Question about Audible audio books

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Katie1

I did all that yesterday.

OK I took it ALL off & re did it NOW it WORKS!!!

Guessing it was a bug!

Enjoy your Audibles! Make sure to go with E quality. It sounds amazing on the Sansa Clip.

[Barbara1955]

OK Coool! Thanks again!

[tomsem]

If I had to rip things to MP3 just to listen to them, I doubt that I'd even listen to audiobooks at all. Even having to use iTunes and a USB cable to get audiobooks on my iPod became so much 'friction' to me. The Audible apps have made all the difference, and I like the cloud features that Audible is finally getting around to implementing (saving bookmarks/notes/position sync between devices and with ebooks). With the iOS & Android apps, you can begin listening as soon as a few minutes of the audiobook have downloaded (wirelessly). (I'd like to see them add 1.25x speed to the playback options, 1.5x is a bit too fast.)

Overall I find the ecosystem far more convenient and of much higher value to me than the alternatives that I'm aware of. Needing to manage physical media on top of that would just be wasted effort. I'd rather be reading...

The only problem is that it encourages over-consumption, just as with most ebook/mp3/video ecosystems. But I think that goes with the territory for all digital media. Most of us are going to 'purchase' stuff that we'll never read, listen to, or watch—more so than with physical media. Hopefully this will be rewarded with lower costs and even more improved ecosystems.

[AJ Starr]

CatLady, if you're still around...

Since you state you can't create a CD on your computer from the Audible files, are you able to create/burn a CD from other files using your computer's software?

Could it be your computer and/or cd drive that is not working?

AJ

[dixieknits]

Wow, I LOVE Audible. They have the biggest selection of audio books of anyone and decent prices. The user interface is the nicest of any I"ve seen. It allows, different quality sound downloads, for different devices. Also all Audible books are chapterized, so you can switch back and forth between reading and listening if desired and never lose your place. The software has a sleep timer function on computer or IPAD and variable listening speeds. What more could anyone want? Why do you want to go back and store them on vinyl when the AAC files with the Audible features embedded are so much nicer?
Dixie

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by AJ Starr

CatLady, if you're still around...

Since you state you can't create a CD on your computer from the Audible files, are you able to create/burn a CD from other files using your computer's software?

Could it be your computer and/or cd drive that is not working?

AJ

Still around. Computer fine, internal and external drives fine. The problem with the last attempts was iTunes crashing several times, but I blame Audible for that because they are forcing me to use iTunes.

Now I can't even play any of the book files through the Audible Manager. All the book names there have turned red, with a "prohibited" symbol. What that means, and why it's there, and how I get rid of it, I have no idea. I didn't do anything but open the program. I can play the files through WMP, so it's not like it's some huge problem, but it's an annoyance nevertheless, because it happened on its own.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I blame Audible

yeah, we get it.

Strange, though, working for most everyone else.

shrug.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

Strange, though, working for most everyone else.

I would think that most Audible users are not trying to burn books to CD, and are thus coming across this problem.

As to why iTunes is crashing for the OP, that is an entirely different issue. I suspect iTunes is not as stable on Windows machines as it is on Macs.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

yeah, we get it.

Strange, though, working for most everyone else.

shrug.

What the heck is your problem? Now I suppose I should worship at the altar of iTunes too? I'm so thrilled that "everyone else" is soooo happy. So just lay off already.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

As to why iTunes is crashing for the OP, that is an entirely different issue. I suspect iTunes is not as stable on Windows machines as it is on Macs.

The problem I had with iTunes was it crashed alot on my old PC. Hubby has it installed on his laptop because he using it for school but it wont go anywhere near this PC. I know alot of PC users use it without issues but it's one program that I don't care for.

I suggest to the OP to try the other method mentioned in this thread. It works but keep in mind unless you are using the Enhanced version which is locked but in compatible devices or Audible Manager. All Audiobooks are in Mono. Yuck! Only the Enhanced Version is in stereo 64kbps. Version 4 to me sounds horrible because it's 32kbps mono. I have no clue which version iTunes uses though.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Since you are determined to be so picky, all Audible says about CD-RWs is that the sound quality may not be as good. It does not say one is barred from using them.

