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 ð
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!
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 âïļ step once! It is also idempotent â 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.odmThis 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! ð
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 ð
If you have trouble getting the script to run successfully, add the --verbose flag and retry, e.g.:
~/.local/bin/overdrive download Novel.odm --verboseThis 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 ð, but didn't set the executable flag ð.
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 ð§ (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.
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 â
by editing the "User Agent" that your browser presents itself as:
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:
curluuidgenxmllinticonvopensslbase64If 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/Aâ | # 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!) |
â All required commands are installed by default on macOS 10.14 (Mojave), 10.15 (Catalina), 12.6 (Monterey),
and probably everywhere in between â 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.
PATHAll 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 ~/.bashrcOr if you're using zsh instead of bash, run this instead:
printf 'export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH\n' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrcEarly 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.odmCopyright ÂĐ 2017â2021 Christopher Brown. MIT Licensed.