What are you listening to audiobooks ON?

[Mnementh]

I'm currently listening to all of my audiobooks on my old iPhone 4 (basically now just used as an ipod touch). I currently have a Nexus 4 as my phone but the audiobook software available on android is sadly lacking imho.

I am about to give this phone to my cousin though as she is currently using a really old samsung phone that doesn't work properly anymore and can't afford to buy a new one (aren't I nice...) so I was looking around for a new device to play my books in the car. This thread has been really helpful

I think I've decided on a 7th Gen ipod nano as I like the ease of use of the Apple media playback system and the fact it has bluetooth just seals the deal for me.

WT Sharpe: You mentioned about the buttons on the side being very sensitive and causing skips etc. Just how sensitive are we talking here? Are we talking even a slight brush against them will cause the track to advance or does it require an actual button press? This could be a deal breaker if it turns out to be the former.

TIA

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Mnementh

...WT Sharpe: You mentioned about the buttons on the side being very sensitive and causing skips etc. Just how sensitive are we talking here? Are we talking even a slight brush against them will cause the track to advance or does it require an actual button press? This could be a deal breaker if it turns out to be the former.

TIA

I haven't been experiencing skips lately, until today, that is. Happened on a Librivox recording of Albert Schweitzer's The Quest of the Historical Jesus that I just started. I checked to make sure that the "Shake to shuffle" option was off, but it still skipped. It could have been the Bluetooth earbuds I was using (I have three pairs). I started off using this set, which is cheap and has a short battery life, but works very well for audiobooks. When the battery ran down, I switched to this set, which is where the skipping started. It may be that the combination forward/volume-up and back/volume-down buttons on the earbuds have been causing the skips. Then again, I wonder if it could be something in the audio download itself causing the skips.

[Mnementh]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

It could have been the Bluetooth earbuds I was using (I have three pairs). I started off using this set, which is cheap and has a short battery life, but works very well for audiobooks. When the battery ran down, I switched to this set, which is where the skipping started. It may be that the combination forward/volume-up and back/volume-down buttons on the earbuds have been causing the skips. Then again, I wonder if it could be something in the audio download itself causing the skips.

I don't use headphones, I only listen in the car and via a bluetooth speaker when I'm at home so hopefully this shouldn't be an issue for me.

I'm leaning more and more towards the nano, I don't need the extra bells and whistles that come with the ipod touch, I thought at first I might want more than 16GB so I could carry plenty of music with me as well but then I stopped and worked out how much music I actually listen to. Since I discovered audiobooks I have maybe listened to 5-10 hours of music in the last 12 months and that's only been when I've finished an audiobook and don't have another one set up ready to listen to...

Thanks for everybody's comments in this thread it's been helpful reading

[Geralt]

audible app on iphone 4

[Rich_D]

I use the audible app on my android phone, occasionally I'll listen through the PC.

[CallmeBec]

Audible and Overdrive apps on iPad

[tubemonkey]

Several devices. My very favorite is my Sansa Clip Zip. It's cheap, small, and has native support for the major audiobook formats (MP3, Audible, protected WMA). Library audiobooks are one of my major sources and the majority of their catalogs are in protected WMA (over 99%), with MP3 trailing far behind (67-75%). Android devices don't support protected WMA and it's hit or miss with iOS devices (up to the publisher). Format shifting is an emphatic no go, because these books are borrowed.

If it's Audible and I'm at home, I'll generally use my Fire HD 7. Traveling, I'll use whatever I have with me - Clip Zip, Nexus 4, or Nexus 7.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by CallmeBec

Audible and Overdrive apps on iPad

My two favorite audio apps.

[conan50]

Overdrive on my Android tablets.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by CallmeBec

Audible and Overdrive apps on iPad

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

My two favorite audio apps.

I'm not into borrowing so much, but I do like the Audible app. In addition, I'm quite fond of the reasonably-priced Blackstone individual book apps, although once I read a book, I place it in the Blackstone folder I created on my iPad. Otherwise a different app for every book would get a bit crowded. But the $9.99 price at which most of the Blackstone apps sell coupled with the professional narration and easy navigation makes them a good buy. The downside is that they won't play on my iPad Nano.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

But the $9.99 price at which most of the Blackstone apps sell coupled with the professional narration and easy navigation makes them a good buy. The downside is that they won't play on my iPad Nano.

For me, the nano would make a great audio player if it was iOS compatible. I'd really love to have a tiny streaming audio player that could download all of the major audio apps.

[DaleDe]

I too like the Sansa by SanDisk. I have the Sansa Fuse+. I used to use my nano iPod but the screen doesn't work well anymore. The Sansa even does a decent job of displaying video but I mostly use it for audio.

Dale

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

For me, the nano would make a great audio player if it was iOS compatible. I'd really love to have a tiny streaming audio player that could download all of the major audio apps.

When I grow up, I'm going to get a smart phone and load all the audio apps on it, although I'm not crazy about the trend toward ever-larger phones. The iPhone 5 is just about the right size, but the two that are being rumored to replace the current models soon are both bigger, and the Galaxy 5s is already the size of a small city.

Here's what so crazy: Phones are getting bigger at the same time that clothing manufacturers are offering fewer and fewer pockets on both pants and upper body wear. We're becoming a generation of men and women with no place to keep our stuff.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

When I grow up, I'm going to get a smart phone and load all the audio apps on it, although I'm not crazy about the trend toward ever-larger phones. The iPhone 5 is just about the right size, but the two that are being rumored to replace the current models soon are both bigger, and the Galaxy 5s is already the size of a small city.

Here's what so crazy: Phones are getting bigger at the same time that clothing manufacturers are offering fewer and fewer pockets on both pants and upper body wear. We're becoming a generation of men and women with no place to keep our stuff.

No contract phones (Android, Windows) make good audio players. They're inexpensive ($50 - $100) and small (displays under 4").

[Blossom]

I mainly use my Sansa Zip Clip but if the battery goes dead I have a Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 as a back up if it's MP3 or Audible. If it's WMA then I have a Sansa Clip+ that I can use while the Zip charges.

For MP3 Audiobooks when using Android I use the Smart AudioBook Player by Alex Kravchenko which is an amazing app. I bought the full version.