I joined a book club this week. The club itself has nothing to do with personal finance, in fact, someone proposed a finance book for the reading list and it was quickly shot down.

But in the days following our first book club meeting, I found out about a great site that will save book readers money!

Before electronic mobile reading devices, the most common method to save money on books was easy: go to the library.

However, since Kindles, cell phones, and all the various e-readers have become so popular… it’s seems like we’re once again forced to spend money on books (beyond the occasional one-time sharing of books between friends on the Nook and Kindle). Wouldn’t it be great if there was a public electronic library?

The Electronic Library

What I didn’t know was that there already is a library of the future: OverDrive Media Console.

You can download books, videos, and music on your computer, mobile phone (Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, and Windows Mobile), or iPad. (The Kindle will be on OverDrive later this year.)

I was able to install the Overdrive app on my phone, select my local library, and instantly start reading books electronically!

The books are free to “check out” and when you are finished reading, the book returns to the online library for someone else to read. Almost all of the newer books on our list for the book club were available.

You can search for participating libraries to see if your local library is participating.

Not only is the idea brilliant, it should save a lot of money for the die hard book readers out there! And we can still stick to the frugal advice of borrowing from the library.

By the way, the finance book that was shot down: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. I’m going to check it out anyways, since it looks interesting.

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Comments to I Joined a Book Club… and Found the Electronic Library

  1. There are other companies besides OverDrive so the best thing to do is head to your public library’s website and see what digitial service they use.

    I have been using OverDrive on my Nook since I got it. The only downside is that a library can only lend out so many copies and they still have waiting lists just like paper copies.

    You should also check if you library has freegal yet. It’s another digital service but for music. You can download three free MP3s a week and keep them forever. I believe it’s the Sony catalog but they have current stuff.

    Cori


    • Thanks Cori, I’ll check out freegal. Great tip!

      Madison


  2. Thanks so much for this tip!
    I had no idea this application existed. I’ve just downloaded it and checked out my first ebook (What Would Google Do – Jeff Jarvis) from my blackberry 🙂

    Vale


    • Glad it worked for you Vale. I’ll have to put that book on my list to read!

      Madison



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