Topic: No more Audible file playback over Library Server??? (Read 5814 times)

lalittle · « **on:** February 16, 2006, 03:45:03 pm »

Audible file playback does not work over Media Server.

The aa files don't play and they end up with a little exclamation mark next to them. I'm not sure when this started. The Audible files DO play if I play them directly via "Drives and Devices," so Media Server is somehow the culprit.

Thanks,

Larry

Matt · « **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2006, 04:03:59 pm »

Not all file formats can be supported over library server.

lalittle · « **Reply #2 on:** February 17, 2006, 01:59:59 am »

Quote from: Matt on February 16, 2006, 04:03:59 pm

Not all file formats can be supported over library server.

Is this statement about Audible files? PLEASE tell me your aren't really dropping Audible file support over Library Server. Audible files have always played just fine over Media Server (i.e. Library Server) with MC versions 11.0, 10.0, 9.1. and 9.0. Did the Library Server change that much between 11.0 and 11.1?

That said, regardless of what happened between 11.0 and 11.1, features typically get "better" with new versions. Why would the "new" Library Server have such an obvious limitation compared to the old server, which has supported Audible files for years now? Lack of aa playback over the Library Server really puts a BIG dent in MC's useablity for me, and effectively makes the Library Server useless to me since Audible listenning is a big part of my MC use.

On top of this, MC just added all sorts of "new and improved" support for Audible files. All the extra features, however, will be instantly negated for people like me if I can't play them over Library Server. Why offer "improved support" for Audible files, and then limit their playback to the server system only? It seems to me that the Library Server should be created to play "any" file in the Library, but even if it IS limited in some ways, how can you limit such a popular filetype for which there is NO alternative? This is an important distinction about this filetype -- there is NO alternative. Audible files are only offered as aa, and they cannot easily be "converted."

This is dangerously close to a "deal breaker" for me -- the server capabilities are a big reason I use MC, and Audible file playback using the server is a "must have" for me.

Thanks for any feedback on this (and please forgive me if I somehow misinterpreted what you were saying),

Larry

PS. The second section of the post above refered to WAV file playback. I didn't think you were including wav files when you said "not all file formats," so I clipped it out. Was I correct? If so, then the issues I outlined in that section (such as the bizarre, incorrect bitrate display) should still be in the "bugs" list.

John Gateley · « **Reply #3 on:** February 17, 2006, 11:14:42 am »

Hi Larry, did you try audible with yesterday's build? I was wondering if the filename mangling had messed it up...

j

lalittle · « **Reply #4 on:** February 17, 2006, 04:56:24 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on February 17, 2006, 11:14:42 am

Hi Larry, did you try audible with yesterday's build? I was wondering if the filename mangling had messed it up...

I'm not sure which build number you're referring to when you say "yesterday." Wasn't 123 out yesterday? I've been trying a lot of builds lately, and with the various issues I've been troubleshooting, I get a little confused about which problems existed on which builds. I know that 123 has this issue -- I can't remember if 122 had it as well. I do know that 11.0 did NOT have this issue, but I can't remember which (if any) of the 11.1 builds did.

Based on your post, can I infer that Audible playback is "supposed" to still work over Media Server? I certainly hope this is the case. What do you mean by "filename mangling"?

Thanks for pursuing this,

Larry

PS. If I want to test earlier builds, do I have to change both the client AND the server systems? I don't mind changing the version on the client, but I'm real tentative about changing the version on the server too much since I'm pretty sure that all the "back and forth" changing of MC versions on the client is what messed up the functioning of the "Tune in" Shoutcast links. I tried 4 different systems, and the ONLY one that has this Shoutcast issue is the system that I used to test a bunch of different MC versions -- including having both 10 and 11.0 on the system at the same time. I don't want to mess up the server system as well.

JimH · « **Reply #5 on:** February 17, 2006, 05:13:37 pm »

Maybe you were converting Audible to MP3?

lalittle · « **Reply #6 on:** February 17, 2006, 05:27:23 pm »

Quote from: JimH on February 17, 2006, 05:13:37 pm

Maybe you were converting Audible to MP3?

Are you referring to the "When playing from Library Server" option in the Library Options? I have this set to "Don't convert audio" on both the server and the client.

Thanks for helping out with this,

Larry

JimH · « **Reply #7 on:** February 17, 2006, 05:45:30 pm »

Try converting to MP3. I believe we allow that for Audible.

lalittle · « **Reply #8 on:** February 17, 2006, 06:35:14 pm »

Quote from: JimH on February 17, 2006, 05:45:30 pm

Try converting to MP3. I believe we allow that for Audible.

I tried this, and when I try to play an aa file it jumps over the next few titles, placing the exclamation marks where the blue notes were. I also get the message:

"Media Center encountered errors while trying to play the last several files. Please make sure that the path in your media library points to the right location."

