[wbdowns]

anyone have a copy of an audible version in the 60's - the one telus offers is 1.0.58 - would like to try something newer

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by wbdowns

anyone have a copy of an audible version in the 60's - the one telus offers is 1.0.58 - would like to try something newer

1.0.58 is the official version. Anything above that is considered beta. If you would like to be in the beta program, you need to email the audible contact that I supplied to you via a PM. If he adds you to the beta program, he will provide you with a link to the beta download. The link cannot be posted here, according to forum policy, unless it is an official commercial release.

[sowhynot]

Originally Posted by Grimlin

I think we would all be interested in your opinions on the 65 release after you have used it for a day. Audible would probably also be very interested to know that you got it working by updating your OS. In the end, they will need that info for a minimum requirements statement. If you haven't already, I highly recommend you send that on to the beta team along with your regular report.

The stuttering issue still exists, and I think even worse than the .58 release. It was to the point with the New York Times Audio Digest that I couldn't even listen any more.

Garbled playback seems less, although at times still present.

Battery drain less than with previous versions.

I have sent my comments to Audible.

Any word on when they may release another Beta version?

[gpc]

I have been very happy so far with Beta 1.0.64. Loaded without any problems. The volume and sound seems better and stuttering is less frequent than my previous version. Also when getting an incoming call the program does pause !!!!!!. You have to manually go back to get it to start again after the call is finished but that is no big problem at all. I do seem to be getting a little more looping especially when I first start back after a pause but it has not been consistent

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by sowhynot

The stuttering issue still exists, and I think even worse than the .58 release. It was to the point with the New York Times Audio Digest that I couldn't even listen any more...

...Any word on when they may release another Beta version?

That is one of the things audible warned about in version 65. They were experimenting with a solution and it appears it didn't work out for the better. I sent them some possible thoughts on the subject. I'll post them in case anyone has anything to add.

I have asked for details on the next release and am waiting for a response. I should know more tomorrow.

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by gpc

I have been very happy so far with Beta 1.0.64. Loaded without any problems. The volume and sound seems better and stuttering is less frequent than my previous version. Also when getting an incoming call the program does pause !!!!!!. You have to manually go back to get it to start again after the call is finished but that is no big problem at all. I do seem to be getting a little more looping especially when I first start back after a pause but it has not been consistent

Great news. Hopefully the improvements will continue as they move forward.

[Grimlin]

Here is what I sent to audible the other day. I have attached the response as well. If anyone has any other suggestions along these lines, please feel free to chime in. I would love to see the Urp! disappear. If you are interested, I gathered most of my information from the documented APIs on RIM's developer site. This post is the one that got me thinking in that direction: http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...tml#post705600

Originally Posted by Grimlin

I have been doing a little digging on the problem and I humbly would like to submit a little sideways thinking about the problem. My possible solution is predicated on several assumptions. I will lay them out first since none of what I am suggesting matters if my assumptions are wrong out of the gate.

Since there is no direct codec for Audible format in the API, I assume you are:
Decoding a small section of audio
storing it in device memory
creating a player instance
starting the player
do again over and over.

The point at which the audio passes from one player instance to the other creates the Urp noise.

What if you ran an on the fly silence detection on the file. Instead of splitting the file into consistent chunks, you could make it variable and only break it at sections that meet a certain threshold for silence.

I have noticed that the Urp is almost unnoticeable if it falls in a silent space. Of course there would be times when that wasn't possible, so the function would need to take that into account with an upper limit on how far you scan ahead for silence before just taking the out and creating an audible Urp. It may not completely fix the problem, but it might significantly reduce it enough to seem more random and thus seem more like the device is just busy.

Again, I may be way off base here, but I figured it couldn't hurt to make the suggestion.

Originally Posted by Audible's Response

I've forwarded this along to our development group. All your assumptions
were correct.

I'll try to keep you updated if anything comes up out of it.

UPDATE: The dev team already tried a similar idea and it made it more unstable :(. They think now that the noise is not from the spawning of the player instances, but more because the two audio segments are not properly overlapping. There are missing or extra bytes.

