How To Register My Library Account With Rbdigital

Public libraries are and so awesome. (Thanks, Ben Franklin!) They allow you lot borrow not but physical books, but too digital content like due east-books, audiobooks and -- surprise, surprise! -- digital magazines.

It'southward true: Many libraries have partnered with RBdigital (formerly Zinio for Libraries) to offering electronic 'zines you can check out and read on a multifariousness of devices. I was already a large fan of doing that on my iPad, and so I'grand charmed that my local library here in metro Detroit offers this crawly option.

It'south a surprisingly generous offering, as well: For most titles you become access to non just the latest issue, but also back issues. There'due south usually no limit on the number of magazines you lot can "cheque out," and they don't expire after a sure fourth dimension flow the way library east-books practise. In other words, you become to go along them for as long as your account is active.

This is especially exciting in light of Apple'southward recently announced News Plus subscription service, which for $ten per calendar month gives you access to over 300 magazines. Not only is RBdigital free, it'south besides uniform with Android devices and Amazon Fire ($xxx at eBay) tablets.

Here's how to get started with RBdigital, starting with what you'll need in social club to read.

Grit off your library card

Starting time, visit your local library's website (via your desktop browser) to see if there's any mention of RBdigital. If and so, yous'll demand your library carte number and password to get through the registration process, which should be accessible via that site. The procedure typically involves creating an account with RBdigital, the service that manages magazine loans for libraries.

With that washed, cheque your inbox for an activation electronic mail from RBdigital and click the link to verify your account.

Eventually you should exist looking at the available catalog of magazines, the size of which can vary from one library to another. Mine, for example, offers around 300 titles -- same equally Apple tree News Plus, interestingly. Information technology doesn't have every magazine I desire, but it's a good mix overall.

If you see something you know yous want to read, simply click the cover and then the blue Checkout button. Pro tip: Afterward clicking that button, check the box marked Automatically checkout the next upshot. Presto! Now y'all've got a "subscription" to that mag.

Consider the hardware

rbdigital-readers-digest-on-phone — Reading magazines on a phone -- like Reader's Digest, shown here -- isn't terrible thank you to RBdigital'south text mode. Thankfully, it'south not *all* text.
RBdigital/Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

Side by side, figure out where and how y'all want to consume your digital mags. To my thinking, the all-time bet is a full-size tablet, significant one with a screen that's at to the lowest degree viii inches. I've used an iPad Mini ($220 at Amazon), which is pretty good, so long as it has a Retina brandish, simply a full-size iPad or Amazon Burn down Hard disk ten ($68 at Amazon) is better. A 12.9-inch iPad Pro ($537 at Amazon)? Best option by far.

Ultimately, you want something with the highest resolution and largest screen you lot can get -- at least if you plan to consume magazines in their native format (meaning PDFs of the actual mag pages). Thankfully, the RBdigital app offers a text view for many, if non virtually, titles, and it's a pretty skilful implementation.

Indeed, reading a scanned magazine on a smartphone (or smaller tablet) ways a lot of scrolling and zooming, which is far from ideal. Simply with one tap, the RBdigital app will switch yous over to text mode, giving you larger print, in your choice of sizes, that's nicely formatted for smaller screens. And it's not simply raw text, either; photos get mixed in every bit well.

This fashion definitely works better for longer stories though. On pages with lots of picayune blurbs, the app doesn't ever delineate betwixt them well. I also noticed that magazines are slow to download. On both a Fire Hd 10 and an iPad, I typically await a minute or two for an issue to load. It'south a maddeningly dull app in other means every bit well, similar when you're switching between PDF and text view.

Get the apps

The RBdigital apps are available for Fire, Android and iOS. In one case information technology's installed, run information technology then sign into the RBdigital account you just created. Whatever magazines y'all've already checked out should exist waiting for you. Alternately, you tin tap the Carte button and and so Magazines to explore the collection and choose titles to check out.

RBdigital may not be perfect, only if you similar magazines and want to read them for free, well, it's time to renew that library card.

Read more than: I did the math, and News Plus is actually a pretty adept deal

Originally published on November. 15, 2016.
Update, April 4, 2019: Adds new information.

CNET'south Cheapskate scours the spider web for great deals on tech products and much more. For the latest deals and updates, follow the Cheapskate on Facebook and Twitter. Find more than great buys on the CNET Deals page and check out our CNET Coupons page for the latest promo codes from Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon and more. Questions near the Cheapskate blog? Notice the answers on our FAQ folio.