Audible

[Jesse Sjoblom]

Is anyone else having trouble with the audible app on wp8? I'm using a lumia 920. I can install and run app just fine, but every time I start the app I have to re-download the book I want to listen to. It does not stay downloaded. Same problem with multiple books. I have re-installed the app 4 times.

 

[Michael Green1]

Having the same problem

Here's where I am in troubleshooting:

Problem: Download book. Listen to book. Interrupt the book.* Go back to the book. Try to listen. Book requires download.
Observations: The download size of the book grows by the size of the book. So, the first time you download the book you will see it as a (for example) 100MB file. The second time you download the book, it is now a 200MB file with 50% already completed. This repeats for each download (66% complete for 300MB, 75% for 400MB etc).

* Interrupting the book. I haven't yet determined what level of interruption is required to kill the book. It doesn't happen after every call. I'm beginning to think that it's the back arrow/terminate app from memory action that kills the book, but I haven't tested that yet.

Yesterday, I uninstalled the app, reinstalled, downloaded the book and listened. It appeared to work through phone calls and texts. I don't remember if I terminated the app at all. This morning I am having to redownload the book. I've tested it and confirmed that every time I use the back arrow to leave Audible, the file needs to be redownloaded.

I'll play with the book today (I'm driving back to Dallas from Houston) and see if I can avoid redownloading by avoiding the back button.

 

[Blackfoot Flash]

I'm not seeing downloads vanish.

The only hiccup I'm seeing is that my listening progress on a particular section will be reset to zero after a while. Seems only to happen when I'm streaming in the car.

 

[Michael Green1]

Updated test information

You have Windows 8 on Nokia Lumia 920 and you're not having the problem? Can you please go into the app, terminate it using the back arrow button, and then reload and test?

It's a dumb request, more so now that I have new test data, but I'm still curious.

OK - today I swore I woudn't hit the back arrow button. I listened to the book, stopped, went about my morning (I'm attending a security conference on mobility and other technologies in the oil and gas industry), and at lunch tried to listen to the book. Bada - bummer - no book. I had to redownload.

It's not the back button, but the back button a sure fire way to do it. I can reproduce the problem 100% if I use the back button to term the audible app. There are other ways to make it happen, but that's a sure fire test.

 

[Guruphil]

I'm not suffering with the download issue, but I have had to resort to using bookmarks to remember my place in a book when I stop listening.
I do two hours of commuting a day, so tend to use Audible on the train/walk each way. Often I'm finding that in wp8 the Audible app forgets where I was in the book. This is very irritating indeed!
Needless to say, never had this issue on Android.

 

[Ulairi]

The Audible experience on Windows Phone is terrible. I just came from Android and I miss the syncing between devices and the app itself is slow and cannot download books in the background. It's almost going to make me return the phone.

 

[Brian McBride]

Audible isn't terrible on WP8 - it is actually so horrifying that it could be the main reason I bail on WP8 this year.

Of course, it forgets your spot. It is slow to open an audiobook. It is pretty, but the navigation isn't streamlined. But worst of all, it has some bug in it where it kicks in your phone CPU and drains your battery faster than any other app I have run on my 920 - faster than all my games.

And get this, you don't even have to be listening to a book. If you don't "back" out of the app to close it, it will continue to turn your phone into a portable pocket heater and eat up your battery. I don't always remember to close the Audible app (which also takes forever to do in Smartphone time) only to pull my phone out a couple hours later to see 1/3 of a battery charge when it was full putting in my pocket.

Of course, I've written Audible, who NEVER respond. Of course, I am a 6+ year customer with over 300 books in my library, so why would they bother to respond to a guy like me (sarcasm aside, Audible clearly could give a **** about WP8).

I've also written Microsoft, but naturally they just point the finger at Audible. WP8 is going to die with problems like this. Audible is one example of a key application where the user experience sucks so bad it hurts the platform. Microsoft needs to send over a couple developers to help Audible fix their app yesterday. Same with Facebook, Pandora, Hulu, etc... I don't need a million apps from Apple's store as most are crap, but there are the mainstream apps that should work great on WP8 and just don't.

But then, even the music player in WP8 needs help. So many problems. *sigh*. I really like the general idea of WP8, but unless MS gets their **** in gear I just don't see the platform surviving.

 

[Team of Zombies]

I just picked up a windows phone to give it a try, this application is one that's seriously lacking when compared to my android (Galaxy Nexus) phone. I NEVER expected to have to bookmark often or risk losing my spot. I never had that issue on Android. I never had issues getting books to play. I do have this problem on my new windows phone. It's kind of crazy that such a widely used application would be so full of basic functionality fails. I was hoping this was a new issue, but apparently it's been going on for a while and the same issues.

 

[tmservo]

Major update to Audible today. I don't know all the ins and outs, but it does look much more polished. The test will be over the weekend to see if it holds my spot.

 

[doublebullout]

I just downloaded the update this afternoon, too. Also crossing my fingers...

 

[jhguth]

My main complaint with the Audible app is that it often loses track of where I am, or will restart the book entirely. It's very frustrating and makes it almost unusable.

