Elipsa Kobo eReader Audio Player Review

[Cootey]

I loaded up some audiobooks onto my Elipsa and took them along for a drive. I thought it would be a good opportunity to test out my eReader’s new audio book feature.

It was a short test.

First, I paired the Elipsa to my car. The Nissan software was clunky to work with, but the Kobo software worked fine. A trip to Bluetooth settings, and moments later we were good to go.

Next, I noticed that the Kobo audio interface was sparse, lacking chrome and other UI elements. This isn’t necessarily bad, but I found the layout difficult to manage while driving. I gave up and had my daughter try to figure it out. No distracted driving!

The reason I couldn’t manage the controls while driving turned out to be because the audio app was sluggish and non-responsive. It was too much effort to figure out while busy doing something else. The audio began playing for us right away, so that worked, but getting the book to start at the beginning was a chore. Previous Chapter had no effect. Backward (misspelled “Backword” on the Kobo) had no effect. There’s no “stop” button, either. No timeline to scrub the play head. The audio book just chugged along without a worry in the world. Then about a minute later it restarted several times. Obviously, there was a lag—a quite serious lag—before the Kobo responded to our presses. Also, once the app was working, “Play” turns into “Pause”, but that didn’t transform initially for me.

However, instead of being happy that the book finally restarted for us, we were frustrated as the book stuttered and skipped during playback. It was intolerable, so we stopped our testing.

Later, I tested the audio book feature with some Bluetooth earbuds. They connected just fine to my Elipsa, but the audio book crashed, forcing me to power cycle my Elipsa. On my second attempt, the book still claimed it was playing, but tapping on “pause” produced no result. Eventually, the book began to play for me.

The playback with these earbuds was smooth as opposed to my Nissan Kicks. However, when I paused the book to write the two previous paragraphs, the Bluetooth connection was lost after a few minutes. Now I have to go back into Bluetooth settings and repair the earbuds.

A trip back into settings showed that Bluetooth was indeed turned off, though checking on it turned it back on, as others have posted about elsewhere. When Bluetooth had shut off on me, the play indicator still said “Pause” so I assumed the book was still playing even though nothing was listening, but when I reconnected my earbuds, opening the book started from the beginning.

My feeling is that this is early days for Kobo. Their barebones software barely does the trick. The UI is sparse and sluggish. I wanted to be a fan, but I’d rather load audio books into my iPhone. The Bluetooth connections are temperamental, which is inconvenient, but my stuttered experience with the car wasn’t repeated with my earbuds. Curiously, my iPhone has no issues connecting to my Nissan and plays smooth as silk. However, every time I pause too long, Bluetooth is shut off, requiring a visit to the Settings, and the book always starts at the beginning, no matter how long I listened before.

I’ve only tested with one book so far, but what has your experience been like?





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[PeterT]

Just curious; was this an audio book from Kobo (ie purchased at their site and downloaded by WiFi), or was this a side-loaded audio book?

The two use different players, and the side-loaded is not supported.

[davidfor]

From the description of the player, it is a sideloaded book. The player for purchased audiobooks is a lot better.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by davidfor

From the description of the player, it is a sideloaded book. The player for purchased audiobooks is a lot better.

I’ll respond to Peter here, too. The book I tested with was sideloaded. I do have some Kobo purchased books that I was planning on testing today. But the experience I had was so terrible I was surprised, and I wondered what others’ experiences were. I hadn’t heard that there were two different audio book apps.

Peter, what do you mean by unsupported? Seeing how the audio books were sideloaded like ebooks, and there was a player for them, that seems to resemble some kind of support.

David, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear the official player is better, but honestly, this secondary player is pretty awful. I wonder why they released it in such a barebones state. Basically, once you get a sideloaded audio book playing with it, don’t do anything but listen. Any interruption will cause a reset.

I’m curious how the Elipsa and my Nissan Kicks play together when using the official app. I’ll have to dig my car out of the snow to test it, though.


