Libby on Android

[AndyHaf]

I have an older 4G smart phone that I had to give up using a little over two years ago because it isn’t LTE capable. It is an HTC One running Android 5.0.2. I have no direct internet access of course but I can connect the phone to WiFi.

I’ve been using if for some audio playback, using its built into the Android system audio player. It is easy to copy audio files to the phone and hassle free to play them. Now I want to play audio books borrowed from the library. This requires a special player, Libby, which comes only from the Google Play Store. I never before used the Play Store on this phone.

I started with the Play Store icon, then signed on, which appeared to work. There is no longer any requirement for entering ID or password and, as far as I can see, there is no option to sign out. Right after I signed on there was a message across the top of the screen saying something like “unable to access Play Store content”. It has not been repeated.

What I get now is a blank screen except for a search dialogue across the top. I’m not certain if it is part of Play Store or just some search engine for the web. When I key in Libby I get a list of several Libby software things, all of which may be for the same library program. If I select any of them, the system goes into perpetual busy state with an arrow head snake chasing it tail in a circle. Maybe if I waited long enough it would time out but so far I haven’t had the extreme patience necessary for that.

The above procedure works as expected on my current, connected phone.

What occurs to me is that Play Store has since been updated and will no longer work on such an old version of Android or maybe with such an old version of the Play Store program. I find no way to update the Play Store program and, for certain, there is no HTC Android update for the phone.

Are there any other possibilities, in particular ones that might work on this phone?
Am I correct in believing there is no such thing as a generic Android system that might be used to update the Phone’s OS?

 

[AugieTN]

The phone is about 10 years old. Time to put it to bed.

 

[Dannydet]

You can always install libby from apkmirror.com or Apkpure.com

 

[AndyHaf]

You can always install libby from apkmirror.com or Apkpure.com

This sounds potentially useful but there could be concerns. While I don't especially trust Google for much of anything, the Play Store is supposed to be a source without malicious attachments to the programs available there. What is known about those two sites that you pointed out?

 

[Windroid]

[T]he Play Store is supposed to be a source without malicious attachments to the programs available there

There is malware in Google's app store! Yes, they try to keep the malware out, but they sometimes fail.

 

[Hadron]

This sounds potentially useful but there could be concerns. While I don't especially trust Google for much of anything, the Play Store is supposed to be a source without malicious attachments to the programs available there. What is known about those two sites that you pointed out?

Those 2 sites are trustworthy, though in general you are right to be cautious.

You might be the first person I've heard of who bought the non-LTE version of the HTC One though. Of course the more common versions wouldn't have supported VoLTE, but in many countries the non-LTE version wasn't even available.

 

[Dannydet]

Your old phone is 10 years old and your worried about nothing....I installed Libby from apkmirror.com with no malicious content and works fine.

 

[AndyHaf]

Your old phone is 10 years old and your worried about nothing....I installed Libby from apkmirror.com with no malicious content and works fine.

For unknown reasons, while I could not get the playstore to work, I decided to give it one more try. It opened normally and let me download Libby.
When I tried to open it, it gave me a message to the effect that, due to additional features, Libby no longer works on Android version 4 or earlier. I must update my Android version or use a different device.
Although the phone actually is at version 5.0.2, arguments are not accepted.

This 10 year old phone is a better audio player than my current phone and much more conveniently sized. The land fill doesn't deserve it.

 

[ocnbrze]

try as suggested using an earlier version of libby from apkmirror.

 

[AndyHaf]

try as suggested using an earlier version of libby from apkmirror.

For two or three years, some while ago, I used Libby on my Windows notebook computer, mostly for e-books. The program was very insistent that I could no longer even look at the library until I updated the program to the latest version, whenever a newer version came out. Finally they stopped supporting Windows at all. One can now only listen to library audiobooks in Windows by streaming through a browser. Since I have limited internet access, I am not online most of the time, that is useless to me.

 

[Windroid]

For two or three years, some while ago, I used Libby on my Windows notebook computer, mostly for e-books. The program was very insistent that I could no longer even look at the library until I updated the program to the latest version, whenever a newer version came out. Finally they stopped supporting Windows at all. One can now only listen to library audiobooks in Windows by streaming through a browser. Since I have limited internet access, I am not online most of the time, that is useless to me.

Which version of Windows do you use?

 

[AndyHaf]

Which version of Windows do you use?

Win10 pro
Do you think that makes a difference? How?

 

[Windroid]

Win10 pro
Do you think that makes a difference? How?

Window 11 has limited abilities to run Android apps. So if this were 11, Windows might let you install the Android Libby app. We could probably get it installed onto Windows 10, but it will take more doing,

 

[Windroid]

The phone is about 10 years old. Time to put it to bed.

There's still a lot that can be done with Android 5. Now, I'd have my concerns about security (I doubt the manufacturer is still giving it security updates). But I own an Android 5 tablet (a 7th gen. Kindle Fire HD), and it can still run the modern version of Firefox. It can run Google Maps (albeit an outdated version).

 

[nickdalzell]

I don't get the whole futurist onslaught here. It's not good for the planet to toss perfectly good things into the trash and we don't need more consumerism in this world. There ain't nothing wrong with using an old device to do non-phone things such as play music, read or listen to audiobooks or use it for an alarm clock.

I suppose I should just toss all my '60s tech into the trash as well? because that stuff is even older, but it all works!

 

[nickdalzell]

The phone is about 10 years old. Time to put it to bed.

