Audiobooks discussion
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I have this set, and they work well. I will say that I don't think they'd work well for running, but for walking and housework they're great. And it says they are stereo...I never paid much attention:http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTH220-B...
Kristie wrote: "I have this set, and they work well. I will say that I don't think they'd work well for running, but for walking and housework they're great. And it says they are stereo...I never paid much attenti..."I have a slightly different model, the 240, which I got for Christmas. It took me a while to get used to how they fit around my ears but I really like them. I don't run so I can't say how well they would be for that but as Kristie says, for walking, gardening, housework they are great.
Stacy wrote: "I do have blue tooth and the auto dealer set my phone up so I guess I need to look in my manual and try to connect that way. I will try that this weekend.Thanks"
Hi, Stacy! Another simple, low-tech option would be to use an auxiliary line connecting your tablet (through the headphones jack) to your stereo. Then you would just select auxiliary as your input on your radio. The cable is really cheap - can normally pick one up for $5-10, and it basically just turns your car stereo speakers into headphones.
Sandi wrote: "Honestly, I can't even imagine listening on a tablet or ereader."I find my Kindle Fire good for audiobooks in hotel rooms, which sometimes don't have mp3 jacks on their clock-radios, and even when they do, they can be a bit of a pain to deal with at times. Easier to put the Fire on the nightstand, and play the Audible book through its speakers. Otherwise, no, tablets and ereaders (my Sony 650 plays WMA books) aren't portable much at all; I prefer a dedicated audio player (Sansa Clip, etc.) most of the time.
I recently checked out a series page on audible--the one that lists all the titles in order of a series. Maybe it was just that one page, but the links to add a title to the Cart or Wish List weren't there. If this is site wide, it's a rather stupid choice or a huge error. I was interested enough in my title to go on to the book's page, but I might not be as persistent with other titles. In fact, what's the point in the page listing all the books in a series if there is just going to be another step in order to buy it? Just number the books correctly in the first place with the series title and a search for the series title gets you what you want. That's in theory, of course, because I've tried that before and it doesn't always bring up all the titles in a series and they're sometimes not numbered. *sighs*
Jeanie wrote: "I recently checked out a series page on audible--the one that lists all the titles in order of a series. Maybe it was just that one page, but the links to add a title to the Cart or Wish List were..."I just looked at the Sookie Stackhouse series page and the add to cart and wishlist were there. Maybe it was just the one page.
But I notice they did some more changes to the ever changing site, so maybe there was a glitch.
Janice wrote: "Jeanie wrote: "I recently checked out a series page on audible--the one that lists all the titles in order of a series. Maybe it was just that one page, but the links to add a title to the Cart or..."Must just be on select pages. I looked at a few different series pages tonight (John Sanford, Lisa Gardner), and they didn't have the add to cart and wish list links. Very unhandy...clearly they haven't gotten too Amazon-ized, or they'd be making it a lot easier to buy on these pages!
But they used to have the links... before they "improved" the site.
I think I just did a search for Sookie Stackhouse and didn't go to the series page. When I went to the series page, there were no links to the cart or wishlist. The other thing I've noticed is that they no longer list the narrator oh the series page.
They keep making changes to their website and I don't think it's to the betterment of the user experience. Gone now is the instant pop up when a mouse hovers over a cover. Instead, they've replaced it with a "quick view" which will cut off a sample you may have been listening to.
I no longer get a link to the daily deal. It's supposed to be there, but I don't get it.
Janice wrote: "The other thing I've noticed is that they no longer list the narrator oh the series page..."
Yes, I noticed that today - very annoying, especially with books that have multiple recordings.
Vicki wrote: "And the feature that gives you a brief description of a book when you hover over the title is gone, too. I have over 1000 books in my library. I want to see the brief description from my books no..."
Today is the first day that the hover feature has been gone for me, and so far I hate it. I think it's the worst change they've made. So many of their recent changes now require extra steps to do the same thing as before. Why do they think that's an improvement? I sent them an email asking them to add this feature back to the site, but they probably won't.
