iPod Audible.com marginalizing the Macintosh

[pubwvj]

Audible.com is offering a "free" ($12.95+1 month of paid premium membership) Creative Labs MuVo audio player to play the Audible Books. The problem is it does not work with Macs. Nowhere in the email offer I received does it mention this product is only for use with Windows computers. When I signed up I carefully watched for compatibility issues but there was no mention. There is no a mention on their web page that they don't support Macs for the player.

Today I received my audio player from Audible.com. It is the Creative Labs MuVo 128MB. It plays fine. It plugs into the Macintosh on the USB port and mounts on the desktop fine. It does _not_ show up in iTunes. It does play MP3 songs that I copy to it via the Finder. It does _NOT_ play Audible.com audio books that I copy to it via the Finder. I called Audible about this and they said, "We do not support the Macintosh with the audio player."

Phone them at 1-888-283-5051 to complain.

 

[ClarkeB]

Why wouldn't you just buy the Audible files at iTunes and drag them to your iPod?

 

[Linkjeniero]

It looks like he doesn't own one . The problem is not the files (they're the same in the iTunes store and in Audible), it's the program (iTunes is the only Audible-compatible program for the mac, but it's not compatible with the MuVo). I can think off three solutions to your problem, but none of them is very good... might help though:
1.- Use iTunes to make an audioCD with the audible files, and then rip them as normal mp3
2.- Use a program to record directly from your soundcard to convert the files to mp3 (this will take you a while though, it takes real time)
3.- Use VirtualPC to transfer the files with the audible program

This is why I hate all the "digital rights" crap... but it seems like there's no choice when it comes to audiobooks .

 

[aloofman]

If Audible.com had the market power to damage Apple's standing through incompatibility, then the word "marginalize" would make sense. As it is, this is a minor inconvenience.

 

[andiwm2003]

the problem is not audible. it is apple refusing to support other players than ipod's with their itunes program. i can understand that for music, but for audiobooks it sucks. but there is not much audible can do short of programming an application for the mac. and to give them credit: they have usually good deals with ipods ($100 off, but unfortunately not today. you can check in their "device center").

why didn't you use those offers to get an ipod mini for cheap? maybe you can convince them to take your player back and give you the ipod deal instead?

andi

 

[Linkjeniero]

the problem is not audible. it is apple refusing to support other players than ipod's with their itunes program. i can understand that for music, but for audiobooks it sucks. but there is not much audible can do short of programming an application for the mac.

No it's not. Audible is responsible for providing support for their format. And they did make such an application, but only for Windows (it's called AudibleManager). I think iTunes support is great, and the deals on iPods too, but they still should provide a solution for those who don't have an iPod or Windows (especially if they include another player in a promotion). If porting their program to Mac is suck a big hassle to them (or more like they don't want to put a couple of bucks into it... that's how much they care for their costumers), I don't understand why didn't they make the program in Java, so it would work everywhere.

 

[asif786]

this is surprising..if it wasn't for apple, i bet audible wouldn't even still exist today..

including audible on the iTMS and the ipod has been a lifesaver for them. If SJ ever pulled out of the audible deal, their stock price would go completely down the drain. They should tread carefully when dealing with mac users..especially steve jobs.