When I put it back to "Don't convert audio", I don't get the error, but it just keeps saying "waiting" on the top bar. Even if it COULD convert the files to mp3, wouldn't you still lose both the chapter points and the bookmarking features of aa files? These two features are what makes audiobook listenning "work." These features are necessary since the aa files are so HUGE, and since you need to be able to pick up where you left off. These two features have always worked over the Library Server with previous versions of MC over the past few years.

Did you intend to specifically disable aa playback over Library Server? I don't get the impression that you did, and if I'm correct in this assumption, I REALLY think that this is a just a bug in this version of MC. I know that the server function in version 10 worked differently, but didn't 11.0 use the "new" Library Server, and wasn't this fairly similar to the current 11.1 Library Server? Audible files always worked fine with 11.0, so I would "think" that aa playback is "supposed" to work in 11.1 as well. Could someone there possibly confirm whether or not aa playback over LS is "supposed" to work in this version?

Larry

JimH · « **Reply #9 on:** February 17, 2006, 06:36:36 pm »

I'm not sure. Audible allows us to convert their formats to MP3 for playback on a TiVo. I don't know the answer for Library Server. Sorry. We'll try to get this resolved next week.

lalittle · « **Reply #10 on:** February 17, 2006, 07:05:40 pm »

Quote from: JimH on February 17, 2006, 06:36:36 pm

I'm not sure. Audible allows us to convert their formats to MP3 for playback on a TiVo. I don't know the answer for Library Server. Sorry. We'll try to get this resolved next week.

Thanks Jim. Hopefully, it's just a bug in the current version -- perhaps something to do with the "filename mangling" that John mentioned above. I look forward hearing what you find out next week.

Larry

John Gateley · « **Reply #11 on:** February 20, 2006, 04:24:03 pm »

Hi Larry,

Bad news: it's not our bug. We updated to the latest Audible SDK recently, and they are more strict about enforcing licensing constraints than previously. I'll be checking into the licensing issue to see if there's anything we can do. It might help if you contacted Audible directly to express your displeasure.

j

lalittle · « **Reply #12 on:** February 20, 2006, 05:26:08 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on February 20, 2006, 04:24:03 pm

Hi Larry,

Bad news: it's not our bug. We updated to the latest Audible SDK recently, and they are more strict about enforcing licensing constraints than previously. I'll be checking into the licensing issue to see if there's anything we can do. It might help if you contacted Audible directly to express your displeasure.

j

I don't understand. I CAN play the files from the other system's drive -- I just can't do it with Media Server. How is this not a "Media Server" issue? The "old" Media Server still works fine with Audible files (both versions 10 and 11). Are you saying that I need to use an OLDER Media Center in order to get this to work? How can an older version of the software have such a blatant advantage over the new version?

If I access the exact same files via "Drives and Devices" instead of through the normal panes, the files play fine (but I get no tag information this way.) Both my systems ARE licensed with audible. The problem is specific to using Media Server.

Regarding contacting Audible, I can do this, but I'm 99.99999% sure that it will have ZERO effect since I can't get anybody on the phone who can do anything about it. I'm sure they'll just tell me that this is a "Media Center" issue and that I should contact you. Once again, their files DO work fine when played from another system -- it's just when using "Media Server" that the problem occurs.

Thanks for looking into this -- this is a VERY big deal for me.

Larry

Matt · « **Reply #13 on:** February 20, 2006, 05:56:55 pm »

Local files / network shares and http:// are different animals. Just because one works doesn't mean the other will.

The Audible SDK won't allow http:// files to pass their license check. Media Server uses http://.

As John said, we're contacting Audible. It sounds like you can use your mapped drive to work-around the issue in the meantime.

lalittle · « **Reply #14 on:** February 20, 2006, 11:54:55 pm »

Quote from: Matt on February 20, 2006, 05:56:55 pm

Local files / network shares and http:// are different animals. Just because one works doesn't mean the other will.

The Audible SDK won't allow http:// files to pass their license check. Media Server uses http://.

I see. Just to clarify, did this change between 10/11.0 and 11.1? I "thought" that MC used to use http:// as well, but it sounds like what you're saying is that the Media Server changed the way it accesses shares, and that this in turn effected Audible playback over Media Server. Do I understand correctly?

Quote

As John said, we're contacting Audible. It sounds like you can use your mapped drive to work-around the issue in the meantime.

Thank you VERY much for pursuing this. If you can get this to work it will make a BIG difference to me.

It's true that I can get audible files to "play" using the "Drives and Devices" workaround. The problem, however, is that I don't get any tag info when I do this, which makes the process of looking through the various titles and selecting one a very clumsy task. Since I get a lot of weekly periodical shows, and since I don't "keep up" with them, I end up having to browse through about 200 titles (and growing) when I want to listen to one. This is quite difficult to do using only the cryptic file names, which is the only thing available when utilizing the "Drives and Devices" branch.

