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OverDrive

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 😉

Btw, it works on Linux too!

Libby

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...

On Libby and the impending demise of OverDrive 🤪

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 🤞 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 (❤️) 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?

Instructions

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 ☝️ step once! It is also idempotent — 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! 🎉

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 😁

Debugging

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.

Common errors

Permission denied (executable flag)

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 👍, but didn't set the executable flag 😟. Try running the chmod +x command from the Instructions.

Folder access

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.

Syntax error (HTML vs. source)

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 🧐 (good for you!), feel free to cat -n ~/.local/bin/overdrive after installing, but before executing the script for the first time.

SSL certificate

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.

Expired / used license

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 — by editing the "User Agent" that your browser presents itself as:

  1. Install a Chrome or Firefox extension to customize your user agent.
  2. Pick some mainstream value for Windows or pre-Catalina.
  3. Configure your extension to use that value.
  4. 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.

Dependencies

I call this a "standalone" script, but it actually depends on several executables being available on your PATH:

  • curl
  • uuidgen
  • xmllint
  • iconv
  • openssl
  • base64
  • htmltidy

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/A† # 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!)

†All required commands are installed by default on macOS 10.14 (Mojave), 10.15 (Catalina), 12.6 (Monterey), and probably everywhere in between — 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.

Issues not emails

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 😀

Advanced

PATH

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

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

License

Copyright © 2017–2021 Christopher Brown. MIT Licensed.