Kindle for iOS 4.3 released

Kindle for iOS 4.3 has been released.

• Can listen to Audible audio books in the app
• Whispersyncs with Audible audio books
• Other Audible implementations
• Download an entire collection at once
• X-Ray for textbooks
• Various performance and stability enhancements

[Jessica Lares]

Very nice. Do you HAVE to have a matching Kindle book, or...?

I'm not sure Jessica, I assume so. But I don't own any Audible audio books to test. I never got into audio books. For some reason whenever I try to listen to them I either get distracted and then 20 minutes later realize I have no idea what was read aloud for the past 20 minutes, or I fall asleep.

[pwalker8]

I played a bit with it a little bit. At initial glance, it doesn't pick up all my audible books and it seems oriented towards whispersync, i.e. it doesn't seem to pick up audible books that don't have matching ebooks (or at least I haven't been able to find them yet).

[tomsem]

The Audible title in question has to support 'Whispersync for Voice-Ready'. In many cases, that is not the case. For example Hillary Clinton's new book is available in ebook and audible formats, but doesn't support this. Same with Diana Gabaldon's new book. I don't know of cases where support was added later on, but that seems possible. However, again referencing Gabaldon's Outlander series, some of her audible titles support it and some do not, even a couple of years following the launch of 'Whispersync for voice'. So there may be licensing or technical issues that get in the way of having more complete coverage.

At this point you cannot use the Kindle app to listen to Audible books unless you also own the ebook (and again, unless the audible edition supports W4V). So you still need the Audible app. In theory I'd like to use one app instead of two but only if that could be done without slowing app launch significantly, and preserving features etc. I doubt there are plans to get rid of Audible app.

It is really inconvenient to 'upgrade' with the audiobook on iOS, given that Apple's policy prevents amazon from offering links to storefront (without in-app purchase and sharing revenue with Apple). Probably the easiest way is to go to the 'matchmaker' page with Safari:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/audible/matchmaker

The Android Kindle app has this built in and when you are reading a book you can purchase directly.

[Jessica Lares]

Bleh, alright. Will stick to just the Audible app then.

I assume the Audible options must be put in place by the publisher. That is how X-Ray works. A lot of people get pissed because X-Ray seems to be available in only a small number of books, but that is because the publisher has to knowingly add it and most seem to not want to do so. So count this super-hyped Audible stuff as merely another BS option Amazon has added but that we won't see much benefit from. In other words, business as usual at Amazon. Meh!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I assume the Audible options must be put in place by the publisher. That is how X-Ray works. A lot of people get pissed because X-Ray seems to be available in only a small number of books, but that is because the publisher has to knowingly add it and most seem to not want to do so. So count this super-hyped Audible stuff as merely another BS option Amazon has added but that we won't see much benefit from. In other words, business as usual at Amazon. Meh!

It is up to the publisher (the audiobook publisher), but the availability keeps growing and there are already over 45,000 titles at Audible that support WS4V. I'm don't really switch back and forth between audio & text, but have gotten a lot of great deals thanks to WS4V. For someone who doesn't do audiobooks, no, you won't see much benefit.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It is up to the publisher (the audiobook publisher), but the availability keeps growing and there are already over 45,000 titles at Audible that support WS4V.

But only for people in the US. It's not available for the other 95% of us .

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But only for people in the US. It's not available for the other 95% of us .

Technically, it's only for those who buy through the amazon.com website. I'm in Canada and I can buy matching Whispersync for Voice audiobooks. This is the main reason I never switched to the .ca portal to purchase ebooks.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It is up to the publisher (the audiobook publisher), but the availability keeps growing and there are already over 45,000 titles at Audible that support WS4V. I'm don't really switch back and forth between audio & text, but have gotten a lot of great deals thanks to WS4V. For someone who doesn't do audiobooks, no, you won't see much benefit.

I haven't been switching back and forth either and only bought both the ebook and audiobook to get the audiobook cheaply. However, now that both are linked in the app and immersion reading is a option, I might try both reading and listening to the same book, or switching back and forth on my iPhone and iPad mini.

[Ricky D'Angelo]

Originally Posted by Synamon

I haven't been switching back and forth either and only bought both the ebook and audiobook to get the audiobook cheaply. However, now that both are linked in the app and immersion reading is a option, I might try both reading and listening to the same book, or switching back and forth on my iPhone and iPad mini.

I've been switching back and forth between the audiobook and ebook on my iphone. With the update now immersion reading is possible on IOS devices. At first I thought that the update wasn't working since I had already downloaded the audio via the audiblle app and audio didn't start when I opened my ebook. To get immersion reading to work the audio has to be downloaded again within the kindle app.