[gustojunk]

Hi All,

Similar story here: Audible user for a few years. Audible player worked great with my Samsung I730 PocketPC.

I switched to a BB 8800 (T-mobile) and the experience had been great... except for Audible. My biggest gripe is the chirp/skip buffering bug. It makes listening to audiobooks non-sense. Eve if the OTA function did not exist I'd be ok as long as the playback actually worked and the bookmarks were more useful (letting you name them like in pocketPC version).

I wrote audible a few times and they have not been very helpful, I have 10 credits unused because of this issue. I really really miss audible but I do not want to buy an ipod just to use it here, besides the whole convergence point is that I could listen to audible and NOT miss my calls.

I figured that if by the end of the year this does not get fixed they'll force me to cancel it since it's obvious they don't want me as a costumer. At least not enough to develop my hardware of choice.

[ljnelke]

I love Audible.com, but their support is lagging on the Blackberry. For those who don't know about listening to books on a PDA, it's really nice. I just switched phones from a Palm Treo 650 (with excellent Audible support) to a Verizon Blackberry Pearl 8130 (with Audible support claiming they have two 8130 inquiries now and they are "working" on the problem). On the Treo I used a wired headset with voice (mono) so I could listen to the books and then answer the phone if necessary. Until I upgraded to the most recent audible software, when the phone rang, the book would pause and then start up again where you left off when the call ended. Ideally that feature should work all the time. I actually didn't use the audible air portion of the software; just the audible player because it was faster to download books on my computer and then transfer them to the memory card on the Treo. I expect that is what I should be able to do with the Blackberry. But I can only download the books using Windows Explorer to transfer them to my memory card on the BB. I cannot listen to them because Audible won't let me log in for the holy permission sign-in on the BB. With the Treo and other portable players, Audible has an elaborate interface on their Audible Manager software where you normally would register your device. However, with Java phones, this apparently isn't possible. And they really haven't figured out a way to let you listen to them on any other players. I think you can burn the books to a CD, but what good is that? The Audible Player automatically bookmarks the books you are listening to so you don't have to remember to do that. I have a subscription with Audible where for around $20/month, I get to download 2 books at a time. I would switch to another service today if I could figure out how to play books on my BB 8130 and bookmark my place - even if I had to train myself to remember to do so. But if incoming phone calls messed with that, it wouldn't be worth it. So until Audible figures this out (if they figure it out) I still carry my Treo 650 to listen to books. I could always get a smaller player and probably will if Audible doesn't fix this on the BB 8130. For those who don't listen to books, here's the deal. I listen to them during the commutes from home to work and back and then while I go on long walks. If slow traffic and long commutes bug you, then get Audible or something similar. Your traffic anxiety will literally disappear. And long walks or runs will be over too soon. I've listened to hundreds of hours of books from Audible. I go for the long, unabridged versions that often run 16 to 30 hours in length per book. The downloads are split up into 6 to 7 hour lengths to "make the downloads faster." I love Audible and wish they would get the BB Java thing worked out.

[ValB626]

I spoke with 2 audible.com techs this afternoon. They indicated they can't support the VZW 8130 because of bandwidth limits and passed the blame to the OS.

They were chirpy about support for their new version to support the 8100, but no luck on the 8130.

I think I'm going to return mine. I really wanted to reduce the number of devices I have to carry around, and I listen to audibooks alot more than I will ever use the other functions on this phone.

[JimiB]

You need another option on your poll. I would like to use audibleair but cannot get it to work. I'm a 10+ year Palm user new to Blackberry's. My wife is switching from her Palm to the 8310 for a 30 day test. Audible is a must have application. The rest of her Blackberry experience has been good but if I cannot get her audible books working it's back to the Palm for all the family.

I just came to this forum looking for install help for audible air (this is my first post). I downloaded and installed the app OTA and it downloaded the free test book from audible. Then I pulled a few of her existing audible books down to the SD card. Since then, when I start audible air it hangs the 8310 and I have to pull the battery to reboot. I will keep searching the rest of the site in hopes of finding some advice but I just had to post here first.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by ValB626

They were chirpy about support for their new version to support the 8100, but no luck on the 8130.

My assumption is that they mean 1.0.58. I pulled this down last night and tried it. Appeared to have the same trouble. I installed it on an 8820. They aren't adjusting the dimensions any, so I don't understand why they think they need multiple versions. I sent another email pleading for help. I referenced this thread as well.

[JimiB]

Got an email from Audible support about the BB 8310. Pretty much the same lame answer that BB limitations are holding them up. No details provided. Hopefully more inquiries to them will convince Audible that there is market demand on BB.

[dlgus]

I would LOVE it if something was done about audible. What works for me for now is pulling up my book through Itunes, or burning it to CD and loading THAT to my bb. It's a PITA, though when I SHOULD just be able to pull it out of the air and listen to it w/o all the skips.

[Grimlin]

I feel like a shredded wheat commercial after the response I got from them yesterday. The optimist in me wants to believe them. The Pessimist in me doesn't.

Thank you for contacting Audible.com.

Unfortunately at this time there is not an updated version 
of Audible Air available however I can tell you that we are 
working on a newer version. I don't have an estimated time 
as to when this will be available. However I will be more then
happy to inform you of when an updated version is available.
Thanks again for your time and patience.

[Grimlin]

I understand that you and other Blackberry users 
are frustrated as I would be to. I can assure you 
that we are working on an updated version of the 
Java Audible application although as I stated before 
I don't have an estimated time as to when it will be 
available. Please understand that this is a lengthy 
process as just the signing of the application can 
take a month not including development and debugging.

Code signing? Were the previous versions signed? I don't believe they were, but
I could be wrong.

