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[CautionESPN]

These three things do not play nicely together.  Ipod with Media Center=Fine, Ipod with Audible.com software=fine

put them together and they dont work at all.  If i do audible.com then everything in the ipod disappears, if i then rebuild the database it re-appears but the audible.com material will not play...this is of course extremely frustrating.  

Is there any way this can be fixed?  Is the problem with audible, with MC?  I'm using type 4 audio from audible which is mp3...shouldn't eb an issue?

Chris M

Media Center Registered 9.0.180 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1966 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1047 MB, Free - 691 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0001) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0001)

Ripping /   Drive E:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: No /  Play sound after ripping: No  

Burning /  Drive E: HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8481B    Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
 Use playback settings: Yes /  Normalization: None

[SteveG]

Chris,

The problem is that Audible builds the iPod database in one way and MC builds it another. One solution would be to use MC exclusively. Import your .aa files into the MC library and then life should be good. Another alternative would be to redo a lot of code to be compatible with Audible.

Can you make a good case for why importing the files into MC is a bad solution?

Steve

PS there was a bug in the rebuild database feature that would have disabled .aa files from playing. It is fixed in the next build if you want to test it out and see if it makes life better for you.

[CautionESPN]

Ahh that's a bummer about the databases being incompatible...

From a usability standpoint:

I have a few standing playlists that I update occasionally. Sync works great here, I have a number of smartlists though where syncing can be problematic.  Particularly if i have to rebuild the database on a daily basis (which i would have to do unless i import the files from audible into MC).  When using sync after rebuilding the database the songs from the dyanmic playlists are orphaned and i have to delete them by hand.  I use the subscription service for the NYTimes from audible and like to listen in my car on the way to work.   These are things that I have no intention of keeping around after i listen to them so importing them into MC is fairly silly since im just going to delete them the very next day.

This is a workaround solution but really not a particularly good one.  I do not expect MC to try to mimic what audible does (nor do I think you should!)  It's unfortunate that this is a real thorn in the side for those of us who use MC and audible.com's service on our ipods.

It looks like the best solution for me will be to import into MC and load onto ipod from there, delete from MC and repeat on a daily basis.  It might not be a bad idea to include this information in help as i have been tearing my hair out, rebuilding the ipod, reloading software etc etc.

Chris M

[coxkevin]

Chris,

The problem is that Audible builds the iPod database in one way and MC builds it another. One solution would be to use MC exclusively. Import your .aa files into the MC library and then life should be good. Another alternative would be to redo a lot of code to be compatible with Audible.

Can you make a good case for why importing the files into MC is a bad solution?

Hi Steve!!!

After reading several posts about compatiblity with Audible software, I decided to check and see what the fervor was all about.

I've been playing with it for about a week now and have to admit that I see the attraction.  Although this isn't a fall on the sword issue for me, if it wasn't a such a hassle with MC, then I'd probably pay the monthly subscription of $12 to get a book and month long subscription to a regular publication (e.g. The NY Times or NPR Morning Edition).

Having to import a regular subscription into MC each day and then turn around and delete it each day is a hassle -- especially when you're in Audible to download the file in the first place.  Then you have what I found to be the most important feature -- Audible remembers where you left off.  When I download files to my iPod via Audible, I can listen to portions of each one, and when I'm in the mood to listen some more, my iPod starts up right where I left off from the last session.  So in addition to the hassle of importing to MC, there's also a loss of functionality that is important when dealing with a long audio file and functionality that's not necessary with MP3 files.

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm not requesting that you rework a lot of code (like I'd be willing to do for transcoding and normalizing against replay gain  ), but the thought has crossed my mind about the what's driving the incompatibility.  If MMJB and EphPod are both compatible with Audible, but MC isn't, then doesn't that imply that MC is not building the iPod DB quite right?  Or at least a similar problem?

Looking back, I found 3 users requesting compatibility with Audible, so working on the compatibility may be something worth looking at.  Especially if Audible gains more subscribers.

Just a series of observations.  Oh well, back to the thread...

Cheers,
kc

[SteveG]

kc,

It is not clear to me that you can go back and forth with Ephpod and Audible. If someone can definitively confirm this for me, let me know and working out a solution to this becomes more likely.  There has been some mention of it, but I have not had any luck with it.

Steve

[CautionESPN]

From my reading of the situation this is not the case, from what i see ephpod's solution to the audible.com thing is the same as media center's (ie import the files into ephpod then upload).  Reference http://www.ipodlounge.com

Chris M

Here is a quote from a user on ipodlounge:

Possible Success

Apparently, I can upload Audio Books using EphPod's Add Songs option, and then not saving when I exit. <snip>

Rob

[SteveG]

Chris,

Thanks for the info. If this is the case, then Audible and MusicMatch are the only two that are compatible. Maybe XPlay.  I will look more into this tomorrow.

Steve