Desperately need audio book solution

[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.

 

[atomicwedgie]

I've been so focused on the audio book portion of things I forgot that your app is also a music player. :icon_ devil:

Good to hear you're right on top of things and fixing them before they're even mentioned.

As for grouping book titles, you've lost me.

Let's say I have three files that are all part of the same book.

Book1.mp3
Book2.mp3
Book3.mp3

How do I go about grouping these so that the player treats them as a single book? I see you mentioning directories. Does this mean I need to create a subdir for each book and put all files for that book inside it?

Suggestion... I don't know how hard it would be to tie into Androids video subframe but if you could handle videos like you handle books, I am sure that would add a huge attraction to it. I watch movies and even TV Shows and don't always have time to finish them. If your app could remember where I left off... oh boy.

Thanks again for your efforts and when this app is complete, I will be your first customer.

 

[Andrew Terekhine]

Thanks again for the constructive feedback.

How do I go about grouping these so that the player treats them as a single book? I see you mentioning directories. Does this mean I need to create a subdir for each book and put all files for that book inside it?

Yes, you should use dedicated directory and place all three mp3 files into it. Although it's not required to create subdirs, the player could scan any number of subdirs and files in them (audiobooks could be very large and include a lot of subdirs and tons of files) More info: Astro Player • View topic - playlists for Motorola Droid
Please let us know if it helps.

Suggestion... I don't know how hard it would be to tie into Androids video subframe but if you could handle videos like you handle books, I am sure that would add a huge attraction to it. I watch movies and even TV Shows and don't always have time to finish them. If your app could remember where I left off... oh boy.

It's already possible If we have several video files in the playlist, they will be played in the correct order and the last position will be kept. However, the custom bookmarks are not supported yet. It will be addressed soon.

 

[atomicwedgie]

Ok after some more indepth playing with the software I am starting to feel it better!

I like the way it handles music directories! I keep my music manually sorted in directories like Jazz, Easy Listening, Rock, etc. This makes it easy to add an entire directory rather than single songs. Now when I look at my list I see "Jazz", "Rock", etc.

Same for videos... my breakdown is like this;

Videos
->TV Shows
-->Family Guy
-->South Park
-->Honeymooners
-->and so on.

Again I add an entire folder and it lists all the shows. So if I want to watch South Park, bing they are all listed.

Several more suggestions... just let me know if you get tired of hearing these.

*When you see a listing of books/videos some hint as to what has been watched and/or the percentage/time watched would be awesome. Another app I used on my BB had this and it was great to know what you're done with (I know you hilight the last viewed/listened to)

*Moving to landscape mode having the button interface move to the side is distracting. Maybe a condensed version of said buttons along the bottom would be an option?

I did a lot of skins so I tend to have a lot of ideas. As I said, if you get tired of hearing these things just say so.

 

[Andrew Terekhine]

atomicwedgie, thanks for all your feedback, it's really great to hear it, so please keep it coming!

*When you see a listing of books/videos some hint as to what has been watched and/or the percentage/time watched would be awesome. Another app I used on my BB had this and it was great to know what you're done with (I know you hilight the last viewed/listened to)

We already have this possibility, just click anywhere on the screen during playback. Let us know if it works for you.

Concerning landscape layout proposal: sounds good, added to the list. btw, we are thinking now about a way to provide the customizable layouts for the main screen (for both portrait and landscape modes).

Once again thanks for the constructive feedback, please keep it coming!

 

[atomicwedgie]

You misunderstood my request for percentage watched. What I was referring to was in the LIST view. If I have 15 episodes of a show listed, I have no way to know which were watched or where I left off on the last one I did watch. Same goes for movies.

Customizable layouts would be fanfreakingtastic because that would allow users to customize it based on what they're mostly using it for. Audio Books, Video or Music. I don't think you need to go too crazy but if you came up with a few options that would work.

Thanks for your lightning quick responses!

 

[Gunghoray]

+1. AtomicWedgie. Great feedback and ideas. I'm a Bookdroid user and finding the new version pretty stable. This looks promising as well. It'd REALLY make life easier if Audible.com would just build a player for Android.

Prof Ray
Recovering Storm Abuser

 

[Andrew Terekhine]

You misunderstood my request for percentage watched. What I was referring to was in the LIST view. If I have 15 episodes of a show listed, I have no way to know which were watched or where I left off on the last one I did watch. Same goes for movies.

Thanks, I see, we've already have it on the list, I put more priority on it.

 

[atomicwedgie]

+1. AtomicWedgie. Great feedback and ideas. I'm a Bookdroid user and finding the new version pretty stable. This looks promising as well. It'd REALLY make life easier if Audible.com would just build a player for Android.

Ray I think you and I established we're both former PodTrapper users. I loved Podtrapper and the app Andrew is working on is along the same lines.

Yes I bought BookDroid and for now it's working but my issues with it are that it's limited to books and the buttons are way too small to find while I am driving.

 

[Gunghoray]

Agree about PodTrapper. I'm completely focused on the book part. I just hope audible.com doesn't create the trash player like they did for the Storm. HORRIBLE experience.

BTW, I teach leadership and service worldwide. My favorite customer service story is at the former Radisson (now Marriott) Melville on Long Island. That and Pindar Vineyards are great experiences.
Prof Ray
Recovering Storm Abuser

 

[atomicwedgie]

AI just hope audible.com doesn't create the trash player like they did for the Storm. HORRIBLE experience.

Yes that was an atrocious app for sure!

Andrew... playing around some more this evening perhaps another thing you might add to your list is a way to separate Books, Music and Video. Looking at the list of items I created tonight I find it hard to discern what is what.

Maybe even more settings... a separate default directory for books, music and video would be really cool.

Hey you said you wanted them to keep coming and they will.