[luc-mobile]

The fact of the matter is that DRM sucks.

Lots of people who actually want to pay for the content have to jump through hoops to use the content they paid for, or are somewhat discouraged to buy and use it at all. Meanwhile, the best P2P services will give you the same content, at least partially, with no hindrances, no obstacles and no fees. Read this week's news, Amazon and Walmart now refuse to carry DRM-hampered music because people run away from it. The writing is on the wall, DRM is on its way out, Audible.com is just going against the flow.

[logisnews]

I just switched over my phones from AT&T and bought two Verizon blackberrys for my wife and I... one pearl and one 8830 (I think that's the one.. the GSM/CDMA phone)

Anyway, I was very excited but I cannot get audible to work right... it seems to install but won't stop asking me for permissions no matter how I set the default permissions in the advanced options.

and it just won't log in with my password and username... I input them and then enter and nothing happens.

I wanted to get rid of AT&T because the audible files kept hiccuping... but now I'm realizing that that's the fault of Audibleair player.

Anyway, verizon probably won't care about my Audible problems, and am I correct in assuming that Audible doesn't support the verizon BB pearl?

I really need help with this. Audible is just about my most important application after email.

[Grimlin]

I see no technical reason why it would not connect to the audible servers and authenticate you so that you can use it to play audible content transferred onto a microSD card. I believe the issue people are having with VZW and audible is the ability to download content. The file sizes are an issue with the BIS and VZW. This is of course a guess on my part. All of that said, we should get back to your particular problem. Are you able to use other third party data apps like Google maps? Are you connected to a BES server?

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by luc-mobile

The fact of the matter is that DRM sucks.

While I do not disagree with you entirely, I would like to defend audible a bit on this one. Their format is more than just DRM. It also provides feature consistency across all platforms. Auto resume (bookmarking) and chaptering as examples are very important for the audiobook enthusiast. Even on devices that I have had in the past that would start back over at the beginning of an MP3 file after turning it off and back on, if the device supported audible, an audible file would resume where you left off.

...Besides, if you really want to, the DRM is easily removed. I don't believe we should have that discussion in these forums or at least in this thread, but it isn't a difficult process. I have had to do it during a period of time when my mp3 player of choice was not a supported device.

[sowhynot]

I've downgraded my Audible service because of the skipping issue - and let them know that. About a week ago I received an email from Audble titled "Blackberry Playback Issue." Anyone else get the email and has anyone heard back from Audible after you answered their questions? I sent it back the same day but haven't heard anything.

Here's the email:

We are currently working on bug fixes and possible enhancements to our
BlackBerry version of AudiblePlayer. You recently wrote in to our
Customer Service department about issues with playback on your device.
We invite you to help us possibly fix this issue and also possibly test
the fix.

In order to participate, we need you to answer the following
information
listed below. The information will be used solely for Bug tracking
purposes so we may identify the possible root causes to the issue
above.

Blackberry RIM handheld: (8xxx)

Handheld OS version: (To find out what your version is, go to
Options->Settings and select "About" and should look something like "
BlackBerry 8xxx Wireless Handheld v4.x.x.xxx (Platform 2.x.x.xx))


Wireless Carrier: (T-Mobile, ATT, Sprint, Verizon

Title of Book: (Name the book that was actually stuttering)

Time of Stutter or playback issue: (Put the exact time of when the
problem occurred... 30 seconds into the book, 1 minute into the book,
etc...)

If you can respond to this email before December 14, 2007, this would
be
really helpful in our development efforts.


Thank you for your time.


Regards,

Christopher Victorino

Audible Quality Assurance

[Grimlin]

I emailed the guy I have been working with hoping he will put me in touch with the same person. If you start a dialogue with this Victorino person, I think all of us here on this thread would love it if you would point him here for more prospective testers.

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by sowhynot

...Thank you for your time.


Regards,

Christopher Victorino

Audible Quality Assurance ...[/B][/I]

Got the same email over the holidays and replied back with my info. Has anyone heard back from Mr. Victorino yet? anyone have any info about their plans?

[sowhynot]

I did get a reply back today from them - with a Beta version to download. However, I ended up with an error message when I went to run it and had to go back to the original version. Anyway, here's the mail message:








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Christopher Victorino (Audible US)
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 5:27 PM
Subject: RE: Blackberry Playback Issue



Dear Blackberry User,



Through some development work wexxx8217;ve been able to weed out a release candidate that we can share with you to try. Wexxx8217;ve tested multiple versions and we believe this to be stable enough for you to install on your blackberry devices. We ask you to install this version and test out the fixes and improvements wexxx8217;ve made. The following items have been updated/fixed:



Limit Permissions questions asked by the OS
Improved connectivity using BIS-B, MDS, and now HTTP/TCP
WiFi Support xxx8211; previous versions did not make use of the WiFi network available on some phones now
Playback not stopped in incoming call
Sorting now fixed and also saves.




As this is a development version there some bugs and kinks we still havenxxx8217;t resolved. Below are a list of known issues for this version 1.0.62



Activation does not work on certain blackberry with this version of OS 4.3.0.xxxx.
Subscriptions downloads will not work. We are currently working on this issue as wexxx8217;ve changed some server side items.




With this version, we may have improved stuttering but it also might be there but at a lesser degree. So if you go ahead an install, Ixxx8217;d would like the following feedback:

[Grimlin]

DoublePost Please remove

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by sowhynot

I did get a reply back today from them

I got the same email a few minutes ago. It Works just fine for me!!! Runs over WiFi on my 8820 with no Blackberry data plan.

[sowhynot]

I have an 8100. Wonder if that's the difference on why it's not working for me. How do you like the new version so far?