I really hope this update fixes that problem.

 

[videian]

My main complaint with the Audible app is that it often loses track of where I am, or will restart the book entirely. It's very frustrating and makes it almost unusable.

I really hope this update fixes that problem.

I just switched to WP last week, my first audiobook didn't go so well, totally lost where I was at. Downloaded new app last night, have not messed with it yet. I hope they resolve this, I'm another one with a 10 year library, I need my books to save my sanity during commutes. Have already given up Waze (but it was supposed to be coming, hopefully still is). Microsoft needs to step up and get these core apps on their devices in GOOD working order. Or there no hope.

 

[jhguth]

from my first day of playing with the update it seems to have fixed my problem.

 

[tmservo]

Yep. I'm no longer losing my place, and power usage seems to be way down, because it's not draining out my battery.

 

[drbanks]

Same here. Since downloading the update, it hasn't lost its place once.

I'm still hedging my bets and placing bookmarks before exiting, though.

 

[Eric R Hamilton]

I am getting ready to return to android because audible.com is such a horrible platform. Yes, I need to bookmark every few minutes. Yes, I have to re-install from time to time. All the programming they did for badges - incredibly stupid waste of time. When you re-install, all that information gets zeroed out (wasn't anyone smart enough to make it server side information?). Why not spend time on building a fast and robust listening app. Can't see your files - another reason to go back to android. And, all files are stored on the phone, not an SD, so you can't keep much of a library in place. Call audible.com technical support, and they all say they know it is poorly designed software, and yes, they will take down your suggestions, but audible.com and microsoft are just giving the finger to the idea that wp apps should be competent and reliable.

 

[dKp1977]

I am getting ready to return to android because audible.com is such a horrible platform. Yes, I need to bookmark every few minutes. Yes, I have to re-install from time to time. All the programming they did for badges - incredibly stupid waste of time. When you re-install, all that information gets zeroed out (wasn't anyone smart enough to make it server side information?). Why not spend time on building a fast and robust listening app. Can't see your files - another reason to go back to android. And, all files are stored on the phone, not an SD, so you can't keep much of a library in place. Call audible.com technical support, and they all say they know it is poorly designed software, and yes, they will take down your suggestions, but audible.com and microsoft are just giving the finger to the idea that wp apps should be competent and reliable.

First off, if an app is poorly designed, unstable or whatsoever, it's certainly the dev behind the app to be held responsible, not Microsoft. Microsoft delivered excellent development tools and a mobile OS that is comparable to iOS in terms of security, stability and speed. Android requires a way better hardware to achieve the same speed like iOS and WP offer, not to mention that the initial smoothness and speed won't last long on Android devices, but that's a different story.
Yes, the Audible experience for WP has been rough and inferior compared to what it's like on competing platforms. It has become better with every update though. I'm listening to audio books on my daily commute to work and besides a few hiccups (like losing the exact position where I last left off) which happen rarely, I'm quite okay with the app. If you want to have your audio books stored on your SD card, just move the entire app over and bingo, you're good. Wondering though why anyone would want to save several audio books at once. oO I download one, listen to it until it's finished, remove it from my device and download the next one.

 

[rain_walker]

Here are my two cents:

When I became a subscriber, the app was in a working condition. Really the only thing I expect from it is that I press play and it plays.
Over then last few couple months though. it has become exponentially worse, without any apparent reason (no app update landed in a year) apart from my growing Audible collection.
The problem is, my books simply won't start playing. When I open the app and then a specific book, nothing happens. I click play, nothing happens. I close the book, open another, nothing happens. When I open and close the app a couple of times (think about the stupidity of that), sometimes the book starts to play, sometimes it doesn't. This is a big problem when I need to fumble with the app for fifteen minutes every time I want to play it, sometimes without success. I have tried to reinstall the app multiple times, re-download the books, without success.

Today, I cancelled my platinum Audible subscription, it just frustrates me so much, I can't take it.

I think there are two paths for the WP app going forwards:
- This is the last version of Audible we'll see for Windows Phone. Amazon doesn't want to support the WP ecosystem, but needs to have an app, because Audible is de facto a monopoly and they need it as a defense when EU comes knocking.
- There has been rumors of a slew of new WP apps (Twitter, among others) when WP8.1 hits a certain penetration of the total WP volume and that seems to be right around the corner. Maybe new Kindle+Audible apps are a part of it.

Btw. surprisingly, the Android app on Google Play is not so great either. It works reliably, but the UI really basic and has very little polish.

 

[Martin Jerresand]

Against all odds apparently an update to Audible on Windows Phone 8 is coming. Got this back from Audible on twitter last night after some complaining...

"Hey Martin, we just got word that the update is expected for early 2015. Please stay tuned"

Guess we will see, maybe an universal app is coming....

 

[Arsenic17]

Also just got an email response that an update is coming to fix most of the issues. I specifically complains about the app not allowing me to play books any more. Though through my troubleshooting, it appears to be specific to WP 8.1 and using the OS pause and play buttons. If I just use the pause and play buttons in the app itself, no issues.