My car is 18 years old

My stereo system is 50 years old

My radios are 60 plus years old

Some of my watches are also 50-60 years old

My rolltop desk is 75 years old

But here's the deal, futurist. They all work fine, and have far more character than boring 'modern' stuff. Just because something is old doesn't mean it should be thrown away. That's not only bad for the planet, but wasteful. Reduce, reuse, recycle in that order.

The real question I should be asking is why are people like yourself so offended by anything old? What's wrong with vintage? Should all the classic car collectors also just buy everything new and scrap their classics? Yeesh, you folks are worse than Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

[Windroid]

The real question I should be asking is why are people like yourself so offended by anything old?

Let's not put words into his mouth! "Put to bed" doesn't necessarily mean "destroy". It could mean "put it into a drawer and use it as a backup phone". That's what I'd generally suggest for a smartphone that old.

 

[nickdalzell]

Well, there was another futurist in another thread suggesting to again, buy new, and leave the old phone bricked, suggesting throwing it away. I get angry because up until recently I got this kind of remark in public even when using a Galaxy S5. It was even worse with the HTC Thunderbolt. I mean, people, use what you like, let me use what I like.

I just get miffed at the attitude of anyone who thinks because something is so old, it's useless or a paperweight. I don't really understand the attitude. They feel this need to covert folks to everything new as if newer = better, like some bad techno-Jehovah's Witness. They literally hate the idea that someone prefers an older anything.

 

[mikedt]

OT:

My car is 18 years old

I'm currently in London. And here it's illegal, or can be very expensive to drive a car of that age within the London ULEZ(Ultra Low Emission Zone). Where vehicles must comply with a minimum of Euro 4 emission standards. And AFAIK the only exemptions are for vehicles that are over 40 years old, e.g. classic cars. Many other towns and cities also have similar LEZ or ULEZ, that ban or penalise older vehicles.

BTW I did read that some states, like California, by 2035 all cars there must be zero emission, i.e. no more gasoline engined cars.

My radios are 60 plus years old

My stereo system is 50 years old

I've got a couple of radios around that age myself, but one is practically useless, because it doesn't have FM/VHF on it;. As AM/MW and LW are pretty much dead here now. A couple of countries in Europe have ceased analogue radio broadcasting completely, and have gone DAB radio only.

TVs that are 15 plus years old won't receive anything, unless they have a compatible digital tuner, or are plugged into a digital converter.

If you have a stereo that's 50 years old, it ain't going to he playing those 40 year old Compact Discs is it? IMO the golden ages for the best stereo systems and HiFi was really in the 80s and 90s.

 

[AugieTN]

My car is 18 years old

My stereo system is 50 years old

My radios are 60 plus years old

Some of my watches are also 50-60 years old

My rolltop desk is 75 years old

But here's the deal, futurist. They all work fine, and have far more character than boring 'modern' stuff. Just because something is old doesn't mean it should be thrown away. That's not only bad for the planet, but wasteful. Reduce, reuse, recycle in that order.

The real question I should be asking is why are people like yourself so offended by anything old? What's wrong with vintage? Should all the classic car collectors also just buy everything new and scrap their classics? Yeesh, you folks are worse than Jehovah's Witnesses.

Nick you constantly take threads off topic so you can advocate your older is better obsession. My radios are 60 years old. I changed all the steel door hinges in my house to leather hinges. Leather doesn't squeak. Leather doesn't need WD-40.

Just STOP!

 

[Windroid]

Just STOP!

Using ALLCAPS isn't helping your case. Besides, you're the one who brought up age as a reason to "put it to bed". Now, do I think Nickdalzell overreacted? Yes. But he has a point, he had a valid counterargument to your suggestion to put the phone to bed. And he was a lot more civil than you were in that last message.

 

[olbriar]

We are all friend here. We are all here to help the op. Okay...

 

[nickdalzell]

Hey I was just suggesting that when someone here actually wants to use an old device for once (something I find commendable) that we actually try to help them or don't respond at all. I'm just sick and tired of seeing 'your phone is 10 plus years old, toss it and buy a new one' over and over and over again. As if the world actually needs more needless consumerism.

If someone doesn't like what I have to say, the ignore function exists, ya know.

 

[Hadron]

While there's no generic Android that will work on any phone, another possibility is to install a newer android on that one. I know that you can get up to Android 7 on it using custom ROMs (if you give up the HTC user interface and apps) because I have one in a cupboard that's running a Lineage build based on A7 (I'm actually hundreds of km away from the cupboard in question, however, so can't say much more about it). You should be able to find the resources you need for such things at HTC One (M7).

One caveat though: if this really is the non-LTE version of the m7 you need to check that any software you use is compatible with it. There were a few variants, and the global GSM model with LTE was by far the most common, so where the compatibility of some software isn't specified they probably assume that model (I don't offhand know whether the non-LTE GSM model is compatible with it). If you have one of the US network-specific models you may also be more limited in what ROMs are available.

 

[Hadron]

Hey I was just suggesting that when someone here actually wants to use an old device for once (something I find commendable) that we actually try to help them or don't respond at all. I'm just sick and tired of seeing 'your phone is 10 plus years old, toss it and buy a new one' over and over and over again. As if the world actually needs more needless consumerism.

I agree with you on consumerism. But perhaps it would be better not to invent labels for people like "futurist"? Such labelling is generally done as a way of dismissing or denegrating, and perhaps that wasn't your intention but since all we have are the written words on the screen intentions can be hard to discern, and that was the way it came over to me.

(Plus the pedant in me wants note that the word "futurist" does have an established meaning, and it's different from the way you were using it )