Digital Media Guide
Borrowing ebooks and audiobooks, downloading podcasts, and streaming media such as movies, music, and even comic books, from Free Library has never been easier. In this guide, we'll offer tips and information to get you started or troubleshoot any issues you may be having access downloadable and streaming media and digital titles from our catalog.
ebooks Digital Media podcasts Digital Media Guide
Guides
- New to ebooks? Start Here
- The Simplest Way to Read ebooks: Overdrive READ
- Getting ebooks for Your Tablet, Phone, or Mobile Device (Including Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and Nook HD devices)
- How to Add Library ebooks to Your Kindle
- Getting Library ebooks for Your Nook Simple Touch or Similar e-reader
- Downloading audiobooks from the Free Library
- Hoopla: ebooks, audiobooks, Movies, Comic Books, Music, and More
- Request This Download - Discover and Download Digital Items in our Catalog
- Streaming, Downloading, and Listening to Podcasts
Links
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Google Play
Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more, including the Overdrive Media Console and Hoopla apps. -
iTunes App Store
Browse and download apps to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch from the App Store, including the Overdrive Media Console and Hoopla apps. -
Kindle App Store
Instant access to thousands of the most popular free and best-selling apps and games, including the Overdrive Media Console and Hoopla apps. -
NOOK Store
Your one-stop-shop for all things NOOK.
ebook Classics by StaffPicks
Great public domain reads you can download for free.
Latest Audiobooks by FreeLibrary
Latest Audibooks added to our collections.
Electronic Resources
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American Song
Listen to over 50,000 recordings from America's past; songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys; songs of Civil Rights, Prohibition, the Civil War, and more.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Audiobooks from Overdrive
Download audiobooks from Overdrive to your PC, Mac, or mobile device
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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BookFlix *
Bookflix pairs classic storybooks with related nonfiction books - all in streaming format - to build a love of reading and learning.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Classical Music Library
A comprehensive database of distinguished classical recordings offered in streaming format. The Classical Music Library also includes anthology playlists linked to the major music history and appreciation textbooks.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Contemporary World Music
This resource includes contemporary and traditional world music including tracks of reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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eBooks from Overdrive
Available in a variety of formats including epub and pdf, here you will find the Library's Overdrive ebook collection.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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eBooks on EBSCOhost (formerly NetLibrary) *
Approximately 17,000 electronic books in all subject areas from careers to classics to Cliffs notes.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Freading
Downloadable ebooks for Free Library of Philadelphia library card holders.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Free Library Podcasts
The Free Library Podcast is an easy way to participate in the author events and lectures that take place at the Central Library. Visit Author Events for upcoming events and information.
Available To: Unrestricted, free web resource
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Gale Virtual Reference Library
Fully searchable database of over 260 reference titles developed by Gale and other publishers.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Hoopla
Stream movies, TV, music, and audiobooks directly to your computer or mobile device
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Input
Input was a local Philadelphia panel discussion program, airing Sunday mornings from 1968 through early 1971
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Jazz Music Library
Jazz Music Library will be the largest and most comprehensive collection of jazz available online.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Kanopy
Stream four movies per month at no cost with your library card! Choose from over 30,000 films. You'll find classics, indies, foreign, and hit movies!
Available To: All Free Library agencies and Internet with authentication.
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Music Online
Find and listen to music from a variety of genres
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Overdrive Kid's eReading Room
Download ebooks and audiobooks for readers ages 0-12.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Popular Music Library
Find a wide range of popular music from around the world, including pop music, alternative, country, Christian, electronic, hip-hop, metal, punk, new age, R&B, reggae, rock, soundtracks and more.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Project Gutenberg Ebooks
A curated collection of 34,000 downloadable ebooks in epub format. These classic titles are out –of-copyright. There are no checkout restrictions, waiting lists, or restrictions.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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RBdigital Audiobooks (formerly OneClick)
Downloadable best-selling and classic audiobooks. Free software or app install required.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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RBdigital Magazines (formerly Zinio)
Read and download your favorite magazines online.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
Upcoming Events
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Smartphone Basics
Learn the very basic of using a smart phone. Call to sign up and bring your smartphone the day of the workshop. more details
Tue, June 18, 2019 11:30 AM
Charles L. Durham Library
3320 Haverford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2021
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E-Gadget Helpdesk
Do you have a tablet, smartphone, or other device but are unsure how to use it? Come in on the 3rd Tuesday of the… more details
Tue, June 18, 2019 12:00 PM
Frankford Library
4634 Frankford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19124-5804
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E-Gadget Help
Sign up for an 30 minutes of hands-on help with a Digital Resource Specialist. Assistance with Laptops, Tablets, and… more details
Tue, June 18, 2019 5:30 PM
Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library
125 South 52nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19139-3408
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E-Gadget Helpdesk
Do you have a new gadget - iPad, iPod, tablet, smart phone, etc? Come learn how to use it to download… more details
Thu, June 20, 2019 3:00 PM
Northeast Regional Library
2228 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149-1297
Blog Posts
Summer at the Free Library!
