1.3 and Audible

When you say you are using 1.3, I presume you are using the "hack version" from the Mac updater. Is that correct?

I've been using EphPod with my 10gig (1.26) for quite a while with Format 4 and it works excellent, with exception to the lost bookmarks.

I've learned to live with it. It will be nice to get it fixed but in reality, its not been that big of a problem for me. I can usually get throught a book before I find the need to resync my music files.

Yes, I'm using the hack version mentioned here previously.

And I agree that the loss of bookmarks, though inconvenient, isn't a deal killer. As you say, synching music isn't so urgent that it can't wait until I finish a book. The bigger problem is not being able to use the Ipod as a hard drive. I have some files that I store on there, and it's tough choice if I need to access them while reading a book; I have to weigh losing my bookmarks against not being able to use the files. But I can live with it.

When you lose your audible.com bookmarks you don't really have to play through the entire segment you already listened to in order to get back to where you were. Once you start the book over you can fast forward just like you do in a song by pushing the center button and rapidly scrolling to approximately where you left off. You can get back to where you were in about 10 seconds. Hope that helps a little.:)

Thanks for the tip, Bordeaaj. I thought there must be a way to fast forward but never had figured out how to do it. Guess that's what I get for not reading the directions. I had never really pursued it because with songs, it's not that big of a deal to start over; with books, it's a real problem. This will help tree-mendously.

BTW, I may be speaking too soon, but I think I may have isolated the source of the problem with losing bookmarks. Having the shuffle function turned on seems to make losing bookmarks much more likely. When shuffle is set to "songs," I've noticed a song will sometimes hesitate for a moment, then it'll skip to the next song. No problem with songs, but when it happens with an Audible book, it causes the bookmark to be lost. I turned shuffle off, and I haven't lost a bookmark since -- provided I don't connect the Ipod to the computer.

RNclie,
You asked for Audible opinions. I love it! I have been a customer for a couple years. But I must qualify my comments by saying "Don't go by me... I'm an Audible junkie!"

You can buy books one by one and save a lot of money over the cassette or CD versions. Or if you will listen to a lot of stuff, you can do the monthly subscription which is an even better deal. So it just depends on how much you listen. But even if you join the listener plan, you can cancel anytime and you can still buy books one by one if you want.

I have the Basic Listener Plan for one book a month and one subscription per month. I usually pick a different subscription each month, for variety. RMaxey is right, if you subscribe for a month, you get it however many times it comes out during the month. For example, NY Times or The World comes out every day but some other programs come out once a week or once a month. (You can also buy the newspaper ,magazines, or radio shows on a single issue basis if you don't listen to a program often enough to subscribe to it or see just one issue your particularly interested in).

I listen to all kinds of books, fiction, non-fiction, history, business, humor, etc. although when I first started at Audible, it was mainly for business books. Sometimes I go through more than one book each month so I just buy the extra ones on a one by one basis on top of my monthly subscription.

I have a 10G ipod. I always have 8 gigs of music and leave two for Audible content. But, as far as actual listening time, I'm probably 80% Audible.

How's that for a ringing endorsement? But like I said...don't go by me.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I think I might give the service a try. I do a bit of driving and now that I have my Ipod hooked up to my car stereo I can just kick back (not too much!) and listen to a book, news or whatever.