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[John F]

Cootey, see this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=342747

[Nikoz]

Originally Posted by Cootey

I’ll respond to Peter here, too. The book I tested with was sideloaded. I do have some Kobo purchased books that I was planning on testing today. But the experience I had was so terrible I was surprised, and I wondered what others’ experiences were. I hadn’t heard that there were two different audio book apps.

Peter, what do you mean by unsupported? Seeing how the audio books were sideloaded like ebooks, and there was a player for them, that seems to resemble some kind of support.

David, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear the official player is better, but honestly, this secondary player is pretty awful. I wonder why they released it in such a barebones state. Basically, once you get a sideloaded audio book playing with it, don’t do anything but listen. Any interruption will cause a reset.

I played around with sideloaded audiobooks and yes, the player is terrible. I even tried cutting the mp3s in 2min chunks so I could stop playing and then start again at (around) the same place, but the player doesn't automatically play the next file, you have to tap the "next chapter" button to do it.
So this player is pretty much unusable; maybe it's some kind of alpha version they used to test the audio playing capacity of the device before the real player's interface was developped, or maybe it's something they slapped together very quickly so people who tinker with their devices could have some fun with mp3s.
The player for audiobooks purchased from kobo is definitely different.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by John F

Cootey, see this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=342747

Thanks! I was sick as a dog then, so missed it, and didn’t search for “sideloaded” before posting.

Updated literally just five days ago… 😕
I’m usually pretty good about finding an existing thread before starting a redundant one.


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[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Nikoz

I played around with sideloaded audiobooks and yes, the player is terrible. I even tried cutting the mp3s in 2min chunks so I could stop playing and then start again at (around) the same place, but the player doesn't automatically play the next file, you have to tap the "next chapter" button to do it.
So this player is pretty much unusable; maybe it's some kind of alpha version they used to test the audio playing capacity of the device before the real player's interface was developped, or maybe it's something they slapped together very quickly so people who tinker with their devices could have some fun with mp3s.
The player for audiobooks purchased from kobo is definitely different.

Not even beta. LOL

I’ve never noticed before, but what format are Kobo’s audio books in? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was proprietary in some way. Apple uses .m4b for its audio books. If you convert a mp3 audiobook to an m4a file, then rename it to m4b, suddenly it behaves like an official audio book. I’ll have to search the forum to see what others have done.


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[martinot]

Originally Posted by Cootey

First, I paired the Elipsa to my car. The Nissan software was clunky to work with, but the Kobo software worked fine. A trip to Bluetooth settings, and moments later we were good to go.

My feeling is that this is early days for Kobo. Their barebones software barely does the trick. The UI is sparse and sluggish. I wanted to be a fan, but I’d rather load audio books into my iPhone. The Bluetooth connections are temperamental, which is inconvenient, but my stuttered experience with the car wasn’t repeated with my earbuds. Curiously, my iPhone has no issues connecting to my Nissan and plays smooth as silk. However, every time I pause too long, Bluetooth is shut off, requiring a visit to the Settings, and the book always starts at the beginning, no matter how long I listened before.

I like that you experiment with Kobo, but just to quick comment on you prefering to use the iPhone to listen to MP3-files/books in your Nissan. A simple suggestion; why not load the MP3-files/book on a USB memorystick and play it directly in the cars infotainment system?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by martinot

I like that you experiment with Kobo, but just to quick comment on you prefering to use the iPhone to listen to MP3-files/books in your Nissan. A simple suggestion; why not load the MP3-files/book on a USB memorystick and play it directly in the cars infotainment system?

I've tried that in my Toyota for music. The interface to find something is terrible. I have found it much easier to use the player on the phone and connect through Bluetooth for the actual audio.

But, I think for audiobooks, it means you could (fairly) seamlessly change between playback through earphones and the car without having to search for where you are up to. It's possible that the phone will just connect when you start the car and continue playback through the cars audio.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by martinot

I like that you experiment with Kobo, but just to quick comment on you prefering to use the iPhone to listen to MP3-files/books in your Nissan. A simple suggestion; why not load the MP3-files/book on a USB memorystick and play it directly in the cars infotainment system?

