OK, folks. Here it is. The resolution of the last major reason that has kept me using the iPod/Touch platform: a player for audiobooks from Audible. While it has been in private beta for a few weeks now, Audible has quietly opened up a public beta. You have to join their Audible Google Group and then you can download the software. Sign-up is just logging in with your Google credentials, signing up for emails (or not, as you wish. There is an option to just get updates by going to the site). As it is not yet available in the Market, you will have to download it locally, make sure you have authorized “non-Market” apps, and install locally. Beyond that, it operates as you would expect, keeping in mind that it IS a beta and probably have more than a few bugs.
The Audible for Android Beta application requires the following:
- An active Audible.com account (we do not support accounts on audible.co.uk, audible.de ,or audible.fr at this time). Also, please confirm you are not using beta.audible.com.
- Android handset that supports Android OS v1.5 or greater (here at Audible HQ we’ve been testing with the MyTouch 3G, Droid, and NexusOne)
- SD Card for storage of Audible titles
- 15MB of available internal storage. Our beta app is approximately 7MB in size (the operating system may demand up to 15MB free during the installation process)
The Audible application supports downloading audiobooks via WiFi, 3G, or side-loading by copying directly to the SD Card. However, keep in mind that the Android application is downloading titles in Audible’s Enhanced Audio format. It’s the highest fidelity file format ever released for digital Audiobooks. Each hour of audio requires approximately 28.8MB of storage. I really question why they are doing this. Even for my iPad or my PC, I only download Type 4 Audible book, which is almost exactly half the size and still has amazing quality. Thankfully, Audible is listening to feedback and will hopefully change this in a future release. The latest beta version (136b) also supports Android 2.2 (Froyo), so don’t let that hold you back. You will also want to make sure and scan the posted Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), as there is a lot of good information there. Right now, it looks like Audible is releasing new version once or twice per week.
Known Issues To Date
Here are the known issues that they are aware of and working to fix:
- Crashes! And lots of them… Sorry – we’re apologizing in advance here. There is strong possibility that you will experience a crash while using the Audible for Android beta app. We know how frustrating it can be to have the app crash right in the middle of a gripping audiobook, and we’re going to do our best to make sure that the final app is extremely stable. There are now 36 distinct devices that support Android, and we’ve made a decision to support them all (from OS v1.5 to 2.2) so please bare with us as we find and fix issues (with your help).
- Mild Audio Stuttering (device-specific)
- Side-loading issues for Mac users
- Stats not really working nor reliable
- Audible Subscriptions -We’re still working on this feature and don’t fully support subscriptions during the beta.
- News Feed -The feed your seeing right now is still a test feed, but you can see where this feature is going.
- Titles Not Available in Enhanced Format - There are a handful of titles in the Audible catalog that aren’t available in an Enhanced (AAX) format yet.
- Landscape Mode - While our beta app doesn’t break when you rotate your phone, it certainly isn’t optimized (yet!).
- Widget Issues doesn’t always start the app nor correctly show the book being listened to.
- Freezing When Returning to the App After Long Periods of Not Using It
- Occasional & Random Signing Out - You should only be required to sign into the app just once.
- Newly Downloaded Title ‘Disappears’ just close and restart the app and you will find everything there!
Audible for Android App
The app works just like you would expect. You can start a book and then go do something else and still keep listening. At this point in time, it is not possible to purchase audiobooks on the device, but I have never really liked that anyway. I always purchase from a web browser. It’s just a lot faster and I can keep Wish Lists of books I want to purchase later. Most unabridged audiobooks are to be found in multiple volumes, to keep the file sizes down. Even so, a large audiobook, such as David Weber’s 4th volume in the Safehold series, “A Mighty Fortress”, clocks in at a whopping 35.5 hours and 1.35 GB on the Android handset! Now you know why I prefer the Type 4 format, which has the same length to listen to, but consumes a more stately 658 MB of file space. Of course, not all books are this gigantic and you don’t have to have them all available at once (unless you are me!), so you can do it in stages. You can also drop bookmarks at any point, in case you want to come back later and re-listen to a particularly good part. Of course, the last part listened to is always kept track of automatically. Another awesome thing Audible has done is that they let you start listening to the audiobook as soon as you start downloading, so that you can begin your enjoyment without having to wait for the download to finish. I started listening to Audible in earnest during a former life where I had a commute of 100 minutes each way, 5 days a week. Rather than blow my brains out, I decided to dedicate that time to learning. I listened to audio Scriptures 8 days of the month and to biographies and other interesting books the other 12 or 13. I turned my whole outlook around and made me really appreciate that time that I had just for myself. Check out Audible.com yourselves and you will see what I mean. Enjoy!