Audible's disasterous app may make me abandon WP.

[tmservo]

I have really struggled with this. I've owned a Nokia 900, then a 920, and now I carry a 1520.

I love the 1520. It's a great phone. But the Audible app - something I live on, as I often drive 4 to 6 hours a day, is complete trash.

* It locks up and freezes frequently.
* I often have to switch to music to play something to switch back so that audible starts.
* Audible loses it's place frequently.
* I've had more than once where it will start playing audio over internal speakers despite having either headphones connected or bluetooth connected
* Once it syncs with bluetooth, unless I hard reset the phone, I can't get it to output audio through headphones again in most cases.
* it won't put downloads on my SDCard, no matter what.

Other apps and everything on the 1520 are fine. But this is becoming a real problem that I'm just not seeing any progress on at all. I don't want to blame MS for an app, but this is the dealbreaker for me.

I should note, though, that the problem of bluetooth not always being correct doesn't just happen with audible.. it seems to happen with trying to play MP3s that are sent to me in email (voicemail) which never go out over bluetooth

 

[Darthbobcat]

I've definitely noticed more issues with Audible than with any other app I use on a daily basis. I'd say, go hit up Twitter and complain at Amazon.

 

[jmshub]

Yeah, the audible app is complete garbage. I don't use Audible anymore because of it. I have enough music and podcasts. For a big services company, Amazon makes crummy apps.

 

[tmservo]

Yeah, I shot them some tweets about it, but based on the reviews in the ap store, they have to be aware. Just terrible.

 

[lizziej]

I use audible on a daily basis, and it has many flaws - but I've never witnessed much of what you say. Provided I stop the audio from the app (as opposed to the volume bar at the top of the screen) my phone has no problem switching between Bluetooth and not. It also happily switches from bt headphones to phone if I get a call (my headphones have never worked for calls, don't know why) and back again after.

The only time it loses place is when I force close the app rather than allow it to close properly.

It frequently gets stuck on the resuming screen and sometimes I even have to switch to another app and back before it works. This is particularly an issue if I'm in an area with patchy service (like my underground gym!).

Minor gripes: It's listening stats are wildly wrong and the badges don't work right because of this.

 

[wpn00b]

Got an alternative that OP should use?

 

[tmservo]

daily basis, and it has many flaws - but I've never witnessed much of what you say. Provided I stop the audio from the app (as opposed to the volume bar at the top of the screen) my phone has no problem switching between Bluetooth and not. It also happily switches from bt headphones to phone if I get a call (my headphones have never worked for calls, don't know why) and back again after.

The only time it loses place is when I force close the app rather than allow it to close properly.

See, on 3 different phones I've had the 'lose place' problem. The handling of Bluetooth has been bad on 3 phones as well.. Grr.

 

[lizziej]

See, on 3 different phones I've had the 'lose place' problem. The handling of Bluetooth has been bad on 3 phones as well.. Grr.

Wierd, mine is across 2 different devices as well. HTC 8x and now HTC one m8

 

[Egil Hansen]

Hi all,

Had an OK experience with my Lumia 800 and Audible, but after upgrading to Lumia 930 the Audible app is almost unusable. So my tactic has been to put some pressure on them where it hurts. I sent them this email:

Hi Audible,

I am a long time listener, however, after upgrading to a Lumia 930 (Windows Phone 8.1) my listening experience has degraded to a point where it is almost unbearable. The Audible Windows Phone app is simply too buggy to use consistently.

The app crashes when I try to view the book currently being played, so I am unable to skip around in the book. It is also very slow to resume playback of a book, the further I have made it into the book, the longer the resume time is, sometimes 10-20 minutes. It goes without saying that takes the fun out of audiobooks.

Anyway, I assume that there is an upcoming update for the Windows Phone app in development, thus I would like to pause my membership AND keep my credits until such an update is available.

PS. I offer my help in testing development versions of the Audible Windows Phone app. I have a master in computer science, so I think I qualify

Best regards,
Egil Hansen.

In return, I received this answer:

Dear Egil,

Thank you for contacting Audible.
I'm very sorry you've been experiencing such consistent issues with your Audible for Windows phone application. We are certainly working on an update for this issue and thank you for patience.

In regard to placing your account on hold, you were eligible for a 3 month Hiatus. During this time you won't be billed nor will you receive credits, but you'll have full access to your credits and other membership benefits. The renewal date for your account will be January 14th. In the meantime, you can check your phone's software for any updates and also reinstall the Audible application as this usually helps with any existing issues.

Again, we thank you for your patience and understanding. I've forwarded your request for beta testing for apps as well!
If there's anything else I can assist you with in the meantime please let me know.

Have beautiful day and take care!

Sincerely,
Arielle M.

Audible Customer Support

Maybe if the rest of you start sending in similar emails we can put extra pressure on them to finish the update they promise.

Best, Egil

 

[aximtreo]

Two things come to mind; is there a workable alternative program available and I'm certain the problems you are having is with the specific Audible program and not WP in general.

That said, I'm putting off renewing my Audible account until a major update is made to the program.

 

[Egil Hansen]

aximtreo: It is definitely not WP in general, it is clearly bugs and/or incompatibilities with WP 8.1. As for alternatives, there are none, if you get your audiobooks from Audible.

Even though there are a looong list of really bad reviews, ratings and bug reports associated with the app, I think that going through other channels such as the feedback form on audible.com and poking them on twitter will help move the update development process along.

 

[Darthbobcat]

After thinking about it, I decided to cancel my membership and tell them it was specifically because of their buggy Windows Phone app. I've been looking to trim some expenses anyway, and the buggy experience I've had kinda made the decision easy.

 

[Rolavine]

Yes, then they can get a similar form letter back.
If Audible gave a damn about the quality of the apps they would have been fixed a long time ago.

 

[Arsenic17]

Also just got an email response that an update is coming to fix most of the issues. I specifically complained about the app not allowing me to play books any more. To fix the problem, I had to unintall the app, reinstall it, then redownload the book. Though through my troubleshooting, it appears to be specific to WP 8.1 and caused by using the OS pause and play buttons. If I just use the pause and play buttons in the app itself, no issues. NEVER t