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by DEADMEAT 1756 days ago
The user experience with Libby is so much better than any other audiobook service I have tried. The app is nice looking and responsive, but also minimal. Bonus points because using their website provides the exact same UI and UX as the app.
4 comments
themodelplumber 1756 days ago
Really? Their icons and proprietary design have confused me again and again. For one, they have a library card icon that looks like a battery charging. When the app shows you a checked-out book, there is a checkmark on top of the battery icon. :-)

The audiobook listening tools aren't bad though.

Personally I prefer the other app our library offers, but it's nice to have a choice of different collections.

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danielskogly 1756 days ago
I fully agree! The libraries of Oslo use Libby for digital non-Norwegian audiobooks, e-books and comics, and the user experience is light years ahead of the one they use for Norwegian content.

I initially didn’t know about the web interface, and was pleasantly surprised to find it has feature parity with the app.

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canuckintime 1756 days ago
> I initially didn’t know about the web interface, it has feature parity with the app.

The native Libby apps have downloads/offline access and you can dismiss all the ux/window chrome while reading. The web interface doesn’t offer those features.

The web interface is a nice-to-have backup but Libby has discontinued development on their Windows app and keeps redirecting to the web interface which isn’t a suitable full substitute. There are great Windows tablet hardware that paired well with Libby and no other platform quite matches it for comics

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frosted-flakes 1756 days ago
If you install the Libby webapp (Edge or Chrome), it works just like a normal program, including showing up in the list of installed programs (start menu). No offline support, although there's no reason Libby couldn't add it using a service worker.
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iab 1756 days ago
Oh my gosh - the difference between Libby and the previous overdrive dreck is transformational. So slick across different platforms.
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resoluteteeth 1756 days ago
Huh, I didn't even realize there was a web version of Libby. I've always just used the normal overdrive website.

The UI is good in some ways but filtering/sorting are extremely clumsy in my opinion. It works perfectly as a reader/player once you have books/audiobooks checked out though.

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