[wbdowns]

hey guys i'm back - thanks a million - i was able to log-on and can now listen to my books - playback is not to bad - some blinking on the screen (when i menu) - i don't download - but i tried it so i could report it - about 6k speed on my telus network - that would take awhile - anyway i've gotten through about twelve hours of listening in with only a couple of issues with navigation - i find it a bit tempermental - but again playback is smooth and clear - open to questions - will be out of town a few days a week from now on - which means it may take a while to get back to anyone .....but it means more traveling and that means more listening ....yeh - take care and thanks again - Christopher and Grimlin

[Grimlin]

Hopefully they will take our suggestions on the navigation improvement. The trackball needs to be unbound from the FF and RW. That is awful...

[knipknup]

Reading this post just pisses me off. I have been a customer of Audible for several years. I have recently (in the past two months) been attempting to get audible to work on my 8830 to no avail. I have also been in current email communications with audible on how to get it to work. They have not mentioned a single hint that there was a beta ongoing. It seems they would be intrested in getting those that are willing to put the effort in involved. It is ironic and frustrating that I have to learn about a beta from an independant forum.

The issues I have seen attempting to use the publically available version:
Have to select 'yes' about 30 times to allow it to access the device.
Downloads stop at 1.5MB and the only way to get them to continue is to reset the BB completely. Once restarted, the download will pick up where it left off. Ten reboots for a one hour program is rediculous.
Sign-in fails often
When starting the audible player, it will force a download of this 'welcome to audible' sample that will not delete. It also won't play on my device.

Hopefully the beta version is much better.

I am really surprised that audible hasn't figured out or prioritized getting audibleair to work on the BB. It worked fantastically on my old PPC phone.

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by knipknup

Reading this post just pisses me off. I have been a customer of Audible for several years. I have recently (in the past two months) been attempting to get audible to work on my 8830 to no avail. I have also been in current email communications with audible on how to get it to work. They have not mentioned a single hint that there was a beta ongoing. It seems they would be intrested in getting those that are willing to put the effort in involved. It is ironic and frustrating that I have to learn about a beta from an independant forum.

The issues I have seen attempting to use the publically available version:
Have to select 'yes' about 30 times to allow it to access the device.
Downloads stop at 1.5MB and the only way to get them to continue is to reset the BB completely. Once restarted, the download will pick up where it left off. Ten reboots for a one hour program is rediculous.
Sign-in fails often
When starting the audible player, it will force a download of this 'welcome to audible' sample that will not delete. It also won't play on my device.

Hopefully the beta version is much better.

I am really surprised that audible hasn't figured out or prioritized getting audibleair to work on the BB. It worked fantastically on my old PPC phone.

The majority of folks involved in the beta were recruited directly from the support channels. I came in through that route. I have been involved in several beta programs with several companies. There are some common criteria that are typically looked for in a prospective tester:

Patience
Good attitude
Willingness to put up with broken crap
Attention to detail
providing accurate error messages
providing accurate details for reproducing the errors.
Product being used

It is possible that they did not feel you were an appropriate candidate for some reason. Maybe because you were using a VZW 8830. They may not be ready to tackle the obstacles that Verizon currently has in place.

[Grimlin]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

1.0.66 is out. No word from audible yet on it. I downloaded and installed. I'm Testing today as I have time. I Will post more later this evening.

[sowhynot]

I'm very happy to report that in my unscientific testing of this release I am pleased.

I listened to 20 minutes of the New York Times Audio Digest and honestly forgot that I was listening from my 8100. It sounded as good, with no stuttering, as listening from my computer or other MP3 player.

I didn't test bookmarks or receive any incoming calls while listening. I'll do a more extensive test this weekend but it's looking promising.

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by Grimlin

Current Version: 1.0.66

Day1 testing complete. First post in thread updated with release notes and initial test results.

[DallasFlier]

Grimlin - is Audible reading this thread - so posting here is a viable channel to feed them beta feedback?