I realize that this is a rather subjective question, and I'm not asking for any promises, but how high should my hopes be that you'll be able to get Audible files to work over Media Server? I'll probably revert to 11.0 if you don't think it's likely that 11.1 will work in this regard, but I'd REALLY rather stick with 11.1. I just don't want to have to use the clumsy "Drives and Devices" method for browsing all my Audible titles -- I've grown too accustomed to the powerful, friendly layout that MC offers via the tag panes.

Thanks again,

Larry

John Gateley · « **Reply #15 on:** February 21, 2006, 10:23:29 am »

No, it is NOT a change in Library Server, it is a change in the Audible SDK. We recently upgraded to the latest version, and that's when the http stuff quit working.

j

lalittle · « **Reply #16 on:** February 21, 2006, 04:59:40 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on February 21, 2006, 10:23:29 am

No, it is NOT a change in Library Server, it is a change in the Audible SDK. We recently upgraded to the latest version, and that's when the http stuff quit working.

Sorry -- my misunderstanding. I thought you meant that you had to change the Library Server based on changes in the Audible SDK. I see what you're saying now.

Is there a "decent" chance for a solution to this relatively soon (or at all)? I'm trying to decide if it's worth waiting it out for a fix, or if it would be better to temporarily switch back to version 11. The "Drives and Devices" workaround is very annoying for anything other than a "short term" workaround, but I'd REALLY rather stick with 11.1 if you think there is decent hope for a fairly quick solution to this. I just don't have any idea how long this sort of thing might take to change (assuming this is something that will be changed at some point.)

Thanks,

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #17 on:** February 23, 2006, 06:30:44 pm »

Quote from: Matt on February 20, 2006, 05:56:55 pm

As John said, we're contacting Audible.

Any updates (good or bad) on this? Any guesses as to whether or not this appears to be a fixable issue?

Thanks,

Larry

John Gateley · « **Reply #18 on:** February 24, 2006, 10:30:36 am »

I've heard back from Audible, but it's not promising. It's not a licensing issue as I originally thought, but just an audible SDK limitation. They haven't commented on why it worked before.

There is one alternative that might work, I haven't looked closely at it yet.

It would *really* help us if Audible listeners would communicate their desire to Audible, as I asked before. Otherwise it's just me asking them.

j

lalittle · « **Reply #19 on:** February 24, 2006, 02:38:41 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on February 24, 2006, 10:30:36 am

I've heard back from Audible, but it's not promising. It's not a licensing issue as I originally thought, but just an audible SDK limitation. They haven't commented on why it worked before.

If it's not a licensing issue, then at least they're not "purposefully" preventing it from working. This at least leaves some "room" for hope. Maybe if somebody can figure out what changed from the previous version to this one, you can figure out how to get it to work again. Is an "SDK" something that can be changed?

Quote

There is one alternative that might work, I haven't looked closely at it yet.

I'm REALLY hoping that your alternative idea works because this is a very serious issue for me. It's a big enough issue that if 11.1 it just can't work in this regard, I'm considering going back to version 11.0, which I REALLY don't want to do. Please let us know the progress of this idea when you get a chance to study it a bit more.

Quote

It would *really* help us if Audible listeners would communicate their desire to Audible, as I asked before. Otherwise it's just me asking them.

I'll call today, and I know one other Audible account holder that I'll ask to call about this issue.

Thanks again for continuing to look into this,

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #20 on:** March 10, 2006, 05:54:45 am »

Have there been any updates to this issue? When I called Audible about this, they told me they would "escalate" my questions about this issue and call me back. The person I spoke with on the phone couldn't tell me why this was changed or if it would ever be changed back, but I'm unclear if the rep fully understood the issue.

A couple weeks ago, John said (in this thread):

Quote from: John Gateley on February 24, 2006, 10:30:36 am

There is one alternative that might work, I haven't looked closely at it yet.

Is this "alternative" still a possibility.

Quote

It would *really* help us if Audible listeners would communicate their desire to Audible, as I asked before. Otherwise it's just me asking them.

I've already done so, and I'll follow up on the "escalated" issue if I don't hear back from them. The problem, however, is that it seems fairly impossible to get such a request to the right people. When a customer such as myself calls, the reps that respond just don't know that much about this subject, and it seems like the "request" just goes into a black hole.

My "fallback" plan was to revert back to MC 11.0 or 10.0 (where aa files DID work over Media Server), but with the recent support for gapless mp3 playback in MC11.1 (via the LAME tags), I just can't get myself to go back to 11.0 or 10.0 anymore. This Audible limitation with Media Server in 11.1 has therefore become even more important to me lately.

