OverDrive is great and distributes DRM-free MP3s instead of some fragile DRM-ridden format, which is awesome. Way to go, Rakuten / OverDrive, fight the man!
Their "OverDrive Media Console" application for macOS is pretty simple,
but I like to automate things,
so I wrote a bash script, overdrive.sh
,
which takes one or more .odm
files,
and downloads the audio content files locally, just like the app.
Then they stopped supporting macOS altogether after Mojave (10.14), leaving Catalina (10.15), Big Sur (11), and Monterey (12) users with no choice but to find a third-party option, such as this script ๐
Btw, it works on Linux too!
This script will stop working when OverDrive finally decides to stop supporting the "classic" OverDrive app.
You don't have to worry about this as long as you can download .odm
files from your library!
But if you do want to worry about it sooner rather than later, you can expand this...
OverDrive has been making it harder to use the .odm
flow for a while now,
first removing their OverDrive app from all app stores,
then adding various hurdles around accessing the .odm
file for a loan from your library's website.
They've been threatening to shut it down for what seems like years, so ๐ค they keep that up for years to come. But lately it does sound like they're getting more serious; their Libby propaganda page reads:
To help your library welcome more users to Libby, the legacy OverDrive app is being discontinued in early 2023.
That and I've been getting more issues/notes about it, so here's my position:
- This repo is not called
libby
and will not be retrofitted to accommodate Libby (if that's even possible). - This project has no interest in circumventing DRM or aiding others to circumvent DRM. Never has, never will.
- I too am a user of this script, and I too regret the forced migration to Libby.
- If/when OverDrive fully shuts down, I'll be on the hunt for another way to consume audiobooks from my local public library (โค๏ธ) in a format that fits my lifestyle.
- If I find a good solution, I'll link to it from this README.
I'm going to enjoy OverDrive while it lasts, and move on when it doesn't.
r/audiobooks seems like a nice community. Let's hang out there?
First, install the script and make it executable:
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl https://chbrown.github.io/overdrive/overdrive.sh -o ~/.local/bin/overdrive
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/overdrive
(You only need to do that โ๏ธ step once! It is also idempotent โ you can run it multiple times no problem.)
Now download an OverDrive loan file from your library or wherever.
I'll assume that yours is called Novel.odm
.
Assuming you've downloaded it to your ~/Downloads
folder, simply run the following command:
cd ~/Downloads
~/.local/bin/overdrive download Novel.odm
This will display a couple dozen lines as it downloads the book, most of which are only relevant/useful if something goes wrong.
Assuming that you decided to listen to Blake Crouch's Recursion,
once the script finishes you will have a new folder called Blake Crouch - Recursion
(inside your "Downloads" folder),
inside which will be several MP3s: Part01.mp3
, Part02.mp3
, etc.
(these "parts" don't necessarily correspond to actual chapters in the book;
there may be multiple chapters in a single part, or a single chapter spread out over multiple parts),
and the cover art: folder.jpg
.
And that's it, you're done! ๐
The rest of this README describes how to debug various issues people run into and some automation tips; if your book downloaded just fine, you don't need to worry about any of that ๐
If you have trouble getting the script to run successfully, add the --verbose
flag and retry, e.g.:
~/.local/bin/overdrive download Novel.odm --verbose
This will call set -x
to turn bash's xtrace
option on,
which causes a trace of all commands to be printed to standard error,
prefixed with one or more +
signs.
It will also set all curl
calls to not be silent.
If you get an error message like -bash: ~/.local/bin/overdrive: Permission denied
or zsh: permission denied: overdrive
,
you installed overdrive
to the right place ๐, but didn't set the executable flag ๐.
Try running the chmod +x
command from the Instructions.
If you see a line that reads I/O error : Operation not permitted
,
you probably didn't allow Terminal / iTerm2 to access your Downloads folder.
If calling the script with any combination of options produces an error message like
.local/bin/overdrive: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'
.local/bin/overdrive: line 1: `<!DOCTYPE html>'
this indicates you installed the script incorrectly. You most likely saved the GitHub webpage that displays the source code, instead of just the source code. To fix, follow the Instructions exactly as shown.
If you are security conscious ๐ง (good for you!), feel free to cat -n ~/.local/bin/overdrive
after installing, but before executing the script for the first time.
If the script fails right after a curl
call, and then you rerun it with --verbose
and get an error message like curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: certificate has expired
,
that indicates the OverDrive server cannot be verified from your system's certificate authority.
You can bypass the security check by adding --insecure
when calling the overdrive
script.
If you see a message like The requested license is either invalid or already acquired
,
you'll need to go back to your library and download a fresh ODM file.
Hidden download link
If your library doesn't show you the link to "Download MP3 audiobook" (i.e., the .odm
file),
the easiest way to get it to (re)appear is to pretend to use an OS that they do support โ
by editing the "User Agent" that your browser presents itself as:
- Install a Chrome or Firefox extension to customize your user agent.
- Pick some mainstream value for Windows or pre-Catalina.
- Configure your extension to use that value.
- Refresh your "Loans" page.
New (as of 2022-02): you must now also click the "Do you have the OverDrive app? >" disclosure/dropdown to get the "Download MP3 audiobook" link to show up.
I call this a "standalone" script,
but it actually depends on several executables being available on your PATH
:
curl
uuidgen
xmllint
iconv
openssl
base64
If you get an error like -bash: xmllint: command not found
,
you're evidently missing one of those;
the following package manager one-liners should help:
Command | OS |
---|---|
N/Aโ | # macOS |
apt-get install curl uuid-runtime libxml2-utils libc-bin openssl coreutils |
# Debian / Ubuntu |
apk add bash curl util-linux libxml2-utils openssl |
# Alpine |
pacman -S curl util-linux libxml2 openssl coreutils |
# Arch |
dnf install curl glibc-common util-linux libxml2 openssl coreutils |
# Fedora |
(please create a PR to contribute a new OS!) |
โ All required commands are installed by default on macOS 10.14 (Mojave), 10.15 (Catalina), 12.6 (Monterey),
and probably everywhere in between โ those are just the versions I've personally tested.
It also works with the latest version of OpenSSL,
so if you want, brew install openssl
.
If none of that solves your problem, you can open an issue, including the full debug output (optimally as a gist), and I'll try to help you out.
- If you email me asking for technical help with this script (or any of my GitHub projects),
I will redirect you to create a GitHub issue.
Don't have an account? Create one, they're free.
Sure I could help you over email, but then the solution would be siloed away in our inboxes; by corresponding in an issue, other users will be able to find it. - You can email me cute little thank you notes; those are always fun to read ๐
All the basic examples above invoke the script using its full path,
(hopefully) to avoid PATH
-related headaches for new users.
But if installed as instructed,
you should be able to call just overdrive [...]
instead of ~/.local/bin/overdrive [...]
,
since ~/.local/bin
is commonly used for tools like this,
and many default init scripts automatically add it to your PATH
if it exists.
However, if calling overdrive
produces the error message -bash: overdrive: command not found
,
you'll can easily add ~/.local/bin
to your PATH
. One way to do this:
printf 'export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH\n' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
Or if you're using zsh
instead of bash
, run this instead:
printf 'export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH\n' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
Early return is entirely optional, and AFAICT, equivalent to clicking "Return" on the library's OverDrive website, but if you want, you can "return" a loan using this script, e.g.:
overdrive return Novel.odm
Copyright ยฉ 2017โ2021 Christopher Brown. MIT Licensed.