P.S. I'm done. Thanks to those who offered help. I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

they also mention reliability in same sentence.

Maybe context is only sound quality though...

Just to clarify, the ONLY two aspects of quality that may suffer in using CD-RWs vs. CDs are unreliability for long-term storage, and the inability for many audio players to play them. Both are inherent in the dye used for CD-RW discs, which must record data and then be fully reversible. In contrast, CDs use a permanent physical reflective layer for recorded information, and CD-Rs use a dye that is irreversibly bleached during the recording process. The reversible dye of CD-RWs will, eventually, reverse over time, and does not provide the same degree of contrast as the dye in a CD-R, which is why some audio players won't read them.

I use CD-RWs all of the time for critical audio recordings, but I read the data off the CD-RW within a day or two of recording it. I know of no computer DVD/CD drives that have trouble reading or writing to CD-RWs. As I said, this is critical music restoraion work, but I have been doing it this way for nearly ten years and have never had a problem of any sort with CD-RW quality that would cause me to use a CD-R instead.

I also subscribed to Audible, probably 7 or 8 years ago -- for recordings of the Says You radio game show. I recorded every one to CD-RW in WAV format (just what Catlady is trying to do -- Audible permitted it). I then read the WAV files back in and converted them to MP3s to listen on my Creative Nomad Jukebox 2. I don't know why Catlady has been encountering problems, but she is right: Audible allows burning their files to CDs (both CD-R and CD-RW) and, once burned to a disc, there is no law in the US that would prohibit her from changing the format for her own use.

Catlady, when I subscribed to Audible they permitted burning directly from their own software. Apparently, that is no longer the case. Since you are attempting to burn to a CD, which they permit, I would not hesitate to contact their user support, and escalate if necessary.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Now I can't even play any of the book files through the Audible Manager. All the book names there have turned red, with a "prohibited" symbol. What that means, and why it's there, and how I get rid of it, I have no idea. I didn't do anything but open the program. I can play the files through WMP, so it's not like it's some huge problem, but it's an annoyance nevertheless, because it happened on its own.

Did you switch computers or uninstall and reinstall Audible? This article suggests the music won't play in Audible Manager because it's not activated.

[Xanthe]

I've found that it's best to run Audible Manager as an administrator; otherwise I was getting the red-x'd files with the current version of it.

When I first became an Audible member, I tried the burn-to-CD then rip-it-to-MP3, and it worked but it just took way too many discs to make it worth bothering with. I've got a program that will convert the Audible format to MP3, but with a Vista computer it's a 1:1 transfer rate so that takes hours and hours, depending on the size of the audiobook.

I now just download the Audible files to my Sansa Fuze MP3 player and either listen to the audiobooks via headphones, or else in my car using a line input plug.

If I want the book in MP3 format, I'll buy it on sale at Audibookstand.com in CD format and rip that. Or else I'll buy a used audiobook CD and rip that.

[rkw]

Long time Aubible member here but now I also use http://www.Podiobooks.com because I grew weary of the hoops from Audible and it's ever bloating file sizes and increasing inflexibility. Too old, too worn out to keep on that treadmill. Podiobooks is not typical mainstream but I find a lot of fun content there. I discovered The Leviathan Chronicles and some other SF titles which were lots of fun.

I still like Audible's offerings but every time I turn around there are issues, limits and frustrations. Pretty much all of which came under Amazon's ownship of Audible.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Did you switch computers or uninstall and reinstall Audible? This article suggests the music won't play in Audible Manager because it's not activated.

No, I didn't do anything like that. I can only assume that another program somehow didn't play nice and something got messed up. What's really odd is that the last book I downloaded IS playable in Audible Manager--it's the only one that is listed in black type and for which I can click play (for the others, play is grayed out). So the program didn't get deactivated--just the files, somehow or other. All the files--the one that plays and the ones that won't--are in the same folder.

Since I can play the files in WMP and iTunes, I haven't been too concerned. I imagine I would need to do a reinstall and/or redownload the audio files. But right now I'm in let-it-be mode.