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My New Favorite App: Libby


I love libraries. I would spend most of the summer there growing up because both my parents worked and we couldn't always afford a sitter. Countless hours reading books and winning prizes in the summer reading challenges. As I grew older my love of reading never stopped. Yet, libraries began to disappear and it became easier to just purchase an ebook online. But, ebooks get expensive if you're reading a lot of them. That's when I stumbled upon a little app known as Libby.

If I were to describe Libby simply, it's a digital library card. It allows you to access the digital book catalog for dozens of libraries around the world. You're free to check out books and read them like an actual library and that's great, it's way cheaper than purchasing an ebook from Amazon or Kindle Unlimited.

One of the most important things about libraries is that they're simple. Libby keeps this functionality. There's no sign up or anything like that. The only thing you need is to know what your local group of libraries is called and the number on the back of your library card. It takes just seconds and you've got access to your library's entire digital catalog at no cost to you or the library. It's simplicity is amazing.

In just a few short weeks I've fallen in love with the app. It's so easy to use. When you open the app there's 4 simple options. Recommendations in the center of the app usually based on some kind of theme  At the top it allows you to search for book titles or authors. Lastly at the bottom there's the option to switch back and forth between the library and what you've checked out.

A fun little bonus is that majority of libraries have comic books and manga. Libby is no different. If your library has the content it's available to you. It's a limited selection and a little dated, for my local library but it is still a selection of comic books. The same goes for magazines. So if you want the newest beauty magazine, a classic comic or manga, it's all there with no hassle.

Libby's shortcoming also come in the form of it's simplicity. If your library doesn't have a digital copy of a book you're just out of luck. My local library has just about everything I searched for, until I started looking for authors who publish ebooks. That's where it falls short. It's also a bare-bones reader. There's no text to voice option if you like that. The Amazon Kindle and Google Books app both allow me to use outside apps like SpeedRead but that's not a feature available to Libby.

For the idea and the simplicity of it all Libby is a great app. I wish there were a few more features but it's honestly amazing as it is and I won't be deleting it just because I can't speed read it. Maybe I need to slow down and enjoy books at a normal reading pace instead of trying to get through as many as possible in my free time. Libby certainly deserves at least four and a half stars out of five if I did that sort of thing. If you're an avid reader burning through cash on ebooks this may be something you want to check out. It's free and available for both Androids and iPhones.

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet. You can also check out his playthrough of Sleeping Dogs or Skyrim
Darrell S.

Hey, I write stuff, a lot of different stuff, that's all.

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