LiberraHow to listen to your Libro.fm and Downpour audiobooks on any device
The whole point of buying from Libro.fm or Downpour is that the audiobook is yours, as actual files, with no DRM. That also means it is not stuck in one app. Here is how to get the files you paid for, choose the right format, and end up with one library that plays on whatever you are holding.
Step 1: download the actual files
Both stores have a perfectly good app, and both apps are built around their own copy of the book. The downloadable files live on the website, so do this part in a browser.
Libro.fm
Sign in and open your library at libro.fm/user/library. Each purchase has a Files button, which offers a single M4B or a zip of individual MP3 tracks. Pick a format and download. Libro.fm documents this itself in their help article on downloading files.
Downpour
Sign in at downpour.com, open My Library from the account menu, and use the download option next to a title. You are offered M4B, MP3, or both. One caveat worth knowing: most of the Downpour catalogue is DRM-free, but a minority of titles carry publisher restrictions and will not offer a plain download. If a title has no download option, that is the publisher's doing, not something a player can fix.
Step 2: M4B or MP3?
Both work. They are different trade-offs, not better and worse.
- M4B is one file for the whole book, with a proper chapter list embedded in it. It is the tidier option and the one to pick if you are downloading straight onto a phone, because it is a single file to move around.
- MP3 arrives as a zip of tracks. It plays in absolutely everything, which makes it the safer long-term archive format, but you end up with dozens of files per book that a player has to understand as one audiobook.
If you cannot decide, download both. You bought the book, and the storage cost of a second copy is small next to re-downloading in five years.
Liberra takes either one. Hand it the zip and it unpacks it, groups the tracks into a single book, and shows you the result before anything is added. Hand it an M4B and it reads the chapter list out of the file.
Step 3: get them onto your phone
Three routes, in rough order of how little effort they take:
- Download on the phone itself. Sign in to the store's website in your mobile browser and download there. On Android the file lands in Downloads. On iPhone, save it into the Files app. This is the fastest path for an M4B.
- Download on a computer, then put it in a folder you sync. Drop the book folders into Dropbox, connect Dropbox in Liberra, and point it at the folder. Nothing is uploaded anywhere else, and the files stay in your account.
- Download on a computer and let Liberra host it. Useful when the library is bigger than the phone, or when you want it on a tablet and a laptop too.
Step 4: import them into one library
In Liberra, choose the files or the folder. The import reads the metadata that Libro.fm and Downpour already wrote into the files, fetches cover art, and detects books that are split across many tracks so they land as one audiobook with continuous playback rather than 42 loose items. You can confirm or combine the groups it found before you finish.
MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, FLAC, and OGG are all supported, so a mixed shelf from several stores lands in the same place. No account is needed for any of this, and the player itself is free.
Step 5: the same book on every device
This is the part the store apps do well and loose files do badly. Sign in to Liberra and your library, your place in each book, and your bookmarks follow you between devices, so you can start on a phone and finish on a tablet. For the audio itself, pick who holds it: connect your own Dropbox, or let Liberra host it on a cloud plan. Either way the files are the files you downloaded, and you can take them back out whenever you like.
Keep the originals
Do not treat any app, ours included, as the only copy. Keep the downloads on a drive or in a backup somewhere. Stores close, accounts get locked, companies get acquired, and the reason DRM-free matters is that none of that can reach a file you already saved. Downloading your purchases is the one chore on this page that is genuinely worth doing the day you buy.
Questions
Am I allowed to do this?
Yes. These are DRM-free downloads that the store offers you on purpose, which is the feature you are paying a little extra for. Nothing here circumvents anything.
Can I still use the Libro.fm or Downpour app?
Of course. Keep buying there, keep their app if you like it. This is about the copy you own, not about leaving.
What about my Audible books?
Audible files are DRM protected, and Liberra will not play them or strip the protection. That is the difference between a book you bought and a book you licensed, and it is exactly why DRM-free stores are worth the switch.
Do I need a paid plan?
No. The player, local files, and bringing your own Dropbox are free. Paying us is for when you would rather we hosted the library so every device just has it.
Does it handle Humble Bundle and books bought direct from authors?
Same process. Those are usually a zip of MP3s or a single M4B, which is exactly what the steps above cover.