This is interesting! When I go to the series page for the Anna Pigeon mysteries via a link from my Wish List, there are no links to put a book into the cart or the Wish List, and the narrator, length, whispersync status, etc. isn't listed. Let's call this the skimpy-data series page. If I use the search box to look for 'Anna Pigeon', then the Cart and Wish List links are shown; and the narrator, length, etc is listed. We'll call this the full-data series page.
However, if from the full-data page, you then click on a particular book, go to that book's page, read about it, and click on the series name to go back, you get the skimpy-data page.
So the different pathways take you to two different displays. Very odd, and not helpful at all, certainly not making it easy to buy.
Kandi wrote: "Kristie wrote: The app works great on my Galaxy SII. Never had a problem with it recognizing my Audible password. Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app? Sorry to hear that the custom..."Did you ever get the app working on your phone, Kandi? If no. did you try changing your audible/amazon password to see if that makes it work?
Kristie wrote: "Janice wrote: "Jeanie wrote: "I recently checked out a series page on audible--the one that lists all the titles in order of a series. Maybe it was just that one page, but the links to add a title..."Ah yeah I noticed that too! you do a standard search, and each book shows with an Add to Cart, and Add to Wishlist button, but you view a series and there are no buttons so you got to keep going back and forward to add them. Very un-intuitive. I can't understand why they made all these updates, added no decent new functionality, and removed decent functionality. But hey, personally speaking as a software developer, that is sadly the way of the whole cowboy development world now...
Hey everyone,As you have noticed, series pages no longer have purchasing options on the right-side of the website and the hover option is no longer available. These were removed to make room for the new Quick View option that is available to half our users now and soon to be available to all our users.
Our goal for this change is to make it easier for you to see all of a book’s key information at-a-glance. While the old hover had many of these details, Quick View also lets you play a sample, buy a book, or add it to your Wish List – all without leaving the page you’re browsing.
If you don't have the Quick View option yet, don't worry. It'll be available to you shortly.
Audible.com wrote: "Hey everyone,As you have noticed, series pages no longer have purchasing options on the right-side of the website and the hover option is no longer available. These were removed to make room for ..."
Re: Quick View - That's just an extra step to see the basic information and either way, you have to click one time for quick view or to access the entire book page. I don't see any improvement there. And you've just taken away a really nice feature by taking away the hover feature.
Angie wrote: "And you've just taken away a really nice feature by taking away the hover feature. Audible.com wrote: "Hey everyone,
As you have noticed, series pages no longer have purchasing options on the right-side of the website and the hover option is no longer available. These were remov..."
I agree, Angie. I really wish Audible would put some programming time into improving the Search function in My Library and putting back the hover function there, at least. I don't think I'm the only Audible subscriber who can't remember the plot or the narrator of all the books in their Library. I counted on the hover function to remind me. The Search function, as I've said several times, is very tricky; it isn't sufficiently fuzzy to give the sort of results that we're used to. For instance, I can't get all of the books I own by Terry Pratchett in one search; some are his alone, others are co-written with one of two different co-authors. Why can't I just get "Pratchett"??
Angie wrote: "Re: Quick View - That's just an extra step to see the basic information and either way, you have to click one time for quick view or to access the entire book page. I don't see any improvement there. And you've just taken away a really nice feature by taking away the hover feature. "+1. My thoughts exactly.
It'd be nice if they implemented some of the features I keep hearing people wishing for, such as wishlist management, or at the very least least a search capability...
One good thing about the new Quick View is that you can mark recommendations as "I own it" or "not interested". However, it also pulls from Amazon purchases which were often gifts I gave that don't reflect my tastes.I never bothered to mark them as gift on Amazon, since I rarely use Amazon.com for recommendations. (Because they were always so laughable, gee, another book by the same author, I never would have thought of that!) I have used the recommendations on Audible a bit more, but I always look at the reviews as well.
