New Audible App for Blackberry released today (19-May-2009)

COHagan23 · Thread Author #1 05-19-2009, 12:28 PM

Just got this email from Audible ... going to test it out now - please share your experiences ... *Crosses fingers and hopes it's touchscreen compatible for the Storm*:

Listeners, we've listened to you and we have an announcement:

Audible is now fully compatible in every way with your
BlackBerry® smartphone.

Our new wireless application, Audible for BlackBerry, provides the complete Audible experience, right on your BlackBerry:

• Browse, sample, and listen to the entire Audible catalog
• Use cash or credits to purchase titles directly from your BlackBerry
• Listen however you like: stream or download over the air, or transfer to your handset with AudibleManager
• Preview audio from the "Free" channel, featuring premium titles hand-picked by our editors

Download it now and receive a free download of Hot, Flat, and Crowded by best-selling author and syndicated columnist Thomas Friedman.

There are two ways to install Audible for BlackBerry:
Text "blackberry" to 35620* or visit audible.com/bb in your BlackBerry browser.

drock_in_nc · #2 05-19-2009, 12:47 PM

I get an error on my Storm. It is telling me to establish a "Network" connection???

katsden · #3 05-19-2009, 12:55 PM

I just got it downloaded. I'm having a little trouble with scrolling with the touch screen and I'm trying to download a book OTA and it seems to be frozen at 3%.

Jonbo298 · #4 05-19-2009, 12:58 PM

Works well so far. No network problem on my end. The only thing I can see becoming annoying is if the phone goes into landscape, it goes to "Welcome to Audible! Please rotate the handset" and just a black background with the tex until rotated back. Perfect candidate for locking rotation if it could be integrated.

*edit* It 'seems' to save to the SD card by default if inserted which would be awesome if true. Unable to verify it actually is though since I'm at work.

jfb336 · #5 05-19-2009, 01:01 PM

BTW, today is 19-May-2009.

COHagan23 · Thread Author #6 05-19-2009, 01:05 PM

I got it to DL an install (I had to copy & paste the audible.com/bb into Browser as the link did not open for me) ...

Got through the login process (which was a pain in the *** because it seems, although this new app does make use of the touchscreen, it does not seem to recognize the acccelerometer / change from portrait to landscape.

Touchscreen sensitivity for scrolling seems like it needs a little tweaking, as I seem to need to use a *very* gentle touch to get it to scroll.

I'm playing an Audible book from my local library right now ... seem to work pretty well. Seeking/navigating isn't perfect but *much* better than the previous app.

The UI is much nicer than before, but the lack of accelerometer support is dissapointing and cover art does not seem to size appropriately, even in portrait.

Other than that, my other first impression is that volume still seems bugged, requiring you to hit one of the volume hard keys after seeking or pausing to get audio to resume.

COHagan23 · Thread Author #7 05-19-2009, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfb336

BTW, today is 19-May-2009.

How true ... I am stuck in a time warp, let me figure out how to edit the title

Looks like I could only edit the title of the first post, not the topic. Maybe a mod can fix it...

drock_in_nc · #8 05-19-2009, 01:09 PM

Did a live chat with Audible. For BES users it seems the BES admin has to add a mine type. Second listing on FAQ page.

FAQ page here -> https://audible.custhelp.com/cgi-bin...ted=1242740342

COHagan23 · Thread Author #9 05-19-2009, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katsden

I just got it downloaded. I'm having a little trouble with scrolling with the touch screen and I'm trying to download a book OTA and it seems to be frozen at 3%.

Try using a VERY light touch ... it seems *way* more sensitive than the normal BB UI.

katsden · #10 05-19-2009, 01:15 PM

Thanks that does work much better. I'm still having trouble downloading books. It seems to freeze the entire app and I have to do a battery pull to get it unfrozen. Anyone else tried downloading OTA?

vzwty · #11 05-19-2009, 02:04 PM

It wont let me browse books. Always says cant connect to network. I have perfect evdo signal where I work. Deleted!

BenD63141 · #12 05-19-2009, 02:13 PM

Okay, I DLed it OTA. First of all, let me say that I'm just thrilled Audible has listened to its customers and created an application for BB users. Here are a few first thoughts about the application interface:

1) As noted before, there's no landscape compatibility, which is disappointing.

2) The "touch" vs. "click" functionality is a little different than most apps. When I just want to touch and highlight something, I have to touch and then when I lift my finger that item becomes highlighted, instead of highlighting it when I touch it. As a side note to the UI touch sensitivity, the scrolling seems a little laggy to me, but that could be my device. Also, the device "back" button isn't functioning in the app for me; the "back" button at the bottom of the screen inside the app works fine, but it would be nice to be able to use the standard "back" BB button to navigate.

3) The library is great. I already had some of my audible audiobooks on my card and it recognized them right away. There's even a button to see just the audiobooks you've loaded on the device instead of all the audiobooks you have on your account, which is convenient if you know the one you're looking for is on the device.

4) I'm downloading the free book that came with the download now. It's a reasonable transfer rate. Obviously the file size is large, so it'll take a while, but I've been downloading it for about 5-7 minutes and it's already 7-8% done.

I haven't played with the store or streaming audio yet. So we'll see how those work. All in all though, I must say that this is a wonderful surprise! I'm just thrilled the Audible has invested in making an application that is BlackBerry compatible; I was seriously considering canceling my Audible account before this came out.

dale.elder · #13 05-19-2009, 02:14 PM

Doesn't sound like i'll try this app. To mant problems so far. It doesn't seem user friendly.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

COHagan23 · Thread Author #14 05-19-2009, 02:40 PM

I tested out streaming (with the free book "Hot, Flat and Crowded") - it worked flawlessly for me. No, stutters every few minutes like the previous Audible BB app.

I also just OTA downloaded the complete file for the same book (~73MB) without issue.

While it was downloading, I noticed another glitch - if you have a book paused, or stopped in the Player, incoming message alerts appear to resume playback, even if you are not in the Audible app.

Another problem, confirmed by Audible CS is that:
"It appears at the moment it is a known issue that the complimentary subscriptions are unable to display in My Library."

So, no NY Times or WSJ OTA delivery for now (still) it seems.

While there are clearly a few issues with this app, I'd still recommend it without question to anyone with an audible account. It's vastly improved over the previous app that had only QWERTY navigation, and is overall a pleasurable experience. If you do not have an audible account, then there's really no need for you to have the app, but if you do - you have already been waiting for this.

COHagan23 · Thread Author #15 05-19-2009, 04:42 PM

There *is* a workaround to get complimentary subscriptions of the NY Times or WS Journal to show up in "My Subscriptions" ... Audible CS will have to do the following for your account:

It appears "My Library" will only display items that have been "purchased". The complimentary subscription did not charge your account and was free with the membership. I issued your account a complimentary credit and then purchased the subscription.

As a purchase, the application can now pick up on it and display it.

FWIW, They do intend to fix this issue in the next release.