that help kind of funnel that so a local library doesn't have to build a whole app themselves instead they just partner with somebody who has a software who sets it up and you plug in your library code or number put in your pin and boom

1:34 you have access to tons of free titles magazines audiobooks regular books books that you can shoot over to your Kindle and it's it's amazing so most libraries have it and if you have M access to multiple libraries you can use both so you can add multiple libraries let's say that you recently moved you could add your old residency you could add your mom's library card you can add as many library cards that you have access to and maintain to the app if you don't have a library card well what are you doing what are you doing it's free you are paying good tax money for your library and now you don't even have to step foot in it a lot of libraries will let you apply um a

2:20 library card and they'll just send you the pin by email which is amazing you don't even have to step foot into the library what I've experienced is in a few places where I've been you go and apply they'll give you an online you set your pin and the only reason you might need to step in is if you want to check out a physical book and at that time you um provide proof of address the rules are different county by county library by library and state by state but it is more and more easy to apply and get digital access to a library card without ever stepping foot in the library now caveat Libby is not partnering with every Library Al out there and that's unfortunate but don't fret because there are places that don't even care if you

3:06 are from their County or state I've read and tested that there are a few places that will allow non-residents to have access to a Libby Associated online library card in other words if you don't have a library that supports Libby and you still want to get the benefit of this online tool with the app and all of the free stuff you can apply as a non-resident to a different Library outside of your state outside of your county and some places will support this I've been doing a quick read over on Reddit there's some mentioning uh Las Vegas some mentioning Brooklyn I know there's one in a broard county in Florida so it kind of changes year-to year the policies but know that there are options for you and we can do a

3:51 deeper dive on that too okay so that is just an overview of what the Libby app is how to get access to it how to set set it up it's available on Google Play it's available for Apple devices there you go just download it it's free just try it plug it in and that's how you do it so there are some pros and cons and we'll just cover those here now the first pro free is free I love that price you can access to ebooks audiobooks magazines and a lot of those options have offline download reading and listening the next one is that it is very easy to use I love that you can sort um you can go through and go as very specific topics when you're wanting

4:37 to sort through a huge Library there's also a skip the line function which is really cool when I go through the app your library might support a skip the line where popular titles can be available immediately they might have an extra set of digital downloads for people to use that are very popular on demand so if you're looking for top titles of that month you can go to the skip the line I also like the feature when I'm sorting which is something that you can't do in a physical Library it's just a different experience when I pull up the app I can search for a book I want to read something supported by Kindle non-fiction and I want to read something that is self-help let's say those are the the filters that I'm going to search by alternatively I can say

5:24 that I want to listen to an audio book so I can sort only Audi books and I want to listen to it now so I'll say available now and then I can search and it's defaulted by popularity instead of alpha Order A to Z Z to A so I like that it's sorted by popularity as you're scrolling in the app you're immediately hit with the the most popular titles all right the next Pro for the liby app is that it really helps you support sying across devices if you were reading you don't have to associate your Kindle app with Libby to for it to work you can read straight from the Libby app and it's a pretty good reading experience for mobile that will save your progress if you were going to be reading from a different device now this is not my preferred way to use Libby I

6:11 would much rather read it through Kindle read on the Kindle app so that can stay synchronized with my paper WIP but either way you get syncing benefits just be careful not to be reading and making progress in the Libby and then switch to your paper white because then that's when it becomes out of a sync it's very intuitive I always send them to my Kindle very easy to connect to your Amazon account you don't need to have a Kindle unlimited for that to work you don't need to have Amazon Prime all it needs is your email and password for the Amazon account to just sync and send those books over similarly with being able to sync offline access is also a really great perk if you were traveling if you are on a plane if you are out of the

6:57 country my husband and I just came back from a cruise trip and it was very fun but there was no Wi-Fi and I needed some entertainment I love to read when we're lounging pool side or on the beach so I was prepped I sent everything over to my kindall I also got some audio books in case I wanted to listen to something or be able to you know multitask and set things up in the cabin and stuff like that now audio books is a little bit tricky you do have to open it in the liby app for it to start the download when you send things to your Kindle you need to open it on the paper white and see that there's that check mark for it to be truly available offline access that's very easy to do it's not it's just a click you send it over hit and it'll start the download then you can be

7:42 on airplane mode and test it before you leave and it it works so easily so fine very seamless the next Pro of the Libby app is that there are no late fees I do experien some late fees when I forget or just ran out of time I think the Nashville Public Library is very very generous with automatic renewals for instance if I had a book checked out and it was the default 21 days and I let that time lapse well it will automatically renew that a few times for me and I don't incur any late fees unless it's really really late amount of time not all libraries are treated the same so if your library is a little bit of a stickler for that this is nice because it will automatically return that copy at the end of your lending