The loss of the hover feature in Library and Wishlist is terrible. Having to click to figure out the narrator - on an AUDIObook site! - is beyond ridiculous, plus of course other useful info like length and description, which you sometimes like to know without leaving the page (and certainly the series page should show narrators without requiring hovering or any sort of clicks! For many listeners of audiobooks, narrators are almost of equal importance to authors!). I don't know if they intend to implement QuickView in Library and Wishlist as well as series - but wherever they do it, I'm wondering, if QuickView requires a click, how will it work for tablets/iPads? (Hovering just required a single tap; a double tap clicked the link). I hope they're working on that; often when you're on a remote connection is exactly when you don't want to waste time clicking through to other pages.
These site changes continue to feel very piecemeal and not well thought out to me. Have they actually consulted with users or beta tested at all?
The hover feature is gone from the wishlist and library. I liked looking through my wishlist and reminding myself the basics of the book before buying. Now it's just more difficult. I haven't found one change that is helpful or better than before, and several that are definitely worse. I don't know why they waste time on these changes and never improve the most requested changes. Makes no sense, and I agree that they ought to do some beta testing and factor in feedback before unleashing it on the general public.
Justacat wrote: "These site changes continue to feel very piecemeal and not well thought out to me. Have they actually consulted with users or beta tested at all? "As an old school developer, sadly that sort of thing is soooo 20th century... Along with planning and designing development work as opposed to just doing it ad hoc, and calling it "Agile"(TM)...
That said, I do like the Amazon like way to improve recommendations.
Also, giving recommendations on books that are in your wishlist already doesn't achieve the desired result...
I just wished they'd do something with wishlist management though. Mine is unmanageable, and add to that having to manually find and remove the books when I buy them is so crappy
Audible.com wrote: "Hey everyone,As you have noticed, series pages no longer have purchasing options on the right-side of the website and the hover option is no longer available. These were removed to make room for ..."
I don't like the Quickview. With the hover feature, I was able to see at a glance the basics of the book. Then, if I wanted more information, I would click on the link to take me to the book page. Now, that convenience is gone. It's inconvenient to click on the quick view to see if the book may interest me. The other problem with it is that if I happen to be listening to a sample and click on the quick view, the sample is cut off.
I really dislike what you did with the series page. As far as I'm concerned, it's useless now. What I need to know to make a decision is who the narrator is at a glance. I don't want to have to click on the quick link for every book in the series.
This new change is cumbersome.
I put a lot of things on my wish list that I wait on reviews/ratings to come in for them. I periodically will skim through my wish list and hover over the titles to see what people have rated the books. I just want to know at a glance, not have to click on everything to find out. I don't really think what we want will have any impact on what Audible does though.
Well, one thing, being an actual click, it will work a lot better on touch devices. The hover is very hard to use on a touch device, without a mouse,
Well, I'll go against the grain here and say I like Quick View better. I was constantly annoyed by the popup view obstructing things I did want to see. I like being able to choose whether I want more detail or not.
I am indifferent about the change. I say meh.
Sandra wrote: "Well, I'll go against the grain here and say I like Quick View better. I was constantly annoyed by the popup view obstructing things I did want to see. I like being able to choose whether I want ..."On a touch device, or on a mouse driven device? I admit it was hard on touch, as I've admitted above, but on PC I never had an issue with that.
Michael wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Well, I'll go against the grain here and say I like Quick View better. I was constantly annoyed by the popup view obstructing things I did want to see. I like being able to choose..."My computer is mouse driven. I seldom looked at the site on my phone or tablet.
One addition I do like...on their recommendations section of their main page, you can now click on quick view and select that you're either not interested in that book or already own it.
Maybe the rest of you know this but when I was on the Audbile site recently, there was a feedback form about how you like the new look of the site and asking for specific comments. I'd encourage everyone to look for that if you haven't already done so.
Robin wrote: "Maybe the rest of you know this but when I was on the Audbile site recently, there was a feedback form about how you like the new look of the site and asking for specific comments. I'd encourage ev..."Yes, if more people let them know of things they want changed or brought back, maybe they'll listen. They won't take just one person's wishes into consideration.
