An appeal - and a short story about Audible

[castalla]

A while ago I acquired a Sonos Connect (linked to a Bluetooth transmitter) so my better-half (now bed-ridden through illness) can easily listen to Audible audiobooks. On/off control achieved via IKEA sound remote. Simples.

A couple of weeks ago (after only 2 months of use) the Connect crashed out. It has since been replaced under warranty.
An expensive solution to my problem - but I'm not convinced about Sonos quality control these days.

However, this episode set me off again searching for an easy alternative to Sonos. The only other viable options are the paperwhite kindle and echos. Voice commands are really clunky for Audible! And my wife gets too confused to use them.

So, why not use the brilliant picoreplayer Bluetooth feature to play Audible? Yes, with one big Snag ... All books have to be converetef to mp3 and critically lose the ability to bookmark and restart at last listening point.

My appeal! Is there anyone who could take-on the task of an Audible plugin?

Regards to all.

[mrw]

So, why not use the brilliant picoreplayer Bluetooth feature to play Audible? Yes, with one big Snag ... All books have to be converetef to mp3 and critically lose the ability to bookmark and restart at last listening point.

I have never used Audible, but I believe that it can create its books in mp3 format for use on mp3 only players.

But that wouldn't help you to bookmark and restart at the last listening point.

But the podcast plugin does allow restarting at last listening point. Any chance of Audible providing an 'RSS podcast feed' of the purchased books ?

No ? I thought not. Oh well.

[castalla]

Audible seem stuck in the past with device compatability - there are no plugins for anything. Sonos seems the only outfit with a native app/service.

There are a couple of specialist devices for visually impaired - cost about 500 squids.

My wife finds smartphone/tablets difficult to use, so the Sonos is a good solution.

A squeezebox plugin would be the ideal solution for her, and I'm sure there'd be many others who would welcome it.

I suggested to Audible to support squeezebox but given it's viewed as defunct in the wider world I guess nothing will happen there either.

There's a car mode for the Audible app which is good but the battery drain/recharging routine involved with mobiles makes them rather impractical for someone confined to bed or wheelchair.

[philchillbill]

https://help.audible.co.uk/s/article/voice-commands-for-listening-on-alexa-devices?pf_rd_p=db077fc4-8f9a-4b01-ae14-0d602798d75d&pf_rd_r=2XCT4P5TJP63JC2BVJ42

Seems like listening on your Echos would be really easy. No invocation name necessary and short, intuitive commands.

[castalla]

https://help.audible.co.uk/s/article...5TJP63JC2BVJ42

Seems like listening on your Echos would be really easy. No invocation name necessary and short, intuitive commands.

Thanks. I'll test it out.

[castalla]

An update on my quest to find a user accessible way to play audiobooks:

The suggestion to use voice commands to control Echo playback certainly works for the able-voiced. It's much less successful for someone suffering from voice defects. So my search continued...

On certain versions of the android Audible app (not all?) the now playing screen pops up a 'Connect to a device' option (somewhat deceptively similar to the Spotify feature to play on other devices).

There's one huge BUT with this promising-looking feature.... It only allows a switch to Sonos devices.!!

After several chats with Audible agents they finally agreed that only Sonos devices worked.

How crazy can it get? Amazon's Audible app can play to Sonos but not to Amazon's Echos...

I think I'm fighting a losing battle here

[d6jg]

An update on my quest to find a user accessible way to play audiobooks:

The suggestion to use voice commands to control Echo playback certainly works for the able-voiced. It's much less successful for someone suffering from voice defects. So my search continued...

On certain versions of the android Audible app (not all?) the now playing screen pops up a 'Connect to a device' option (somewhat deceptively similar to the Spotify feature to play on other devices).

There's one huge BUT with this promising-looking feature.... It only allows a switch to Sonos devices.!!

After several chats with Audible agents they finally agreed that only Sonos devices worked.

How crazy can it get? Amazon's Audible app can play to Sonos but not to Amazon's Echos...

I think I'm fighting a losing battle here

Have I got this right?
Is it correct that Audible allows mp3 download?
The LMS Podcast feature allows bookmarked start/stop but needs an RSS feed?

Why not create your own RSS feed. You would need some web space locally to store the mp3's and then a simple XML file that references them
Then you would "subscribe" the LMS Podcast feature to that feed.

Google "create rss feed"

[castalla]

Have I got this right?
Is it correct that Audible allows mp3 download?
The LMS Podcast feature allows bookmarked start/stop but needs an RSS feed?

Why not create your own RSS feed. You would need some web space locally to store the mp3's and then a simple XML file that references them
Then you would "subscribe" the LMS Podcast feature to that feed.

Google "create rss feed"

Possibly worth a look... But audible files have to be 'processed' to get an mp3 version. Adds another complication into what should be easy.

A further pricey option would be to get an apple ipad and just airplay to Philippe's shairport players.

As far as I can tell Sonos is the only streaming system which has Audible

[Shozzer]

How about picking up a Chromecast Music off ebay?

Possibly worth a look... But audible files have to be 'processed' to get an mp3 version. Adds another complication into what should be easy.

A further pricey option would be to get an apple ipad and just airplay to Philippe's shairport players.

As far as I can tell Sonos is the only streaming system which has Audible

[Man in a van]

How about picking up a Chromecast Music off ebay?

https://www.viwizard.com/audiobook-tips/cast-audible-audiobooks-on-chromecast.html

[castalla]

Thanks for the suggestion.

Essentially, because my wife is experiencing significant sensory/vocal problems, I'm looking for the most basic control interface.

Here's what car mode looks like in android audible

This would be perfect if only Amazon/Audible got their act together to play to Echos

[slartibartfast]

Thanks for the suggestion.

Essentially, because my wife is experiencing significant sensory/vocal problems, I'm looking for the most basic control interface.

Here's what car mode looks like in android audible

This would be perfect if only Amazon/Audible got their act together to play to Echos

Can't you you play to an Echo from the Alexa app?

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-play-audible-on-alexa?r=US&IR=T

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[castalla]

Material with large fonts gets close to the above car mode.

The big problem with using lms and mp3 files is there isn't an intuitive/easy way to bookmark. She tried with the bookmark plugin but it quickly descended into chaos and frustration.

I'd like to thank you all for your suggestions.

(One thing I've learned from all is just how poorly served the disabled are by existing IT structures and software designs).

[castalla]

Can't you you play to an Echo from the Alexa app?

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-play-audible-on-alexa?r=US&IR=T

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Just tried this... Looks promising interface-wise but so far nothing actually plays. Need to investigate further...

[d6jg]

Thanks for the suggestion.

Essentially, because my wife is experiencing significant sensory/vocal problems, I'm looking for the most basic control interface.

Here's what car mode looks like in android audible

This would be perfect if only Amazon/Audible got their act together to play to Echos

I think you can make virtually any recent Android tablet work in car mode. If you can then you could just use it conjunction with any BT speaker.

What gear do you have at your disposal?