Future features from OverDrive

Every year, around ALA's Annual Conference, vendors announce new products and services they plan to demo at the conference and offer in the coming year. This year, OverDrive is promoting features to streamline the process for accessing ebooks and audiobooks. Watch for these features "later this year":

• Ebooks will be available via a browser-based ebook reader called "OverDrive Read" that can be used online or offline, with no additional software requirements. OverDrive's "sneak peek" is thin on details, but the demo title looks pretty slick. (EPUB and PDF ebook support will continue as well.)
• Audiobooks will be available as streaming audio, so patrons will be able to listen via OverDrive Media Console without downloading any files (or while waiting for files to finish downloading). Streaming audio is delivered over the Internet, so this feature will require an Internet connection.

In case you missed it, here's a new feature that's available today: MP3 audiobooks can now be returned early using the latest version of any of the OverDrive Media Console apps.