The "workaround" of having to manually navigate to the aa files is a REAL pain since I don't have any tag info when doing this, and since the aa filenames don't contain all the necessary information on "magazine" type aa files in the filename (i.e. I can't tell which one I want to listen to.) This means I have to find the one I want to play via the tags using the "pane" view in MC, then look at the specific name of the file, then manually navigate through my audio library via "Drives and Devices" and find the cryptic filename, after which I can finally play it. This makes poking around for potentially interesting subject matter effectively impossible -- it's just way too clunky.

I'm pretty confident that if this issue is ever going to be solved, the solution will have to come from JRiver and NOT from Audible since JRiver is simply FAR more responsive and vastly more qualified at solving this sort of issue.

Is there still hope? Is there anything else I can do at my end to help?

Thanks,

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #21 on:** March 15, 2006, 05:59:19 pm »

I've done all I can from my end on this. I've called audible and followed up with them, but I just can't get beyond the standard support reps, who can't tell me why the change was made or if it will be fixed. All I can do is report this issue, at which point they tell me that they'll pass the message on. I cannot tell if the message gets through to anyone who can do anything about it.

If this is going to be addressed, it's going to be due to JRiver's involvement since they're the only ones that can make changes to MC, and they're the only ones who can talk to somebody other than the customer support reps at Audible.

John -- regarding your comment from a couple weeks ago:

Quote from: John Gateley on February 24, 2006, 10:30:36 am

There is one alternative that might work, I haven't looked closely at it yet.

Is this still a possibility?

Thanks again,

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #22 on:** March 20, 2006, 07:27:48 am »

I've been reading up on this subject, and this statement confuses me.

Quote from: Matt on February 20, 2006, 05:56:55 pm

The Audible SDK won't allow http:// files to pass their license check. Media Server uses http://.

Audible allows their content to be streamed directly from their site, and according to the streaming file properties, this capability uses http:// files. If Audible doesn't allow http streaming, how is this working?

Thanks for any updates on this,

Larry

John Gateley · « **Reply #23 on:** March 20, 2006, 01:47:07 pm »

Hi Larry,

Sorry for the delay, it's been a busy time. JimN is looking at the workaround today, I'll let you know how it goes.

j

lalittle · « **Reply #24 on:** March 23, 2006, 05:56:53 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on March 20, 2006, 01:47:07 pm

Hi Larry,

Sorry for the delay, it's been a busy time. JimN is looking at the workaround today, I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks John -- I completely understand that you guys must have a LOT on your plates. I'm looking forward to hearing about what you guys find out. (Hopefully it will be good news.)

Larry

scub · « **Reply #25 on:** March 23, 2006, 07:04:27 pm »

I can test this to, I've been using my ipod to listen to Audible files but streaming via media server would be cool.

John Gateley · « **Reply #26 on:** March 24, 2006, 10:10:10 am »

JImN's still working on this...

j

lalittle · « **Reply #27 on:** March 29, 2006, 06:46:46 am »

JimN -- thanks for fixing the Audible "playback" issue (where the file wouldn't play again if it was allowed to "finish" playing.) This is working great now.

Is there any new news on the "Audible over Media Server" issue? Is the alternative you're working on (mentioned above) still a possibility?

Just curious.

Thanks for all the help with this,

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #28 on:** April 04, 2006, 06:05:22 pm »

Any updates on this issue?

Thanks,

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #29 on:** April 11, 2006, 12:52:31 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on March 20, 2006, 01:47:07 pm

Sorry for the delay, it's been a busy time. JimN is looking at the workaround today, I'll let you know how it goes.

Did you guys get a chance to try this workaround yet, or perhaps hear any news from Audible about this?

Thanks,

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #30 on:** April 19, 2006, 02:45:14 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on March 24, 2006, 10:10:10 am

JImN's still working on this...

Is this still being looked into? I haven't heard any new news on this topic in a few weeks now.

Thanks,

Larry

John Gateley · « **Reply #31 on:** April 19, 2006, 02:59:52 pm »

Hi Larry, yes, progress is being made. I'll tell you more when I can.

j

lalittle · « **Reply #32 on:** April 19, 2006, 04:53:06 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on April 19, 2006, 02:59:52 pm

Hi Larry, yes, progress is being made. I'll tell you more when I can.

Thanks for the update John -- that's great news.

Larry

lalittle · « **Reply #33 on:** May 25, 2006, 04:50:54 pm »

Quote from: John Gateley on April 19, 2006, 02:59:52 pm

Hi Larry, yes, progress is being made. I'll tell you more when I can.

j

John,

It's been a while since your last message, so I was just curious how the progress was going on this.

Thanks for any updates,

Larry

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Author Topic: No more Audible file playback over Library Server??? (Read 5814 times)