Audio Books

[taosaur]

I just use PowerAmp for both music and audiobooks on Android. It's the highest recommended music player for Android, and while it lacks a few features that are nice for audiobooks (adjustable playback speed, bookmarks and/or remembering position in multiple 'albums') it also has a much more refined interface than any of the dedicated audiobook players. Having just one audio player also means I can let it pause/resume when headphones are plugged/unplugged and not have multiple apps fighting over who has dibs on the headphone jack.

Most of the time I do listen to audiobooks on my tablet and music on my phone, which means PowerAmp is almost always ready to pick up where I left off on the tablet. Still, it really wasn't that hard finding my place back when I would listen to audiobooks on my PC at night and my phone during the day, with no kind of syncing between the two. Another nice thing about PowerAmp is you can enable it as a lockscreen replacement, so as soon as you wake the device if audio was playing, you have access to play/pause, scan/skip and a seek bar without unlocking or navigating to the app.

[ghostyjack]

Another good audiobook player on Android is MortPlayer and its free. So far I've not had any issues with it for my books, but then I don't have any DRM'ed audio books to check that function. It does have a sleep function though.

[deddajay]

For Android I use Poweramp for music and Listen Audiobook for books, which is another excellent audiobook player - costs 75p. It has forward and back scan which you can set the amount of time to suit yourself, chapter jumps, a sleep timer, adjustable speed and bookmark feature. You can also automatically download the book cover to display whilst you are listening. The headphone controls on my S3 work even when the screen is locked. Very pleased with this app but it won't work for DRM'd books, but this can be removed with a bit of twiddling. I don't mind paying for apps if they work, and this one is the best audiobook player I've found so far.

The Audible app for Android is also good, plus you can download your books directly from your library.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ghostyjack

Another good audiobook player on Android is MortPlayer and its free. So far I've not had any issues with it for my books, but then I don't have any DRM'ed audio books to check that function. It does have a sleep function though.

I like Mort Player for Audiobooks as well. It's in need of a few updates, but it seems to be one of the better of the free ones.
In particular, I'd like to to see him implement gapless playback, which I believe is now available through Jellybean.

For my stuff that demands gapless, I'm using Rockbox for Android, which is "pre-release" and a bit hacky, but works.

[sakura-panda]

I missed this thread when it was started earlier. I have an iPhone and I use iTunes to for my music and podcasts, but I use the Audible app to playback my Audible books.

Is there a benefit for using iTunes instead of Audible to manage/play my audiobooks? I also have Media Monkey installed on my computer, but I've never used it -- is there a benefit for me to look into that instead, given that my media players are an iPhone and a 6th gen iPod Nano?

[jj2me]

Another free Android alternative is jetAudio Basic (Plus is $4). It resumes multiple files (but not if they're in the same folder) and has speed control in 10% increments from 50% to 150%, plus 170% and 200%. (The speed control setting is hard to find, as it only appears under the menu when you're in list view.)

It's also a fine music player, which could be expected from the folks who make the Cowon MP3 players.

[Blossom]

What I love about Akimbo I should of mention earlier is you can add bookmarks just like a eReader. So I can bookmark several places in the Audio book so if I wanted to say (Don't laugh) bookmark all the places Ranger talks in a Stephanie Plum Novel I could. Multiple Bookmarks is awesome! I can also go back or forward 10 seconds or 1 minute. You can lock it too. It's well worth the small amount is costs.

You can go to a specific position if you know where you like to go. No need using the slider to find it. It's also has chapters if you are using a M4B book. For those who listen to just audiobooks it's perfect.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Blossom

What I love about Akimbo I should of mention earlier is you can add bookmarks just like a eReader. So I can bookmark several places in the Audio book

Mortplayer for audiobooks, Rockbox, and the Audible player (I think) allow this as well.

so if I wanted to say (Don't laugh) bookmark all the places Ranger talks in a Stephanie Plum Novel I could.

If there was any doubt you were a girl....

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ApK

Mortplayer for audiobooks, Rockbox, and the Audible player (I think) allow this as well.



If there was any doubt you were a girl....

I said don't laugh! You mean all those Romance novels I promote in the Deals forum didn't give me away?

When I used Mortplayer it didn't have multiple Boomarks but that was ages ago. It could of been implemented since then.

[silverraven]

Originally Posted by Blossom

So I can bookmark several places in the Audio book so if I wanted to say (Don't laugh) bookmark all the places Ranger talks in a Stephanie Plum Novel I could. Multiple Bookmarks is awesome!

Well, it IS very important to pay close attention to what Ranger says!! Very very close....
Mmmmm, yummy!
S

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by silverraven

Well, it IS very important to pay close attention to what Ranger says!! Very very close....
Mmmmm, yummy!
S

Go Team Babe! The Stephanie Plum series change my life. When I tell people this they look at me funny.

If you don't have the Audibles they are well worth it! At least the ones done by Lorelei King. She is my all time favorite narrator. Each month I get one with a credit. 5 & 6 are still not available though. I had to go to ebay to get 5 on CD which is C.J. Critt she is okay but isn't the best. I wish King would go back and do the first 6.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Blossom

When I used Mortplayer it didn't have multiple Boomarks but that was ages ago. It could of been implemented since then.

I just double checked. You can put as many bookmarks as you like in a track now.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ApK

I just double checked. You can put as many bookmarks as you like in a track now.

That's good to know.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Go Team Babe! The Stephanie Plum series change my life. When I tell people this they look at me funny.

If you don't have the Audibles they are well worth it! At least the ones done by Lorelei King. She is my all time favorite narrator. Each month I get one with a credit. 5 & 6 are still not available though. I had to go to ebay to get 5 on CD which is C.J. Critt she is okay but isn't the best. I wish King would go back and do the first 6.

I love Lorelei King! She's Mercy Thompson's voice!!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by deddajay

Listen Audiobook for books, which is another excellent audiobook player

Thanks for the heads-up on Listen Audiobook Player.
It's now my new favorite. It has all the important features I liked in Mortplayer, a very nice GUI, plus it is the only one of the current crop of audiobook players I've found that supports gapless playback, at least on my Jellybean phone, which is important for content that is, for whatever reason, broken into a large number of short audio files.
It has one other main advantage over Mortplayer for me: Listen is being actively updated, and the developer has been very responsive to questions, issues and feature requests.

ApK