New iOS user: Question on audiobooks

[haertig]

I have been using this new "Book Mower" audiobook player I found for iOS. The more I use it, the more I like it. Apparently it is not free, as it appeared at first, it has a cost of $3.99. You get a 60 day free trial where you can load 3 audiobooks. After exhausting either of those, you have to pay up. But at least the app is cheap. I will buy it unless problems develop during the remainder of my free trial. I hate the current trend of advertising "free" apps. Yes, downloading and installing them is free, but to actually use them, you have to pay. I think this is deceptive advertising. Developers should just be honest up front, and say it's a paid app, with a limited free trial period.

One thing I noted, sometimes the display appeared messed up - I could not read the text on the control buttons, and various other text. I found that in "settings", there is a color scheme choice. It defaults to "Artwork derived". With one of the audiobooks I downloaded, the background of the cover artwork was a light sky blue color. This caused the app to choose light gray buttons and text. Which was almost invisible against the sky blue background it chose (to match the artwork). The fix was to turn off "Artwork derived" color scheme, and instead choose "fixed", which resulted in black background with white buttons/text. This was easy to read. So depending on the color of your audiobook cover artwork, be aware that the app does not always make good choices in picking its color scheme. I thought the app was defective, but it was just this one setting that triggered a part of it that might not be quite up to snuff in automatically picking colors.

This "Book Mower" app for iOS is as good, or maybe even better than, the "Smart Audiobook Player" I have have been using on Android. The Android app is a little more forthcoming up front - it clearly says it costs $1.99, but you get a full featured 30 day trial period. After that, if you don't pay up, the app still works, but with a reduced feature set.

p.s. - This "free" Book Mower app reminds me of the "free" WiFi that is advertised in the Austin, TX airport. Most certainly, you can connect to the airport's WiFi for free. I have done it. But that's as far as you get. If you want to use the internet, you have to pay. What is the point of connecting to their WiFi if you can't access the internet? Inquiring minds want to know!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by haertig

I have been using this new "Book Mower" audiobook player I found for iOS. The more I use it, the more I like it. Apparently it is not free, as it appeared at first, it has a cost of $3.99. You get a 60 day free trial where you can load 3 audiobooks. After exhausting either of those, you have to pay up. But at least the app is cheap. I will buy it unless problems develop during the remainder of my free trial. I hate the current trend of advertising "free" apps. Yes, downloading and installing them is free, but to actually use them, you have to pay. I think this is deceptive advertising. Developers should just be honest up front, and say it's a paid app, with a limited free trial period.

One thing I noted, sometimes the display appeared messed up - I could not read the text on the control buttons, and various other text. I found that in "settings", there is a color scheme choice. It defaults to "Artwork derived". With one of the audiobooks I downloaded, the background of the cover artwork was a light sky blue color. This caused the app to choose light gray buttons and text. Which was almost invisible against the sky blue background it chose (to match the artwork). The fix was to turn off "Artwork derived" color scheme, and instead choose "fixed", which resulted in black background with white buttons/text. This was easy to read. So depending on the color of your audiobook cover artwork, be aware that the app does not always make good choices in picking its color scheme. I thought the app was defective, but it was just this one setting that triggered a part of it that might not be quite up to snuff in automatically picking colors.

This "Book Mower" app for iOS is as good, or maybe even better than, the "Smart Audiobook Player" I have have been using on Android. The Android app is a little more forthcoming up front - it clearly says it costs $1.99, but you get a full featured 30 day trial period. After that, if you don't pay up, the app still works, but with a reduced feature set.

p.s. - This "free" Book Mower app reminds me of the "free" WiFi that is advertised in the Austin, TX airport. Most certainly, you can connect to the airport's WiFi for free. I have done it. But that's as far as you get. If you want to use the internet, you have to pay. What is the point of connecting to their WiFi if you can't access the internet? Inquiring minds want to know!

I had a few issues using Book Mowers. It could be that I tried to use it in my car and the combination of car use, importing the audiobooks from iTunes and playlists just didn't work well together (it would lose it's place in the book). But I also know some people who really like it. Like a lot of programs, I suspect it matters if you use it exactly like the program's author uses it.