Now that summer is upon us, we hope you’ve got the Free Library on your mind! Whether you’re looking for something fun to do outside, plan to cool off at your neighborhood library location , or take us along on your vacation…
Summer Reading digital media summer neighborhood libraries
Get Creative Through the DIY Method of Zine Making!
A zine (pronounced zeen) is a small-circulation, self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images. Usually hand-made using found materials and simple supplies, zines can be about any topic and take various shapes and…
digital media writing DIY Crafts & Hobbies diversity inclusivity.jpg)
Go Digital! Community Access to Subscription Databases
Tamoul Quakhaan is a Library Supervisor 1 / Training and Development Assistant in the Human Resources Department and a participant in Cohort 1 of the Skills for Community-Centered Libraries Trainings. After participating in the…
Free Library staff Digital Literacy digital media community neighborhood libraries digital learning IMLS
New Digital Magazines: Glossies from Africa to Latin America
Dive into film, international fashion, current events, and more with the newest additions to our digital magazines subscriptions through RBdigital . New World Language Magazines Read at your leisure in Spanish, Chinese, and French:…
digital media
Fleisher Discoveries | #5WomenArtists (+1)
by Kile Smith The National Museum of Women in the Arts asked, "Can you name five women artists?" March is Women’s History Month , and Fleisher Discoveries is answering that question with five women composers –…
Fleisher Collection music podcasts
Fleisher Discoveries | Mahler's Friend, Julius Bittner
Julius Bittner was born in Vienna in 1874, growed up just outside of his hometown, and died in that same town in January 1939. He was pretty much immediately forgotten after his death. Well, in 1939, Austria, Europe, and the world at…
Fleisher Collection music podcasts
Masterpieces of Silent Film at the Free Library
On a cold winter day 125 years ago, only two hours from here in West Orange, New Jersey, Thomas Edison completed construction on the Black Maria , (pronounced "muh-RYE-uh") the world’s first film…
film history digital media
Stay Cozy with the Free Library this Winter!
It’s wintertime in Philly. Even in the absence of snow, (thus far!), this means the sun rises later and sets earlier than in bordering seasons. It’s enough to make a person feel like hibernating. Well, the Free Library can…
Events at the Library reading digital media
Celebrating the Trivia Nerd in All of Us
I have a confession to make—I am that friend who always wants to get a trivia team together on a Tuesday night. I’m also that kid who read Trivial Pursuit cards for fun to see if I could guess the answers. And I ask Santa…
Exhibitions music reading history science digital media culinary literacy sports pop culture neighborhood libraries
Fleisher Discoveries | William Henry Fry (1813-1864) - Santa Claus: Christmas Symphony
As we go to air it’s the beginning of January, which means we’re still in the Christmas season, which also means I have no compunction about playing some Christmas music for you—especially since this is Christmas music…
Fleisher Collection music podcasts
Five New Year’s Resolutions the Free Library Can Help You Keep in 2019
‘Tis the season for setting goals and thinking about the person you want to become in the new year! Good news: the Free Library of Philadelphia can help when it comes to making that New Year’s Resolution and sticking to it.…
Events at the Library online learning digital media
Newest Additions to the National Film Registry
It's that time of year again where everything seems to slow down between the holidaze and my mind and free time turns to my never-ending "to-watch" list. There's few greater joys than turning off all my electronic…
recommendations film digital media
The Fleisher Collection Debuts a New Music Podcast!
by Kile Smith While this is our first-ever podcast, Discoveries is actually entering its 17th year of broadcasts. In the fall of 2002, the Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia launched Discoveries…
Fleisher Collection music podcasts
Not a Black Friday Shopper? We’ve Got You Covered!
If the idea of heading out into the world at some ungodly hour to fight crowds and spend money makes you queasy, and you’re choosing to celebrate today as Buy Nothing Day rather than Black Friday, fear not! The Free Library has…
databases ebooks Holidays languages reading digital media digital learning
Library Card Sign-up Month | Digital Media at Your Fingertips and On a Screen Near You!
As we continue through National Library Card Sign-Up Month, we've already discussed how a library card grants you instant access to a treasure trove of books, DVDs, and audiobooks from our catalog , or how you can use your library…
digital media library card
Input and the Extraordinary Marion Stokes
You’ve heard the adage that “All politics is local”, but the real, hidden story of American life is documented in the rich and mostly lost bounty of local television programming . For every regional program like…
archives television digital media
An American Author in Paris
"For two centuries," writes The New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik in the preface of his 2004 collection Americans in Paris: A Literary Anthology , "Paris has been attached for Americans to an idea of happiness, of good…
podcasts recommendations nonfiction literary history literature
5 Lazy Day Library Card Uses
One of my favorite comic collections of all time is the Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book . It reminds me that whenever possible, even if just for an hour, having a "lazy Sunday" is crucial. Or, in this case, a "lazy…
ebooks music television film digital media library resources
13 MORE Screamingly Scary Movies to Stream This Friday the 13th!
Today, July 13, is the second of two Friday the 13ths occurring in 2018. The first one arrived exactly 13 weeks earlier on April 13! I penned a post full of screamingly scary streaming selections back in April and now I've…
recommendations film digital media
