Audible.co.uk and audible.com

I like audio books a lot, so I decided to try Audible after hearing about in number of podcasts. To get a account was the easy part, all you need is a Credit Card number and you are ready to go. With my first credit available I have selected a book and then difficulties started.

  1. Linux. I tend to use Ubuntu Linux most of the time. To download your book form Audible you will need a Windows computer with the Audible Download Manager installed. When I pressed the “Login to Audible” button in the Audible Download Manager, my default web browser Chrome have opened and I tried to login. Correction, form March 2011 Chrome is working with Audible Downloadd Manager on Windows 7. No way, I could not login because the Download Manager connected me with Audible.com (USA version) when my account was created at Audible.co.uk. Then I logged in at Audible.co.uk manually and tried again to connect  with the Audible Download Manager – it did not work!
  2. Calling support. The customer support responded quickly on the phone. I have explained my difficulties while connecting to My Library at Audible. The problem was “wrong” browser. I have to use IE in order to connect.
  3. Audio devices. After going through wired wizard I have chose an audio device (no Android available) then the download has started.. My Creative ZEN player is a supported device. Between other supported are iPad, iPod, Blackberry, Java, Palm, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Windows Mobile. Later on you can add a lot of different devices.
  4. Lack of portability. I want to listen to downloaded books on my car audio system which supports MP3 and WMA. However there is no way to move downloaded book on a USB stick or memory card. So I’m stuck with pocket MP3 player in a car.
  5. Workarounds. It looks that books from Audible can be played in Apple iTunes. I have installed yet another unnecessary piece of software on my computer. With iTunes I was able to burn a CD to use in my car.

Conclusion. If you are addicted to audio books it is as far I know the best you can get. If you listening to books only from time to time you may be better off with account at Amazon.com.

 

Positives:

  • It is good price for Audible account, you get one credit a month just for 3,99 GBP (4,80 EUR).
  • Large collection and many new audio books.

Negatives:

  • Highly inconvenient
  • Forced to use proprietary software (Windows, IE, iTunes, Audible Download Manager)
  • Downloaded content is not easy to transfer to another device.
  • When you quit Adible account you lose your books.
  • It is not easy to share a downloaded Audible book with a friend.
  • Audible.co.uk IS NOT Audible.com That’s why Audible Download Manager does not work flawless with the UK version of Audible.

Numerical analyses and Gephi

Recently after listening of few great books about number crunching and the latest Linked… I’m fascinated with chaos theories. I have started running my own web-spider to collect data for later analyses. Iwas looking for any visualization tool to produce nice graphs with PHP but I have found something really amazing and free (Open Source). Check it out: Gephi.

Watch the video: Introducing Gephi 0.7 from gephi on Vimeo.