Episode: 2264
Title: HPR2264: At The Library
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2264/hpr2264.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-19 00:34:16

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This is HPR episode 2,264 entitled At the Library.
It is hosted by Bill, MFMED1, Miller and in about 8 minutes long and Karima Cleanflag.
The summary is what my local library offers.
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Well, hello, I'm Bill Miller, I go with an A&M infamous online, that's what the NFMZ1 stands for.
You can get in touch with me at tech warriors with a Z at gmail.com or infamous one, the infamous one,
THE in FMZ1 at gmail as well.
This week's podcast I'm going to do is based on a podcast I heard over on pod nuts.
It's by MRP Tech.
He does a weekly show that's really good.
He's starting to do some YouTube live streaming as well, so I really suggest you go check him out.
He does a really excellent job, sounds really good, really interesting topics, a wide variety of topics.
A very well-educated man, I can't read about him enough, becoming fast, one of my favorite podcasts that I listen to.
He did a podge, I mean a podge show, sorry, a podcast here recently.
We had talked about ebooks and audio books, not so much ebooks, audio books, more so.
And we're to get them some places to get them for a cheaper, because we all know that audio books run you like,
and they can be upwards of $60 for an audio book, so it's very expensive to listen to something.
He brought up podge and Librevox, I believe, and when he did that, it reminded me that I was at the beginning of the year,
I was going to do a show, but I got sick, so it took me a couple of weeks to get well,
and I completely forgot about doing the show, but I was going to do a show on my local library.
And when he talked about the audio books, you're reminding me that our libraries allow you to rent audio books for free.
It doesn't cost you anything.
And even if you have no way to listen to them, they have actual players that when you rent the book, you can take it out of the library with you.
So there's a resource there that I think we completely overlook.
That's a free source that gets you some really nice audio books to listen to.
So I wanted to just add that on first off, that, you know, along with the stuff he's talking about,
Podio Librevox, your library is an awesome source to go for audio books.
Great place.
So look there, a library card cost you absolutely nothing.
The next thing about the library is that they're also another great source for our cord cutter friends out here.
For our cord cutter friends, they offer DVD rentals, Blu-ray rentals, movies that you can get TV series that you can get documentaries.
When there's a lot, there's a wealth of stuff you can get from the library that you can take home, you know, an NRIP and add to your library of stuff for your first cord cutters out there.
It doesn't cost you anything if they don't have something in a title.
That's the time you can request it.
And if they can't get it from another library and have it brought into you, they usually will purchase it as well.
So you can get a lot of current titles, a lot of full, you know, season series of shows at your local library and add them to your media center for next to nothing.
It's a place I go for movies and TV shows as well, along with music.
What I do is I try to give back as well.
So during the summertime, I'll hit yard sales for various things and one of the things I look for is DVDs and Blu-rays.
And lots of times you can find DVDs and Blu-rays nowadays for, since everybody's streaming, for like 50 cents to $1 a movie.
I mean, I just picked up the Godfather, the complete series for a buck.
In the box, it's real beautiful.
I'll add a picture to it here so you can see what it looks like.
But I mean, that's what I mean.
And what I'll do is I'll pick up these movies and I'll rip them for myself.
But then I'll donate them to the library.
You just put them into your local library and it adds to their collection as well.
So not only does it help you, but you're passing it on for someone else who comes in to do the same thing.
So it's paying it for it as much as you get out of probably ripping a movie from the library.
You're putting it back and adding to it as well.
So that's a great source of that.
The next thing at the library is not only do they have the books obviously,
they have computers that everybody knows about it.
As soon as you walk in usually they've got a bank of computers there that you can rent for out and know how long it is.
You can sit there and research.
They've got printed print on.
So you have access to computers there.
Not only that, I found out that my library offers Chromebooks.
They have Samsung Chromebooks that you can rent out at the library.
So you can take them, go to the back corner somewhere on to the couches in the back,
check out a book, watch videos online, check your email, do work, whatever in the library.
And it's a really great deal that the Chromebooks and I saw the little Samsung ones,
the silver ones that I've seen so far are anyway.
But they offer them for you to rent out and use.
And that's a great thing for those who don't want to sit at the desk and use the desktop.
I want to go in the back and kind of do some, you know, some surfing, things like that.
On the RFU Wi-Fi there, you don't have to worry about the internet connection.
But it's just a great, another resource at the library that they offer you.
I've covered the books.
I've covered audio books.
Ebooks is another.
Any book that you pretty much want to rent out of the library, they have on any book.
If they don't have it, like I said, they can research it, try to find it for you.
It's a great source for ebooks as well.
E magazines as well are available there.
I read maximum PC out of my library.
I read a few fishing magazines.
So feel and stream things like that.
I don't have a ton of selections, but there are quite a few.
And I'm sure there's something there for pretty much everybody if you're really looking to read a magazine.
Great, great spot for that stuff as well.
And they offer apps like Overdrive.
We can get it on your tablet.
You can get it on your ereaders as well.
They have a whole section like mine.
I just took my wife and they're the other day and she was looking.
She didn't realize that she could get it ebooks from the library on her Kindle White.
So they actually have a cheat sheet on how to hook it up at a library to get the Kindle books onto your Kindle e-reader.
Another great resource there for a nut and you never would have thought of being at a library.
The libraries are nice.
They got restrooms.
They're usually not too hot, not too cold.
And it's a great place to relax and do some research or even set up a podcast.
Like I can see, I can see if I didn't have an office that using a library as my main place to research my podcast.
You know, I could sit there and surf the web.
If I didn't have a Chromebook, like I said, or a laptop, I could go in a rent one.
Depending on how busy ours, I guess would be the availability of it.
You have to keep that in mind as well.
But still a great resource.
So if you're looking for a free place that doesn't cost you anything that you can contribute to, the library is an awesome place to go.
eBooks, DVDs, Blu-rays, audio books, e-magazines, laptops for use, computers for use, they offer printing.
They have a lot of tech seminars or not seminars with the word among workshops as well.
I got a whole list of workshops that they offer from there.
So there's a lot of stuff the library that it offers for you for free.
Absolutely free, just for going and registering for a card.
They can do it right there at the library.
A lot of the stuff can be used at home.
Like I use overdrive at home to read books and things like that.
The magazines here, I use it on my desktop.
So it's a great resource.
So go support your library.
And you'll get a lot of stuff out of it as well by supporting them.
And like I said, if you can do what I do, donate CDs, donate DVDs, donate Blu-rays you get.
It just makes the experience better for the next guy who has to go in for it.
Thank you for listening.
Let me know what you think.
If you already do this, let me know that.
I'd like to hear your experiences and your area of how the libraries work there.
I actually enjoyed it.
I thought it was great.
There's one of the best things that I found as a free resource that it's bar none.
I mean, I don't have to pay for anything when I walk into the library.
It's all there for me to use.
Let me know.
Drop me a line and I'll see you out here in cyberspace.
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