An Amazon rant - and a cautionary tale!

[British Red]

As you guys know I love books

Given my high travelling lifestyle, I was delighted to discover "Audible.co.uk" where Amazon sell unabridged professionally read audiobooks. I checked that I could play these files on blackberry (the files are propietary). I could. I bought a load and play them in the garden or on my long work journeys.

Recently the player corrupted during a Blackberry software upgrade.

"No problem" I thought, I'll just re-install it.

Only to find that the player is no longer available and Amazon no longer support Blackberry (in the UK - apparently it can be supported in other countries!)

So what am I to do with all these audiobooks?

Apparently, according to their customer service department, it tough! I can of course buy a different device and they might support that - of course they reserve the right to withdraw that support at any time!

So, a much poorer me has learned a lesson. I will no longer buy Audio books from Amazon, nor will I buy a Kindle that I was planning to buy - it also uses a propiteary format. If they give up making those devices, I will be hosed in the same way they have hosed me by withdrawing the support for a device they advertised as compatible.

Whilst I am deeply narked, I wanted to post this as a warning to others - beware Amazon proprietary formats - they do make decisions to withdraw support for them - and leave their consumers out of pocket

Red

 

[swright81076]

I'm sure you should be able to get hold of blackberry software that has the audio reader from somewhere, whether it means flashing the firmware to an older revision or not.
If you let us know the software you're missing I might be able to get hold of it for you. I'll need the phone model too.

What format are the audio books in, I might be able to get you a workaround too.

Steve

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[slowworm]

Have you tried searching for an app that'll convert the audiobooks from one format to another?

 

[British Red]

Its a propietary Audible player Steve - they use a unique file format to prevent copying.

Its more a warning to others that I wanted to post - for the very reason of them using such a "closed loop" - and then withdrawing the player for their own file format!

 

[British Red]

Have you tried searching for an app that'll convert the audiobooks from one format to another?

The only one that can convert the Apple store - and then only to CD format. I could probably go through numpty odd iterations for each book - but how infuriating is that for dozens of books?

 

[swright81076]

I think blackberry use drm protected aac files. Does the media player play other files OK. Such as movies or songs?
Is it a phone or playbook?
I've heard of unscrupulous people selling audio on that they purchased which would only work on the device it was purchased on.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[swright81076]

Sorry just re read that the player is missing.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[John Fenna]

This is why I stick to steam powered technology...

 

[swright81076]

Have you tried the media sync?
http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/desktop/mediasync.jsp

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[British Red]

Indeed John.

I posted this because I was becoming attracted to things like a Kindle. Indeed if these files were sold in MP3 or other standard format, there wouldn't be much risk. But where the people keep both the player and the file propietary - and then decide not to create a new player for your device (or to stop making devices in the case of something like Kindle) - you are completely hosed.

Its a good reason not to buy them unless they are based on standard, non propietary, formats. Its cost me money to learn that lesson - I hope passing it on helps someone else save the small fortune I have lost.

Red

 

[udamiano]

If I remember my days as a tech, companies must support their stuff for a minimum of 5 years from release. I would email their tech service department, and advise them that within this time period they are required to support you, not if they decide to or not. as you have not signed anything that give this right up (not that you can)

unfortunately I can't remember where this was stated in statue law.

Do you know the name of the software you need, maybe I can get it tracked down for you.

 

[udamiano]

Does this help Red

this is the amazon software for BBs

http://www.audible.com/wireless/blackberry

 

[IanM]

A while back Orwell's '1984' was sold for Kindle by Amazon who did not hold the rights to do so. It was withdrawn and it magically vanished off of peoples Kindles remotely, totally without warning or permission.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle-1984

 

[British Red]

Does this help Red

this is the amazon software for BBs

http://www.audible.com/wireless/blackberry

Thanks mate - sadly the install doesn't work if you downloaded from the .co.uk site

 

[British Red]

A while back Orwell's '1984' was sold for Kindle by Amazon who did not hold the rights to do so. It was withdrawn and it magically vanished off of peoples Kindles remotely, totally without warning or permission.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle-1984

Indeed Ian - its really not "yours" when you buy a file from Amazon

 

[udamiano]

Which BB do you have Red?

 

[ged]

You don't have to worry about the Kindle Red, my wife has one and she went into this in absolutely nauseating detail.

1. Project Gutenberg and many others provide books in Kindle's AZW (Amazon's version of Mobipocket) format.

2. There are Open Source tools available for converting to and from Mobipocket format.

3. There are Open Source tools for removing the Amazon DRM (Digital Rights Management) from Amazon's digital books.

So you can easily rolll your own. Let me know if you want to know more.

PS: She's on the 'Audible' case, she doesn't like the idea of people being screwed by Amazon...

 

[spoony]

i dont think they will change the kindle, i have a kindle and the kindle apps, i also have kobo, and and have read kindle books on kobo.So they both must use similar platforms.

 

[tim_c]

Someone already posted tips for decrypting text books for kindle. Its possible to convert audible books too.

I suggest installing the audible software for your computer and trying to download and play a book. Audible.co.uk should keep a library of any audible books you've purchased and let you download them again. If you can play your books on your computer then I'll be able to help you convert them to mp3. The easiest method will be to burn the books to CD (either real or software-cd) and then rip the discs into mp3.

The audible.co.uk files are not just proprietary but also encrypted and keyed to the player instance / device. Ofcourse people with kindle text books will find themselves in the same situation one day, a software switch could be toggled and all their purchased books will be useless (unless they went to the trouble of decrypting them beforehand, ofcourse)

 

[British Red]

Tim,

I have the player on my laptop. Trouble with ripping to CD is that each book is about 25 CDs worth - and I have 30 books!

I apprciate all the input guys. I can listen on my laptop - but thats not why I bought them - I intended them for driving and working outdoors.

Really the point of the post was to warn others of the appalling service by Amazon - advertising a format compatibility and then withdrawing it and leaving their customer stuck and unable to use what they have sold them. It really is a dreadful way to behave and I wanted to warn others

Thanks for all the offers of help - its greatly appreciated!

Red