Audible Question

[djducat]

I've got a quick audible question. I got a free one month subscription to audible with my 15gb ipod. I signed up, but found the service to be quite buggy on windows, and have decided to cancel it within the 1st month.

However, I did get one audible book out of the deal. Timeline (if you care). This was a great audio book, but now I am concerned.

If I wipe all traces of audible off of the ipod and my windows computer, can I still listen to this file on the ipod? will MusicMatch or other software allow me to push it out to the ipod?

Also, will the audible "tracks" function still work without the presence of audible software?

thanks

Dan

[Podunk]

I'm not sure what the bugs are but generally, after you figure out to use it, Audible software works okay.

If you cancel your monthly subscription, you still own the file you downloaded. Also, you can buy books in the future one by one if you want. You don't have to be a subscriber to buy books from them.

Music Match will not work for transferring the file. However, Ephpod and MC9 do work for transferring Audible files. In fact, if buggy software is the issue for you, you might try one of those as an alternative. Personally, I use alternate between AudibleManager software and Ephpod for transferring Audible files.

The only point I'm not completely sure on is whether or not you will be able to transfer and play the file after you delete AudibleManager from the PC. At the least, I would make sure to move the file from the Audible folder if you want to uninstall the application. And my best guess is that if as long as you have already activated the iPod with AudibleManager, you would be able to transfer the file with Ephpod and it should play.

Of course, once you move the file to the iPod, and you can delete AudibleManager from your PC. But if you decide to buy another book later, or want to use another player, you will need the Audible software to download the file and activate it. Its pretty small, so you could just leave it installed and not run it unless you need it.

[slr001]

I thought the files (at least the HQ level4 files) from Audible were just MP3 files??

If this is true then any software that you ise for music would work for the audible file?? No?

As a side note... I thoght the Audible prices were incredibly high... $30-40 for a book???

[Podunk]

Not all of the Music Apps will transfer audible files. So far, Ephpod and MC9 support Audible files, and Xplay says they are working on it. iTunes also for the Mac, but don't know if the upcoming iTunes for Windows will do Audible or not out of the gate.

Prices- Have you priced audiobooks? Some of them are expensive, especially unabrideged ones. Check out the prices anywhere else. Audible is on average 35% cheaper than the cassette or CD versions, and if you want it on the iPod, the Audible format is the most user-friendly for spoken word content.

And if you listen regularly, the Audible subscriptions are a smoking deal. You get 1 book plus one audio periodical for $15 bucks a month or 2 books for $20. I'm hooked.

[yo$$arian]

When you sign up for one of Audible's subscriptioin plans, do you get to keep those one or two books per month or do you just have access to them for the month?

[Podunk]

Any books that you buy from Audible, are yours forever, whether you subscribe, or buy books one by one. You can download them to your hard drive, burn them to CD, transfer them to your iPod.

In fact, you can delete them completely, and go back later and download them again, any time you want to. Even a year from now.

[dordale]

Like Parannoya, I'm also hooked on Audible! It's a great deal--I've had an audible account for over two years now, and have plenty of books in my Audible library!

I just got my Ipod a few months ago, and love being able to carry around five or six unabridged audio books in addition to my music collection. Before I got my Ipod, I was using a Rio 500...just about wore it out with audio books from audible.com!!

One thing you do need to be aware of, if you decide to buy one of Audible's monthly subscriptions, is that you need to make your purchases each month (your credits will expire at the end of your month). You don't need to listen, or even download the books in that month, you just need to purchase them. They will remain in your library until you are ready to download and listen.

dordale

[slr001]

And they can be downloaded as MP3's and listened to on any MP3 device without restriction?

Why do they only list a few MP3 players as being "compatible"?

[dordale]

No, unfortunately, audible files are not standard mp3 files, so they can only be played on a limited number of players that are "audible ready".

Audible "format 4" files are based on standard mp3's but they have more information in them, allowing devices like the iPod to "remember" your position when you stop listening, so you can switch to something else, and come back to the book at the spot you left off at.

Also, the publishing companies that provide audible with material require audible to encrypt their data. Your listening device (iPod, Rio500, etc) needs to be activated on your audible account to allow you to download and listen to files on your device.

dordale

[slr001]

Then how do you "burn" them to CD'd? I thought I saw that you could do that?

Could they not then be ripped to standard MP3's?

[dordale]

You're right...

Once you've downloaded an audible file, you can burn it to audio cds through the audible manager software. Usually, one audio book will take several cds, as you can only fit 74 minutes on an audio cd.

I guess at this point, you could then rip the files off of the audio cd in mp3 format and play them on any standard mp3 player.

dordale

[slr001]

Actually you could probably burn it to a Nero imagedrive "virtuale" cd and not be limited to size (other than disck space). Then rip that to MP3... Not sure if it would work, but it was a trick I used to use with MiniDisc.

I don't know though, this smells to much of copy protection. If I buy it I expect to be able to use it any way I want. If I get a new MP3 player in a couple of years, I expect to be able to listen to it.

In my opinion the best way to deal with copy protection is abstenance.

Thanks for the insight on Audible though.