Looking for: Bluetooth Audible Books Device

[CRussel]

I'm looking for a Bluetooth capable MP3 player that supports Audible books and is NOT Apple. (Really, truely, I'm fed up with iTunes and I'll live with it for my phone, because I have to, but I won't buy another Apple phone, much less any other Apple device.)

Ideally, this device should be moderately small (but needn't be tiny), and have decent battery life. But beyond that, I don't require much. It doesn't need to have pictures or video, though I don't mind if it does. It would be preferred for it to support WMA audio, but that's not a deal breaker. What IS required is that it support Audible Format 4, and work with Audible Manager (not requiring a custom application.)

Thanks!

[JSWolf]

If I was buying a new Mp3 player, I'd look at Cowon. And they do support Audible format 4. The J3 does support WMA.

http://www.audible.com/dc?mt=MP3&mfid=313

[CRussel]

Hmm. The 8 GB J3 looks very promising. And not too unreasonable a price. (Bigger ones are just overkill for audio books, even in Audible Format 4.)

Thanks, Jon.
(and the editor in me wants to say that you really meant "if I were buying..."

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Hmm. The 8 GB J3 looks very promising. And not too unreasonable a price. (Bigger ones are just overkill for audio books, even in Audible Format 4.)

Thanks, Jon.
(and the editor in me wants to say that you really meant "if I were buying..."

From what I've been told and what I've read, Cowon has very good sound quality. Not just some iPod with a name and no decent audio components.

[anamardoll]

I have the Cowon J3 -- purchased it in March 30, 2011, according to Amazon. Got the 32 GB version. I can confirm it works with .aa files, though I've never used bluetooth with it. Did know it had bluetooth, to be honest.

It's a really good player; I bought it for the file browsing capabilities and the drag-and-drop and it's a good sport.

It's got some quirks. The expandable micro SD card slot is great, but once you put a card in there, it's NOT coming out without pliers. The other issue is that if you put it on "pause" for longer than a few seconds (like, say, someone drops by your desk to talk), it will either turn off entirely (NOOOOO! TAKES FOREVER TO TURN BACK ON.) or go into "sleep" mode, depending on the settings. Sleep mode is easier to wake from, but you are NOT going to have the battery life they proclaim once you set it up to sleep instead of turn off.

I definitely get a full day out of it and could probably wring two, but I pretty much have to charge it nightly. Fine by me.

I've been using it daily since I bought it and I'd buy it all over again if I lost it. So... 4 stars?

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

From what I've been told and what I've read, Cowon has very good sound quality. Not just some iPod with a name and no decent audio components.

I honestly don't care about the audio quality, since the intent is not to listen to music on it, just audio books. Frankly, I listen to music when I'm at my computer, working, and almost never otherwise except for live concerts. This is for when I'm walking or when I'm in the car, and that means it's purely for Audible books.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I honestly don't care about the audio quality, since the intent is not to listen to music on it, just audio books. Frankly, I listen to music when I'm at my computer, working, and almost never otherwise except for live concerts. This is for when I'm walking or when I'm in the car, and that means it's purely for Audible books.

Oh, I can also confirm that it has a nice bookmarking function which is great for audiobooks. (Works for aa and mp3 files.) And it also has a touch screen that lets you touch-and-drag to anywhere in the file you'd like to be, which is nice if you want to skip ahead over a long file.

[retro]

Sony recently released the new S series with built in bluetooth.
I have 3 Sony MP3 players just for audio books and I couldn't live without them.
I bought the bluetooth transmitter on clearance for my older sony players. It works very well, too.
They have an instant on feature that makes it easy to stop and restart with the touch of a button, unlike other players I've had that turn off.
The battery last for several days of non-stop play.
I get most of my books from the library, so they are Overdrive compatible.
The rest I transfer with Windows Media Player.
I've read some very positive reviews of the bluetooth capabilities.

[DuaneAA]

Do you use the audible app with your iphone? I have the audible app on my android phone and I love it. I can download books directly to the phone using wi-fi (or probably 3G). The best part for me is their bluetooth implementation. I mostly listen to books in the car and when I turn off the car and my phone's bluetooth disconnects, it automatically pauses the audible app. With my prior approaches using cheap, standalone MP3 players I always had to remember to turn off the player when I got out of the car or it might play until the player's battery died and then I would waste a lot of time figuring out where I was in the book. So I love the audible app for android.