Robin wrote: "Maybe the rest of you know this but when I was on the Audbile site recently, there was a feedback form about how you like the new look of the site and asking for specific comments. I'd encourage ev..."Yes, I got that, and I filled it out, nicely. I did state that is worked better for touch as a positive :)
Angie wrote: "Re: Quick View - That's just an extra step to see the basic information and either way, you have to click one time for quick view or to access the entire book page. I don't see any improvement there. And you've just taken away a really nice feature by taking away the hover feature. "Michael wrote: "+1. My thoughts exactly.
It'd be nice if they implemented some of the features I keep hearing people wishing for, such as wishlist management, or at the very least least a search capability..."
Big "ditto" to Angie and Michael's thoughts!
BTW, as a developer myself, I always try to put myself in the users shoes with everything I do. I know that most developers and teams do not.To quote a statement someone at work posted from a user experience workshop, aimed at the devolopers and companies producing customer targeted software:
"You are not your target audience".
So many do not even vaguely get this, and don't even consider trying to put themselves in the users position.
I did not know that you were a developer. I apologize for my past inability to offer an "open ear" to your concerns about Audible.
Michael wrote: "BTW, as a developer myself, I always try to put myself in the users shoes with everything I do. I know that most developers and teams do not.To quote a statement someone at work posted from a use..."
My husband is not a developer, but he does a lot of programming for his work, and this is exactly what drives him crazy about 99% of websites these days. Well said, Michael.
OH! How I wish programmer developers would keep, "
"You are Not your target audience" in mind!
Michael wrote: "BTW, as a developer myself, I always try to put myself in the users shoes with everything I do. I know that most developers and teams do not.To quote a statement someone at work posted from a use..."
Nice post! Thanks.
Not sure how you're using "developer" here. But someone somewhere had to specify these changes, and it's that person (or committee) who should have thought through all the aspects of the changes and balanced the different interests. There may have been a desire to make things better for people who use tablets (I've seen that cited as a possible reason for the changes). But the benefits of that should have been weighed against the fact that utility for computer users would be badly affected. Maybe it was, and the decision was that the tablet users were more important (note deliberately tendentious description of that thought process). But if it wasn't fully thought through, and the ill-effects weren't identified or appreciated fully, I hope that Audible will make further changes to rectify the position.
One of the comments I made repeatedly when I filled out the feedback form on Audible yesterday is that the hover feature was instantaneous whereas the quick view feature was not. Clicking on it resulted in a small wait for the quick link page to load. Today, I didn't get the little spinning circle once. The quick link page loaded ALMOST instantaneously. That helps... a bit.
Has anyone else tried to review a book lately? Did they change the format to only answering their questions I know before when it popped up I could click to freestyle and now I can't find that link. I recently linked my account to my Amazon account for the whispersync deals, does that change something?PS I want to be able to hover to see who narrates a book in my library hate that I have to click through to the book page to remind me who the narrator is, sometimes I'm in the mood for someone in particular.
EDT: To add..There is hover in my wishlist
The click to freestyle link I believe only appears after you have at least entered a title.The formatted review question arrangements do vary. They aren't always the same from what I've experienced. I don't know if random or specific to a title though
I have a Gold Membership and am usually eagerly awaiting my monthly credit date with a book lined up to read. Well, today is the day and when I woke up this morning, as is the case most months, I had 0 credits. Is there a specific time credits get activated on the day they are supposed to become available? I feel like they should be there right after midnight on that day, but here it is 10:20 a.m. and still nothing. I hope it shows up before my commute home from work or I will not be a happy camper.
Sue wrote: "I have a Gold Membership and am usually eagerly awaiting my monthly credit date with a book lined up to read. Well, today is the day and when I woke up this morning, as is the case most months, I h..."I think the credit comes at the same time of day you signed up. My comes mid-late afternoon.
I thought it comes through at midnight also.I am confused about something ... you listen to one audiobook per month, and when that's over, that's it until your next credit arrives, period?
My credits routinely show up between 3 and 5 PM (Eastern) on the 27th of every month.
Audiobooks
Books mentioned in this topic
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A Night in the Lonesome October (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
David Monteath (other topics)David Monteath (other topics)
David Monteath (other topics)
Keith McCarthy (other topics)
Diana Gabaldon (other topics)
What makes do you all have?