Desperately need audio book solution

[vtrac]

Astoplayer looks promising, but something I really miss from the iPhone player is the ability to play back audio at a faster speed. It really helps when listening to podcasts and audiobooks.

[Andrew Terekhine]

Thanks, I added your request to the list. Unfortunately, there is no direct support for adjustable speed on Android so far. You can vote for it here: Issue 1961 - android - MediaPlayer Adjustable SampleRate/Playback Speed support. - Project Hosting on Google Code

[ChooChoo]

I used the basic version of Soundtaxi ($19.99) to convert Audible books to MP3, copied the MP3s to my Droid and am playing them with the free version of AstroPlayer.

The Player doesn't have the ability to skip to the next chapter, but you can drag the scrubber along the play bar to skip forward & back. It also properly pauses when a call comes in.

[Harrison_W1337]

With the Ambling BookPlayer you can automatically download hundreds of free audiobooks. It supports chapter based navigation with full chapter titles, seamless and automatic audio file handling, quick jump navigation buttons, and play history tracking with undo and redo







Source [AndroLib.com]

[mjay]

Do you like this audiobook player?

[atomicwedgie]

Bookdroid just released a beta update which fixes some problems it had. The only thing I don't like is how small the buttons are. I do most of my playing while driving the car so larger buttons are really a necessity.

I tried the free version of Ambling but that doesn't allow you to try playing books on your SD card. Seeing as how I already paid for Bookdroid I won't buy another app until I am convinced it is better.

I was not even aware of Astro Player for some reason! I am going to download it now and give it a whirl. Seeing as how Andrew T seems to be one of the developers, it's nice he's here to react to comments. A big plus in my "book"

[nd2000]

Okay, this is a procedure I've seen described elsewhere.

Use the cheapest version of soundtaxi (Platinum $20) and a paid copy of ambling (which allows playing from the sd card). Soundtaxi converts public library downloads (over drive downloads) files to mp3. The public library usually let out their books in 8-15 files usually. After conversion to mp3, loading mp3 files into droid using drag-and-drop onto whatever folder name you wish on droid. Then using ambling, assemble the audiobook from the 8-10 separate mp3 files. The playback would be pretty flawless on the droid, with no gaps in between files.

For audible aa files, an audiblemediaplayerfilter.exe file is needed. This can be found on the internet or here

How can I convert Audible.com .AA files to MP3 audio files? | Chuck Eglinton on Gadgets & Technology

It's a plug-in to the Windows Media player. Once the plug-in is installed, try playing the audible file on the computer first. A warning will popup and says that it doesn't recognize the file type. Click always ignore this. The audible file should now play via Windows Media Player.

Lastly, you should set for all aa files to always play using Windows Media Player. Then launch soundtaxi, which will use Windows Media Player and the plug-in to play the aa file and then soundtaxi can do its thing to convert to mp3.

[Andrew Terekhine]

Thanks, atomicwedgie. Concerning Astro Player's functionality:
it has large buttons; chapter based navigation is achieved with help of playlist representation on the main screen:


It's possible to load audiobooks from sdcard:


It has unlimited number of custom bookmarks:


Astroplayer bookmarking features:
Each bookmark restores not only playback position but also the whole playlist/audiobook content. Therefore, you can skip reloading of a playlist before selection of a bookmark. Astro Player also supports resume after restart and stores playback position for all tracks. It remembers playback positions also for all folders as well. If you open a folder that has been played before, the last playback position will be restored automatically. Moreover, in order to survive power shutdown or other exceptional situations Astro Player automatically stores playback positions each 10 seconds.
We are open to new suggestions and ideas.

[atomicwedgie]

Andrew, after initial testing I wasn't thrilled with a few things about your app. I decided to spend a little time with it tonight to give it a chance. I see your update has resolved a few of my dislikes so kudos to you for that.

I will start with the bad stuff...

Cons:

*Interface at first takes some figuring out as to what some of the buttons do

*The folder icon screen needs to be sorted out. With the /sdcard/Audio Books/ at the beginning of every book it gets confusing especially for books with long names like "A Short History of Nearly Everything" especially in portrait mode.

*I don't understand the purpose of the + button versus the Menu key -> Open. The folder icon in the Open dialog is confusing as it serves a different purpose than the folder icon on the main screen.

*Skip and Back buttons seem to do nothing?

Pros:

*Large buttons for easy access

*Bookmarking works as advertised

*Pauses book when phone rings (Yay!)

*Headset plug resume is a great idea


Overall you are def. headed in the right direction! Perhaps there could be a way to group books (for example three files are all from the same book)

[Andrew Terekhine]

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to do it. We agree with all the points; some of them have been fixed (see below). Other points will be addressed soon.

*Interface at first takes some figuring out as to what some of the buttons do

We are going to introduce the new layout with large cover art and reduced amount of buttons. This layout is intended for music listening. Furthermore, we are going to add two hyperlinks into the playlist area when it's empty (i.e. at the very first start of the application). The first hyperlink will display the help screen. The second hyperlink will help to switch between audiobook/music layouts. It also will be possible to switch layouts by the long click on the cover art thumbnail in the main screen.

*The folder icon screen needs to be sorted out. With the /sdcard/Audio Books/ at the beginning of every book it gets confusing especially for books with long names like "A Short History of Nearly Everything" especially in portrait mode.

Fixed, will be available in v1.11

*I don't understand the purpose of the + button versus the Menu key -> Open. The folder icon in the Open dialog is confusing as it serves a different purpose than the folder icon on the main screen.

Fixed, will be available in v1.11

*Skip and Back buttons seem to do nothing?

These buttons work only if we have several tracks. The back button sets playback to the start of the previous track in case there are several tracks. I think it would be a good feature if back button always sets playback to the start for one track playlist (now you can long click on the play button in order do this). We are going to add optional behavior for the back button in case we have several tracks: whether playback should go to the start of the current track or previous track.

Perhaps there could be a way to group books (for example three files are all from the same book)

Not sure if I got it right. I though we have exactly this functionality behind the add button: it's possible to open a book folder and all related files will be visible in the current playlist on the main screen. Astro Player supports any number of nested folders as well.