8:27 period And this is where that trick with with reading offline in the Kindle app can help because if you need more than 21 days it's a little bit harder to renew especially for popular titles that have a queue but I can download it for offline and keep it until I'm done reading the book there are still no late fees because that digital copy has been returned and become available for someone else to enjoy the last thing I'll close with in terms of the pros of using the Libby app is that it has so so many things I found when I'm looking through surprised by being able to access through my public library magazines were really surprising just being able to access so many titles one thing I like to go is to the skip the

9:13 line just to see what other people are reading what people are interested in and I love all of the variety and they have this kind of a theme where you can say oh everybody's reading this one title we're not going to do any lines we're going to let everybody read this one title and get focused on that and I think that's a really cool way to build community around it I don't know if other libraries are doing that with Libby but it seems like a feature most would want to participate in okay with all that said there are some cons some limitations of using the Libby app let's go into them let's go so you can make an informed decision number one not all libraries have access to liby I talked about that in depth in the beginning you can find workarounds there's lots of libraries that you can apply for a card

10:01 as a non-resident and still get access if you have family members who aren't really even going to be considering using Libby for e-reading you get asked to use theirs and just punch it in and no harm no foul because they will never incur any laid fees the next one is the limited lending periods if I download five books and I completely download them on my Kindle then it's going to freeze the time in The Lending as long as I'm in airplane mode now now if I'm ready to switch things out and there are still two books that I haven't read but I want to get something else I'm going to have to get back on Wi-Fi and then all of the books get sent back so that is a frustrating thing if you get really eager and have all these great juicy

10:47 titles in your uh downloads but you're eager to get another one you kind of get a little you have to pick and choose but it's free all right I'm going to keep saying that for every for every con there is a caveat that it's free the next one is a wait times for really popular ones you do have to wait I found that with one of the book clubs that it was on most people would just as soon as the title for the book was announced we'd all jump onto Libby just to see if it was available and usually we would pick titles that were so popular that nobody really could claim that book quickly enough so yeah really popular ones will have long long times and if you're just eager to read that book then you're going to um I have to Shell out some extra money buy it digital buy it physical that can be

11:34 frustrating especially if you're part of a book club okay next next is that you don't own it this is H yeah oh I don't mind I'm not a person that rereads books but if I really wanted to share a title it's still digital right like it's not like I have a physical book to say hey I think you would like this this is for you you can read it if I really love a book I'm not going to buy the physical title myself I just love the idea of it's digital it's streamlined that's just me but it could be a big deal for you if you're someone who loves to have your own little lending library and to share and reive books and to kind of give that back to your friends that is a limitation okay and then finally one of the things is that I've noticed that there is some limited support for

12:20 magazines and Audi books with audio books you can't send them to your Kindle so the hack with the airplane mode that's not going to work it doesn't sync to audible or any other devices you can't do an offline download through those other devices but what I have done is as soon as I open up an audiobook in the Libby app and I initiate the play which almost makes it like ready to be downloaded or like offline mode ready turn on airplane mode and then it will work and you have your copy until it needs to be returned similarly there's limited support and compatibility with magazines so I can't send a magazine to a Kindle it needs to be within the Libby app which is okay because you can I did

13:07 download it on Kindle Fire it just wasn't great like I would have rather kept it all in the Kindle family but when it comes to Audi books and magazines you need to read them and listen to those things in the liby app so that's a little bit frustrating if you're a big audiobook person maybe that's not for you maybe you would prefer an audible account or Spotify people have been really excited about Spotify having books so those are the caveats those are the things that you need to consider before you go down the rabbit hole of Libby but like I said for every con I go back to the fact that it's free it's easy there are no fees like oh my God I I'm just fangirling here and for what I don't know maybe

13:54 should I go work for Libby I'm not sure thank you guys so much for hopping on and joining I would love to do a comparison of Kindle unlimited and Libby I think that's the next conversation people are wanting to see if you use Libby religiously is it worth having a Kindle unlimited account I think what it boils down to is whether or not you're willing to wait to read the title I have a full-time job I have hobbies I have a 2-year-old toddler taking a lot of my time and energy So reading is something that I enjoy it's not something that I can spend a lot of leisure time to do so it is okay for me to wait 6 weeks 8 weeks for a title to be ready for me because I've already got queued up some things that I want to read I'm not eagerly waiting for a juicy book unless

14:42 it is for book club so yeah just a few things to think about I really appreciate you guys for being here thanks for listening and let me know if you have any questions in the comments all right bye