Duane

[monkeyluis]

Originally Posted by DuaneAA

Do you use the audible app with your iphone? I have the audible app on my android phone and I love it. I can download books directly to the phone using wi-fi (or probably 3G). The best part for me is their bluetooth implementation. I mostly listen to books in the car and when I turn off the car and my phone's bluetooth disconnects, it automatically pauses the audible app. With my prior approaches using cheap, standalone MP3 players I always had to remember to turn off the player when I got out of the car or it might play until the player's battery died and then I would waste a lot of time figuring out where I was in the book. So I love the audible app for android.

Duane

I was going to mention that. There is an audible app for iPhone & iTunes does not need to be used in anyway. I download the books directly through the app.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by retro

Sony recently released the new S series with built in bluetooth.
I have 3 Sony MP3 players just for audio books and I couldn't live without them.
I bought the bluetooth transmitter on clearance for my older sony players. It works very well, too.
They have an instant on feature that makes it easy to stop and restart with the touch of a button, unlike other players I've had that turn off.
The battery last for several days of non-stop play.
I get most of my books from the library, so they are Overdrive compatible.
The rest I transfer with Windows Media Player.
I've read some very positive reviews of the bluetooth capabilities.

Sony players do not support Audible books. Therefore, not of interest to me. Too bad, their specs are fine, and they would work well with my car player (also Sony). Frankly, it's a shame what Sony did to the Walkman brand. But that's a discussion for a different forum.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DuaneAA

Do you use the audible app with your iphone? I have the audible app on my android phone and I love it. I can download books directly to the phone using wi-fi (or probably 3G). The best part for me is their bluetooth implementation. I mostly listen to books in the car and when I turn off the car and my phone's bluetooth disconnects, it automatically pauses the audible app. With my prior approaches using cheap, standalone MP3 players I always had to remember to turn off the player when I got out of the car or it might play until the player's battery died and then I would waste a lot of time figuring out where I was in the book. So I love the audible app for android.

Duane

Yes, I use the Audible app, though one can also the "Music" app. (Called iPod in earlier versions of the iOS.) Both behave similar, and I prefer to download my books via iTunes since it's WAY faster than having to download a book over WiFi, which the Audible app requires for direct download.

Yes, I like the automatic pause. Hopefully the same feature will be true with any bluetooth device. Though that's not a deal breaker. Biggest problem with using my phone for this is the overall battery life on the phone isn't great.

[DuaneAA]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yes, I use the Audible app, though one can also the "Music" app. (Called iPod in earlier versions of the iOS.) Both behave similar, and I prefer to download my books via iTunes since it's WAY faster than having to download a book over WiFi, which the Audible app requires for direct download.

Yes, I like the automatic pause. Hopefully the same feature will be true with any bluetooth device. Though that's not a deal breaker. Biggest problem with using my phone for this is the overall battery life on the phone isn't great.

I don't actually use the bluetooth to send the audio to my car's stereo. My car had stereo input jacks in the center console and I just got a cable that plugs into the headphone jack in my phone. Somewhere I read that this was much easier on the phone's battery and my phone will play like this for hours without making a significant dent in the battery. However, that ends up being moot for me as I have a car charger for my phone. My commute is about 30 minutes each way, and if I plug in the charger during the drive, that's all the charging I ever need to do with my phone.

Duane

[Richey79]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I prefer to download my books via iTunes since it's WAY faster than having to download a book over WiFi, which the Audible app requires for direct download.

I'm not quite understanding why you're 'fed up' with itunes: sounds as though you quite like it.

I personally loathe itunes, but you don't have to put up with it. There's always the option to jailbreak and then use the free program iFunBox as an itunes replacement to manage your idevice.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Richey79

I'm not quite understanding why you're 'fed up' with itunes: sounds as though you quite like it.

I personally loathe itunes, but you don't have to put up with it. There's always the option to jailbreak and then use the free program iFunBox as an itunes replacement to manage your idevice.

Hate the interface, hate the updates, hate the restrictions. Use it because I still have to for the phone. Don't want to use it for anything else. (Jailbreaking phones in Canada is possible, but has implications I haven't had time to deal with. May have to.)