I *could* do that, but it's easier to load my iPhone since I sync to my Mac. Also, I've the Kobo & Audible apps to play purchased audio books as well. Mostly, I was just experimenting since archiving an MP3 and renaming it .mp3z is two extra steps I don't need to do. And who knows? Maybe I would enjoy the experience with Kobo better.

However, it turns out there was another forum where people reviewed all this already. Mostly, I was ignorant of the fact there were TWO audio players on my Elipsa. Like I said, I've been wicked sick (and mostly offline). I thought this sideloaded player *was* Kobo's official player. I was so shocked. LOL

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I've tried that in my Toyota for music. The interface to find something is terrible. I have found it much easier to use the player on the phone and connect through Bluetooth for the actual audio.

But, I think for audiobooks, it means you could (fairly) seamlessly change between playback through earphones and the car without having to search for where you are up to. It's possible that the phone will just connect when you start the car and continue playback through the cars audio.

This mirrors my experience. I find the Nissan software lacking, and it's so much easier to use my iPhone for this. It just automatically connects and starts playing over the car speakers whatever I was just listening to. Kobo's first foray into bluetooth connectivity is very beta to me, especially since the device defaults to shutting off bluetooth when I idle too long.

In the future, I trust they will improve this. I would like the option to have auto connecting for bluetooth devices that have already been paired. That'll make the Kobo eReader more convenient to use for audiobook playing. It auto pairs somewhat, but you still need to access the bluetooth settings page to kickstart it—something a bit tricky to do while driving. At the very least, Kobo needs to add a Bluetooth icon in the reading menu so that we can toggle it back on without going back into the More menu.

[Cootey]

I’ve had a chance to test the official player. It is indeed better as others have stated. It’s responsive, easier to navigate, and more powerful than the MP3Z player.

Of particular note to me was the very thing I felt the MP3Z player was lacking: a Bluetooth toggle icon. This submenu made pairing my headphones so much easier. I would love to see that feature added to the Reader menu in the future.

I only tested my Bluetooth earbuds this time. Playback was smooth, and there was no stuttering unless I tried to do something else in a menu. All playback stops once one exits the player, so no multitasking.

I’m not sure why Kobo opted to put sideloaded books at the kids table out behind the barn, but I can only hope Kobo makes room at the adults table for them in the future. The official player is solid with features found in most standard audiobook players. Thirty second skips forward and backward, a wide selection of speeds to choose from, time played, time left, information about progress in the audio book, and a timeline to scrub through.

(Is the picture size alright? Please let me know. Thanks. Tapatalk has a habit of posting pics larger than the forum allows.)


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[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Cootey

I’m not sure why Kobo opted to put sideloaded books at the kids table out behind the barn, but I can only hope Kobo makes room at the adults table for them in the future.

Because at this point, Kobo do not officially support sideloaded audiobooks. They only support audiobooks purchased from them. Hopefully that will change. If it does, the player will be cleaned up.

My understanding is that the player for MP3Z files was something for the developers to experiment with. It might have been used for proof-of-concept and to demonstrate the hardware could handle playback. But, as it wasn't a supported format, it hasn't been made pretty. Hopefully that will changed. And I encourage anyone who wants to listen to sideloaded books on the devices to tell Kobo.

[martinot]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I've tried that in my Toyota for music. The interface to find something is terrible. I have found it much easier to use the player on the phone and connect through Bluetooth for the actual audio.

Originally Posted by Cootey

This mirrors my experience. I find the Nissan software lacking, and it's so much easier to use my iPhone for this. It just automatically connects and starts playing over the car speakers whatever I was just listening to. Kobo's first foray into bluetooth connectivity is very beta to me, especially since the device defaults to shutting off bluetooth when I idle too long.

I have tried MP3 and works very well in our Tesla. Just put it all on a USB memory stick or SSD, and off you go.

That said I normally use the built in clients for Spotify and TuneIn to stream music, radio and podcasts. But for playing audio books it s great to play MP3 files.