The quoted prices include “special offers and sponsored screensavers”, AKA adverts. Some older models are also compatible, including the Kindle Keyboard and the Kindle Touch, but Audible no longer supports them. Alternatives include the 8th generation Kindle and Kindle Oasis (from £229.99), and the 10th generation Kindle Paperwhite (from £119.99). The cheapest option is this year’s all-new Kindle (9th Generation) at £69.99. You can also listen to Audible audiobooks on many of Amazon’s Kindle e-readers. Kindles are compatibleĪmazon’s Kindles can play Audible audiobooks, syncing them with text ebooks so that you can seamlessly switch between listening and reading. Some iPod users have had problems that may be solved by re-downloading books in Audible’s Enhanced format (.aax) instead of Format 4 (.aa). You can also play Audible audiobooks on iPods, if you use Apple’s iTunes software to transfer the files. (Most go for less.)Īudible has some tips on getting a Sansa Clip or Sansa Fuze to work with its audiobooks. However, comments suggest it’s not as good for audiobooks as the discontinued SanDisk Sansa Clip+ version, which can fetch up to £75 on eBay, in mint condition. The user manual ( pdf) says it can handle “MP3, WMA (no DRM), AAC, WAV and Audible (DRM only)” files, and it also offers FM radio. The 8GB SanDisk Clip Jam is a basic option at £24.37. (Ideally, an MP3 player should also remember the bookmark’s place in a playlist, though this is harder to tell from the sales pitches.) Otherwise, trying to find your place in a five- or 50-hour book can be a nightmare. You would also lose the special features built into Audible files, though some converters can at least split files into chapters or segments of a chosen length.Įither way, a player must be able to resume the audio where you stopped listening. However, if you bought one of these, you’d have to convert Audible files to MP3 or whatever, to remove the DRM (digital rights management), which would be an extra job. Most MP3 players can, of course, handle several audio formats including MP3, Microsoft’s WMA (Windows Media Audio) and AAC. (Remember there are many other sources of audiobooks, such as LibriVox and OverDrive, and your local library may have some.) A diminishing number of MP3 players meet these needs, and you are most likely to find them in SanDisk and Creative ranges. The main points to look for are compatibility with Audible’s copyright-protected file format, and the ability to bookmark files such as MP3 audiobooks and podcasts. MP3 players, remember those? Photograph: Sarah Lee/The GuardianĪudible may have lost interest in old-school MP3 players – ones without wifi – but they are still an option. Unfortunately, removing internet access completely would now eliminate all the products that Audible lists on its “ how to listen” page, which nowadays doesn’t even mention MP3 players. But none of these stopped a flood of evil videos from being shown to young children on YouTube, for example, and even good content can have bad effects if used unwisely or to excess. I guess you are supposed to protect children via a mixture of the UK’s sometimes heavily censored internet, services like OpenDNS’s FamilyShield, blocking specific IP addresses on your router, and device-level parental controls. However, the trend is towards synchronising devices with the cloud, and streaming content from online services such as Spotify and – yes – Audible.Īmazon, which bought Audible in 2008, runs the world’s largest cloud in the form of AWS (Amazon Web Services), but you can still download Audible files for offline use. You can still turn back the clock to a time when people used cables to transfer files – including ripped CDs and DVDs – from PCs to handheld devices such as PDAs, phones and MP3 players.
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