So far, every single audiobook I want to check out is reserved at least 6 months out and more commonly a year out.
Is there some other scheme for borrowing audiobooks? I used to subscribe to Audible but it wasn’t a very good deal.
With Overdrive / Libby I tend to sort by what's available, rather than searching for what I want. (It's similar to going to the library to browse shelves, in that way)
Anyway usually the local librarians know the smartest ways to combine apps and such.
Because the best secret tip is that overdrive doesn't encrypt their mp3's. They even admit it at [1]. I don't know about iOS but on android it's just stored plaintext in the android system. So you just get on hold for books and whenever they come in, download then, and don't have to worry about loans. I try to be nice about this and buy the book for author's books I've enjoyed because I want to support artists. But it's nice to not have the limitations of 21 days, especially for longer books
Overdrive is trying to go to libby where they obfuscate the mp3s but they might not push it through
Also don't discount text to speech. It's not as nice as a real narrator but I also walk 5+ hours on weekends and it's nice to be able to listen to arbitrary text. Google's TTS is pretty readable and has a generous free tier
The app I use is called Libby, but I imagine it is pulling from the same inventory.