I too love audio book and movies from Cinemanow but hate multiple devices, which why I moved to the Droid. I also had a Windows Mobile device and came away not too pleased. I am honestly done waiting for both companies Roxio/Cinemanow and Amazon/Audible to check their corporate egos and get on the Android wave. I have a great tool DRMBuster Ultra Video that addresses both issues and allows me to take movies that I've legally purchased licenses to and audio books likewise legally purchased and copy them down to my Droid. It takes a while convert either a audio book or a movie but the sound and sound/video on the Droid are incredible. When all else fails, when you've begged, pleaded and waited - bust out the eye patch, hoist the skull and cross bones, give a hearty HAR HAR and go rogue.
A great suggestion. In addition to long conversion times (not really a problem for me), it may need a bit of tweaking the parameters for any particular player. For Audible content, if I set it for higher quality output, the playback slowed down substantially (slow motion reading), but if I dropped the quality, which is really not a problem for spoken word playback, the voice was just as it should have been.
A bigger problem is that the ability to move back and forth short distances in the text is really hard for a file that is several hundred minutes of playback. So if you're interrupted and want to go back a few minutes, both the Music and Meridian players don't really give the tools for fine tuning your location, and an Audible app, specially built for this kind of thing, does that very nicely.
So I can finally listen to my books with DRMBuster, but I'll still be happier when Audible delivers its player.
Im really bummed about the Audible thing. Im using SoundTaxi. Its working...but there is some skipping...and it take forEVER to convert. Yeah, my box is slow...but still. Im just glad to have something that works as i am not carrying 2 devices.
Heard back from Audible....pretty much a copy/paste of everyones responses....but they did give me an email address if i want to be a beta tester...cool.
I know everyone will flip out when I say this, but...
I really, really wanted to buy books from Audible. I'm not willing to jump through hoops, though, as it wasn't my idea for them to use DRM on their products.
So, I'm currently downloading the books I wanted, using BitTorrent.
Again, I would prefer to buy them from Audible, but there's no way for me to listen to them in the car... When Audible gets their stuff together, I will consider purchasing from them instead of downloading the audio books from torrent sites.
I just talked to a customer service rep for Audible, as I am canceling my account for awhile. Just don't have the money for it right now. When he asked why I was canceling, I mentioned the money thing, but also mentioned that not having an Audible app for Android was a pain. He told me that, unofficially, its coming in 2-3 months, but no official date.
Good news! I hope he knows what he was talking about.
@Brunner - I won't flip out. But the proper response to Audible's use of DRM (which indeed means nobody owns the content they payed for from Audible) is not to steal audiobooks... Why not try out emusic's store? Support the companies that sell content at a resonable price without unreasonable use restrictions and DRM.
Good News Everybody! On twit 232 Leo Laporte and Jason Calacanis discussed the lack of an android audible player.
1:09:45
Leo:"The biggest single thing missing on android is an an audible player."
Jason:"trust me, it's going to be made in the next 10 days"
Leo: "I have it on good authority that they are working on it right now. Generally the way audible works is that they give an SDK to the partners and they ask that the partners develop it for the phone and i understand they are working with google to do an audible player and that will be coming soon"
It can't happen too soon!
I love listening to TWIT but was so annoyed at the shills for Audible. It's ridiculous that they haven't come up with a compatible app yet, I wonder how many customers they lost!
Good News Everybody! On twit 232 Leo Laporte and Jason Calacanis discussed the lack of an android audible player.
1:09:45
Leo:"The biggest single thing missing on android is an an audible player."
Jason:"trust me, it's going to be made in the next 10 days"
Leo: "I have it on good authority that they are working on it right now. Generally the way audible works is that they give an SDK to the partners and they ask that the partners develop it for the phone and i understand they are working with google to do an audible player and that will be coming soon"
It can't happen too soon!
I love listening to TWIT but was beyond annoyed at the shills for Audible. I wonder how many customers they lost? Hope the APP is a reality soon, I miss my books on my commute!
The Audible compatibility issue has annoyed me for a long time. I actually canceled once, then went back when I bought an IPod Touch. Now I have a Samsung Moment, and the two are pretty much redundant (although the IPod seems to run more stable, and has louder audio). I don't understand the DRM. It's not like I'm going to make a million copies of an audiobook and sell them to everyone I see on the street, any more than I'm going to Xerox a book and distribute the pages to everyone I know. Even if I wanted to, I don't have time for that. Most people just want to buy a book, or an audiobook, and enjoy it, but the industry assumes that we're all potential pirates. In fact, there are a number of authors who don't want DRM management on their material, but if they want their books distributed by Audible, they've got to play by Audible's rules. I remember hearing that Amazon was going to discontinue the DRM when they bought Amazon, but obviously, they didn't follow through.
I legally convert my .aa files using Tunebite, which includes a virtual CD burner. Once the files are "burned", Tunebite converts them to multiple MP3 files, which I rejoin after the conversion, using a program called Direct MP3 Joiner. It's quicker than Sound Taxi, which now uses ITunes to convert files (instead of WMP), and does so in real time. It's a pain, but until there's an Audible app for Android, it's the best option I've got.
