81–90 of 91 posts
When I had a standalone music player, it was far easier to deal with random MP3 files.
Tangential question (and a serious one, since I'm pretty much baffled by the whole thing) : I don't use audiobooks, since I find them 'slow'. Why do people listen to them instead of reading books? Is it because, say, listening to one while driving is better than not being able to read since you have no time to do so? Or is there a specific pleasure in listening to a book read by someone else?
An audio book can take a long time. Listening fast is a mixed bag. I generally have a poor experience. And I can take aural "input" quickly, and do that when it is about learning something, not pleasure.
A while back, I gave audio books another try. My brother in law loves them, BTW. He encouraged me to try again largely because he had one he wanted me to comment on.
I find my ability to visualize, become immersed in the story to the point where I do not notice I am reading is not as well developed when listening! For me, this is my number one reason for not using audiobooks.
For my brother in law it is the opposite!
I find it hard to restart sometimes too. Have to go back some and let the book ramp up. This is near instant when I read. Maybe go back a page or few tops, if it has been a while. I need to ramp up on a listen every time.
I bet something along these lines drives people to on medium or other. People appear to vary widely.
That said, audio books have some great use cases:
When reading, many labors can't be done. Listening works along with many labors. This is compelling! I personally prefer podcasts, but audio books will plug right in here.
I already mentioned immersion differences.
Some people really enjoy the readers inflection and characterization. I like this too. It is one of the better things about audio books, assuming one has some affinity for a reader. There definitely is potential for pleasure here. A great reader does add to the experience.
Shared reading! This one surprised me! I know a couple who listen together while doing other projects. Pretty cool! They just have it playing and do whatever they are doing.
That is all I got. Maybe it is useful perspective from a reader who prefers visually reading a book, but who has also appreciated audio books.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
At some point this year Audible also stopped letting you see the price of audiobooks in the Audible app, you also can't purchase books without using an Audible credit via the App. It's clearly so that people like me who save credits and only use them on $22+ books have no idea what a book actually costs without looking them up. I buy anything under $12-15 with cash since credits are basically $12, at least in the 3 c…
I’m pretty certain the price removal was due to App Store and Play store policy. If you list the price, users expect to be able to purchase in-app, which then means Audible forks over the 30% tariff the platforms take.
I very much agree with him regarding DRM, and I understand why it puts him off launching audiobooks on Audible. Still, it is worth commenting that there are trivial ways to remove DRM from Audible files. I myself do it to my own collection, partly out of "lockout prevention", and partly so that I can listen to the books using apps that I find infinitely more covenient and feature rich than Audible's own (shout-out to…
It is trivial for you, but it is impossible for most audiobook listeners. Most people do not have the same computer wherewithal as us.
Tangential question (and a serious one, since I'm pretty much baffled by the whole thing) : I don't use audiobooks, since I find them 'slow'. Why do people listen to them instead of reading books? Is it because, say, listening to one while driving is better than not being able to read since you have no time to do so? Or is there a specific pleasure in listening to a book read by someone else?
reading requires 100% focus. you can't listen to anything else. you can't use your hands unless you read off a computer screen, and then you still need to switch pages somehow, you can't move around either. people watch tv on a treadmill, but reading won't work because you need to keep the focus on the current line. reading while commuting with public transport works at least. on the other hand listening opens up a n…
Not for everybody. I can't listen to an audiobook and do anything else at all if I expect to be able to actually absorb what I'm hearing. I find it amazing that other people can do that. Perhaps Agingcoder is like me.
Audible has some flagrant dark patterns in their design for consumers as well. While you _could_ buy independent audiobooks at cost, their most popular model is to subscribe to a monthly membership where you earn one credit a month. This monthly credit can buy any audio book. The dig comes if you decide you have too many credits cached. Perhaps because you can't get through one audiobook a month. If you cancel a subs…
Audiobooks used to cost like $30-$40 each, at least. With Audible, I pay a monthly fee and get access to books at $10 each. They also routinely have deals selling books for $10, or 2-for-1 deals, etc. The difference in price is huge and a no-brainer if you read a lot of books.
Note: I actually do the year-subscription plan, in which you get 24 credits for the cheapest price, to spend during that year. Buying extra credits will give them to you at that low price as well.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But this is limited as well, max 6 months and only 1 timer per x If I recall correctly, I just ripped my bought books and canceled
Well they have a silver membership that for 10 USD a year let's you keep your credits and access to sales.
Their cheapest plan in the cancelation flow is "Switch to a credit every other month for $8.50/mo" which doesn't show a title in the UI but sounds like the "silver plan" from [1].
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well they have a silver membership that for 10 USD a year let's you keep your credits and access to sales.
I tried to find this in the switch plan and cancel plan processes to no avail. Their cheapest plan in the cancelation flow is "Switch to a credit every other month for $8.50/mo" which doesn't show a title in the UI but sounds like the "silver plan" from [1]. [1]: https://audiobookaddicts.com/audible-silver-plan/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it is worth commenting that there are trivial ways to remove DRM from Audible files. say i share with a loved one or close friend the de-DRM'd audiobook. now their computer becomes infected with a RAT, and 'my' file/audiobook fingerprinted with the proprietary fingerprint algorithm (to identify me as the unique purchaser, the same techniques are probably applied industry wide) is leaked online as a consequence (or…
The audio fingerprinting is used by services like shazam to identify music, not a per user re-encode of every single song in order to find out leaks. The watermarked music files I have come across only go as far as identifying the distribution service, not an individual. From what I remember the metadata of account information is added as an editable extended tags. I actually don't know if audiobooks are even tagged…