With respect to your:

"BAD DNS" when logging in - Had to delete desktop(IPPP) service book to force connection through carrier BIS. Appears that new network connection code has introduced this error. Highly recommend changing preference to include (WiFi, BIS, BES)

I was able to log in with no problems at all after installing 1.0.66. You and I are both on AT&T, and I can't think of why my 8310 would be different from your 8800 with regards to connecting - unless its a RIM O/S level difference possibly?

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by DallasFlier

Grimlin - is Audible reading this thread - so posting here is a viable channel to feed them beta feedback?

Yes, but I do not know how often. I gather all the pertinent info here as well as my testing and consolidate it into my daily reports to them. So if you are already in regular communication with them, please continue. If not, feel free to post here. As long as there is enough detail so that the problem can be duplicated, I will post it in the list at the top of this thread and include it in my reports to Audible. Regardless of how you handle it, I would appreciate at least a summary of your findings here so that we can all share information with each other.

Originally Posted by DallasFlier

I was able to log in with no problems at all after installing 1.0.66. You and I are both on AT&T, and I can't think of why my 8310 would be different from your 8800 with regards to connecting - unless its a RIM O/S level difference possibly?

The default behavior they have in 1.0.66 is as follows:
Try WiFi
Try BES
Try BIS

It is getting hung on my BES connection due to the fact that our corporate network is blocking connections to Audible. When I delete my Desktop[IPP] service book, I essential remove my blackberrys corporate (BES) internet connection. This forces all of my applications to use the carrier (BIS) internet connection. I have asked Audible to either flip the BIS/BES priority or give us the option to select a preference in the options.

[Ripley 29]

Really, really glad that I found this thread.

I have been using Audible for a few years now, and have downloaded and listened for probably about 50 books on my HP iPaq.

I switched over to an 8830 as my do-everything-device. One criteria for choosing a device was that I could listen to my Audible audiobooks on it.

I downloaded Audibleair, and I couldn't believe how terrible the software was. Constant skipping, tracks randomly restarting, end of books not playing. Completely ruined my listening experience.

I actually called to cancel today, and instead went to the $9.95 per year plan which keeps my account open. The CSR I spoke said he was surprised when I mentioned that problems I had been having; he said he only remembered talking to a few other BB users who were having Audibleair issues.

I still have a backlog of Audiobooks that I haven't listened to yet because of the problems I have had with Audibleair.

I am going to try the latest version and hope for the best!

[Grimlin]

Originally Posted by Ripley 29

Really, really glad that I found this thread.

We are really glad you found us. We needed a non-Verizon 8830 user. This should be an interesting test. I will PM you some information.

[Grimlin]

New issue listed above.

Only lower case file extensions are recognized. I am not sure when this creeped in. I assume in 1.0.66, but haven't cared to test on previous versions.

[Grimlin]

I think I am close to understanding the start-up speed issue. I would be interested in knowing if anyone else is seeing similar.

Assumptions:
During startup, directories are scanned
meta data for scanned files is put into the database (similar to where bookmarks are stored)
If you remove the files without deleting them from within the audible client, they are never removed from the meta index.
The slowdown is caused from the client looking for and timing out on each deleted file that it cannot find.

Possible Resolution:
It is acceptable for the first scan after removing a file to be a slow start. However, when a file is not found, it should be removed from the index and not looked for again on subsequent startups.


******Update:
I did a little more checking. I uninstalled audible. However, before I did, I noted the item count and size of the RMS database on the handheld. Removing audible removed about ~40K of data and 1 entry. I rebooted. Reinstalled the same version of audible (1.0.66). I was again prompted for all of the new install items with the exception of the firewall prompts. The RMS database size went up by ~40k and another entry appeared. My bookmarks were gone, but apparently the lost book cache was gone as well. My Start-up time went from 90seconds down to 8 seconds. Interestingly enough, after clearing the entries from the RMS database, I can no longer recreate the issue. I have tried removing files several times. I can only conclude that it was a holdover from a previous version. If anyone else is experiencing start-up issues, I would highly recommend an uninstall, reboot and then reinstall. From now on, I will probably follow this procedure for future releases.