As for Leo Laporte, I really like him and I like his show. I think he's really knowledgeable about the tech industry, but Audible is one of his primary sponsors, so when it comes to Audible, his opinion might not be what I would call the most objective.
android app is on the horizon, Summer 2010
I just hope that is Summer like May, not summer like August.
Would a monthly "Everyone who wants Audable contact them" on the same day be harrassing or do you think it would show them we are serious and how loud our voice is?
android app is on the horizon, Summer 2010
I just hope that is Summer like May, not summer like August.
Would a monthly "Everyone who wants Audable contact them" on the same day be harrassing or do you think it would show them we are serious and how loud our voice is?
My "inside" resource pretty much said the same. As far as the "piracy" issue. Way back when books-on-tape were the only media, at work we setup a bookcase where employees could put books that they finished for anyone to enjoy. So one book had the potential for a few dozen employees to listen to without buying. Can't do that with .aa
I've been using GoldWave. It takes about 7 minutes to convert a 5-6 hour book to an MP3. You have to use an older version, but it's out there. Google "Audible Toolkit" for the correct version. It's probably illegal to just use the version on the torrents, so I bought a license for the current version and just use the older one.
I called Audible earlier today and asked about a banner I saw on the website saying "Coming Soon: Audible apps for Iphone, Ipod Touch and Android".
He said that technically the app was already finished and ready but they were waiting on Google, who is apparently dragging ass on the licensing end of the deal. He said to expect the app in the next couple months and said that he would send me an email as well offering to allow me to be a beta tester... but the email never showed up.
I'm not so sure.
All I know is, no Audible app is a deal-breaker for me getting an Android phone. Until there's one, functional, available and ready to purchase on the app store... I'm not getting an Android phone.
I called Audible earlier today and asked about a banner I saw on the website saying "Coming Soon: Audible apps for Iphone, Ipod Touch and Android".
He said that technically the app was already finished and ready but they were waiting on Google, who is apparently dragging ass on the licensing end of the deal. He said to expect the app in the next couple months and said that he would send me an email as well offering to allow me to be a beta tester... but the email never showed up.
I'm not so sure.
All I know is, no Audible app is a deal-breaker for me getting an Android phone. Until there's one, functional, available and ready to purchase on the app store... I'm not getting an Android phone.
I got sick of waiting for an Android compatible player from Audible so I wrote to Audible for a second time asking WHEN we can have Audible on Android and received the following reply from Audible which seems to point the finger straight at Google!
"Dear XXXX,
I'm afraid this is the reply I had for you in March. We are not ignoring the Android market, we are trying to secure compatibility rights now and we hope to have them soon.
Kind Regards
Jemma English
Audible Customer Care"
I am frankly staggered that Audible is struggling to get “compatibility rights” Even so Audible have had TWO YEARS to make an Android player available and I am certain it does NOT take Two years to get “compatibility rights” unless a Google employee would like to tell me otherwise?
Audible’s approach to anything other than iPhone or iPod is frankly appalling they STILL do not have a dedicated Symbian S60V5 player albeit the v3 player does work on v5 after a fashion! But S60v5 came out two years ago!
Either way I am sick of waiting and being treated like a mug punter and have now canceled my Audible account if perhaps enough of us do likewise it might just possibly occur to Audible that they are there to suit the customer rather than themselves?
Another anxious Audible aficionado awaiting answers.
I've been an Audible subscriber for more than eight years now but since joining the Android party I've had no player for my Audible books. I've got my account on hold and, with a heavy heart, am considering canceling altogether. I never dreamed it would take so long to get an Android Audible app...
I downloaded the beta and installed it the other night to my HTC Eris. It looks great and seems to be a professionally designed product. It pulled up my entire library when I logged in and a quick tap on the book of interest and it open the player with that book. Bookmarks, chapter lists, ratings, searches all make it a versatile app. I still download and purchase online from my computer and it still downloads to Audible Manager but I'm guessing that this may not be necessary. It says you can connect it to a computer to transfer files to save time but I haven't done that yet.
c33 can I just say I LOVE you! I have missed my audible so much since breaking my HTC Mogul and moving into an android...I am happier than a clam right now!!! Why are clams happy anyway? I digress, I am happy I can listen to my books again on my hour plus commute each way to and from work every day!!!!!!
Audible is owned by Amazon.com. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
Not likely since the Kindle is also an Amazon.com product and IS compatible with Audible. On the other hand, the Nook's OS is Android based and is NOT compatible. Draw your own conclusions. Do I really have to beg and/or grovel???
I have been a beta user and so far I like it better than what I had for the treo or the blackberry (which was terrible). It has a lot more features and the audio quality is great!
HI I have some books on my pc in audible enhanced format and copied them into my audible folder on sd card. However when I load the app it just says there are no titles in my library. Can anyone help please?
beta testing
You rock, c33!
