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I’ve been on an audible listening spree lately adding 12 titles in the 3 months since my library post. This is partially due to breaking my normal rule and listing to several sub-ten hour contemporary fantasy novels by Patricia Briggs. I hope to make up for this lapse with Tad Williams’ Shadowmarch series where each of the 4 books weighs in at over 30 hours.
A list of recent additions to my library after the break:
I am currently reading listening to, The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie via Audible.com. Joe seems determined to bring "grit" and realism to the fantasy genre... If you are looking for unicorns and pixie dust this is not your cup of tea but if you want to "feel" every sword thrust and saddle sore in an epic fantasy tale give it a try.
All three books in this trilogy are available from Audible:
The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
Last Argument of Kings
Since my Audible Love post back in January of 2009 I have added an other 45 books to my of audio book library, pushing my per year average up to around 23. I'm not sure this really qualifies as an obsession but I find myself very annoyed when I have to tackle rush-hour without a book to listen to. This may seem like a lot but before the "responsible adult" phase of my life (pre- wife, kids and career ) I probably averaged close to 50 paper books a year. Now, outside of Audible I probably only manage 6-10 books a year, which is why I haven't jumped on the Kindle bandwagon.
I think I still prefer written books... If I had the time... but I don't and Audible allows me to keep up on my "reading" and maintain my sanity during rush-hour so its worth the slight monetary premium over paperback prices.
A list of recent additions to my library after the break:
I downloaded the beta of the Audible app for my Android phone. I am running a Sprint Hero by HTC that has been upgraded to 2.2 Cupcake. Overall, I am impressed, but I had been waiting so long for this capability that it would have been difficult to make me upset.
The installation wasn’t overly difficult. It was not yet available on the marketplace when I installed it, but a barcode scanner and the page I was sent to after joining the Google group made it easy to get started. I did have to change the setting on my phone that allows me to install applications from sources other than the marketplace, but this setting came right up during the install process. I was a bit concerned about space since the 2.2 operating system is supposed to leave only a small amount of space for applications left on the Hero. I would have preferred it took advantage of the new version to install to my SD Card. It did however fit on with the other “necessary” apps I have on my phones.
Initial setup was very easy. I simply input my user ID and password and it went looking to the main Audible website for my library. I began downloading the first book to the device in moments.
The application currently only supports the Enhanced Format and this is my only real complaint. The files generated by this format are over twice the size of Format 4 and four times the size of Format 3. My untrained ear doesn’t notice a big enough difference between Format 3 and the Enhanced to warrant the extra space requirement, or more importantly the extra time it takes to download that large a file. I was unable to download a full file from the 3G service near the Plaza in Kansas City, but my home Wi-Fi was able to get them just fine. The 241 GB file took roughly half an hour. The good news is that I didn’t have to wait for the whole file to download before I began playing it. This meant I could listen to the book on my way home, and then download it completely once I was there. Still, I think supporting other formats would go a long way to increasing the usability of the service while traveling.
The application loads relatively quickly, compared to other apps I use, and it does a great job of keeping my place even after the phone has been turned off and rebooted. This is important since I have long felt that I have to reboot the phone more than once a week to keep it snappy, and some of the books I listen take longer than a week of traveling back and forth to work to finish.
The features inside surpassed my expectations. I have previously used two different MP3 players and an Blackberry with Audible so have seen several different levels of features and interfaces. This was the best I have worked with. Once a file is selected for play I am given the following tabs along the top: Now Playing, Details, Chapters, and Bookmarks.
Now Playing has all the tools for navigating the file including a “back 30 seconds” button and a button to set bookmarks. The time that the file has played displays on the left and the time remaining displays on the right between them is the chapter number. There is a beautiful summary section in the center of the screen that includes title, part number, author, and the cover art.
The Details screen gives the Audible book summary as it appears on the website.
The chapters screen gives a listing of all the chapters in the file. Here I would have liked it to continue chapter numbering between parts rather than to list the chapters in that part beginning with 1. However, I suspect this has more to do with the files themselves than the Android application. It is still nice to be able to get directly to the beginning of the chapter. The chapter numbers from the Now Playing screen correspond to the chapter numbers here.
The bookmark section simply allows me to navigate directly back any section I have previously bookmarked with the button in Now Playing.
Overall, I haven’t had any real problems with the application. I’m looking forward to seeing what if any improvements they make to the final release when it hits the marketplace. Until then, I am just excited to finally have this capability on my phone.
See this other blog entry for some excellent screenshots and another opinion.
http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2010/05/audible-private-beta-for-android/
I love Audible… No I mean I REALLY LOVE Audible… I have been a member since September 2002. Any sanity I have left after driving 1.5 - 2 hrs every day in rush hour traffic is due to audio books from audible.com. From my very first purchase of, The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson I was hooked! I love to read but seldom have time for it. (Lack of time for things I love to do - seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life. ) I now have 140 books in my audible library… a little over 20 books a year and I have no intention of slowing down. I have just finished Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immorality series. That was close to 77 hours of entertainment…and I am into the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (11 books totaling about 270 hours). To be honest these start to drag on at about book 8……
Out of those 140 the following stand out as highly recommended:The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
Dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest technology, gaming and gadget news. Warning: This blog may contain frequent interruptions as other random topics are introduced.
n. (skiz-oh-THEME-ee-uh):
1. Rarely used term for repeated interruptions in a conversation by the speaker introducing other topics.
2. Digression by a long reminiscence.
