Audio books and Clix?

[bhamilt]

Hi there -- does anyone know whether the Clix can be used with audio books? I heard that it does not support audible.com -- is this true, and if so, is there a workaround for this problem? Alternatively, does anyone know of other audio book sources that are supported by the Clix? Thanks so much for your help!

[CrowdAds]

[mincho]

http://www.mp3.com/iriver-clix/hardw...atibility.html

[DaveMac-MS]

Hi bhamilt:

Originally Posted by bhamilt

Hi there -- does anyone know whether the Clix can be used with audio books? I heard that it does not support audible.com -- is this true, and if so, is there a workaround for this problem? Alternatively, does anyone know of other audio book sources that are supported by the Clix? Thanks so much for your help!

You can use any PlaysForSure or WMA-enabled device at www.audiobookstandDL.com. The Clix will work with all the content on this site, and they target their content for the DAP market, so it is all chapterized, etc...

Cheers, Dave.

[DaveMac-MS]

Just had word from the good folks at iriver that Audible content will be supported in an upcoming firmware update for the Clix. Iriver will be sharing details soon...

Cheers, Dave.

[mincho]

Any other Features ???

[DaveMac-MS]

Nice try mincho.

Yes, there are other features; no I won't say any more!

[mincho]

Awwwww...common you know you want to

[DLF]

I couldn't believe it when I saw the T10 series supported Audible and the clix was released without that support, so thanks a bunch for that heads-up! Finally, I will be able to listen to the daily WSJ/NYT *and/or* music in my car.

I've got a considerably less-informed guess for you: clues on iRiver's website point to the release soon (for the holiday season?) of the rumored 1 GB clix....

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Just had word from the good folks at iriver that Audible content will be supported in an upcoming firmware update for the Clix. Iriver will be sharing details soon...

Cheers, Dave.

[DaveMac-MS]

1GB Clix? As in one?

What clues would they be?

Cheers, Dave.

[608zz]

There's a multitude of audiobooks that can play on any digital audio device: Go to your local public library and peruse the books-on-CD section. You can check those CDs out and then encode them at home to any audio format that you wish.

[DLF]

Subtle webpage code is hard to interpret. Instead of the 1 GB clix mentioned in Sean Alexander's video blog way back in May, it turned out to be the U.S. introduction of the unexciting, but cheap, 2 GB version of the T10.

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

1GB Clix? As in one?

What clues would they be?

Cheers, Dave.

[DLF]

Unfortunately my local library doesn't have today's WSJ or NYT on CD, nor do they have hardback books published this month. Audible.com does, for a price.

Originally Posted by 608zz

There's a multitude of audiobooks that can play on any digital audio device: Go to your local public library and peruse the books-on-CD section. You can check those CDs out and then encode them at home to any audio format that you wish.

[DaveMac-MS]

Originally Posted by DLF

Subtle webpage code is hard to interpret. Instead of the 1 GB clix mentioned in Sean Alexander's video blog way back in May, it turned out to be the U.S. introduction of the unexciting, but cheap, 2 GB version of the T10.

Ahh, the 1GB Clix's were the devices we used for development. I don't believe they ever shipped. Actually, I still use my 1GB Clix - probably should break open the 2GB I got as a ship gift.

Cheers, Dave.

[Dennis]

Has anyone actually verified that 2.01 supports audible format?

Dennis

[DLF]

Not yet, but I am working on it. My copy of Audible is on a desktop Windows 2000 box, and WMP11/clix is on an XP laptop (of course), so I'm still fiddling around with it. Going to try some Audible podcasts directly onto it.

Originally Posted by Dennis

Has anyone actually verified that 2.01 supports audible format?

Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks for your reply!!!! I have been interested in buying a Clix for a couple of months now, but audible support is mandatory for me ... so I have been waiting. There has been a lot of speculation about audible support coming in upgrades, but so far only speculation. If 2.01 has audible support, then I believe the 4 GB Clix will probably have it too.

There is also a lot of speculation around the web about the 4GB Clix and audible. I wrote iriver about it yesterday, and they said "see our website" and specifically said they had no further information than what was posted on their web site. Interesting, I don't think iriver North America even knows if their 4 GB model will feature audible.

[DLF]

OK, the Audible support works pretty well on the clix. The new Audio Book subsection under Music shows the .aa files you have loaded with Audible's software (NOT WMP; don't know about iTunes). There's even variable playback speed (!), up to 20 bookmarks, and search/skip by bookmark/section/chapter!). But as always, there are some caveats:

1. You must have Audible version 5 software for Windows XP installed and working on your PC; version 4 on XP and/or Windows 2000 don't work right.

2. You must authorize the device within Audible's software, even if it means de-authorizing one you use now (if you already use more than one device). Version 5 uses only IE's connection/proxy settings, even if Mozilla Firefox 1.x/2.x is your default browser, therefore...

3. You're better off using IE (I have v7) to manage your online library than Firefox, as the latest Audible Download Manager and Firefox's tend to interact quite slowly (appear to be frozen for almost a minute).

All of that said, the Audible Format 4 (i.e., 32 kbps MP3 w/DRM) books and magazines sound GREAT on the clix. You can pop-up a text information file for each Audible selection by holding the right side down. The files themselves can be found and deleted from the clix using Windows Explorer, just like pictures/videos can, and are shown under these newly created folders: \Service\Audible.

Originally Posted by Dennis

Thanks for your reply!!!! I have been interested in buying a Clix for a couple of months now, but audible support is mandatory for me ... so I have been waiting. There has been a lot of speculation about audible support coming in upgrades, but so far only speculation. If 2.01 has audible support, then I believe the 4 GB Clix will probably have it too.

There is also a lot of speculation around the web about the 4GB Clix and audible. I wrote iriver about it yesterday, and they said "see our website" and specifically said they had no further information than what was posted on their web site. Interesting, I don't think iriver North America even knows if their 4 GB model will feature audible.

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by DLF

OK, the Audible support works pretty well on the clix. The new Audio Book subsection under Music shows the .aa files you have loaded with Audible's software (NOT WMP; don't know about iTunes). There's even variable playback speed (!), up to 20 bookmarks, and search/skip by bookmark/section/chapter!). But as always, there are some caveats:

Thank you for checking that out and posting the results!

I'm pretty sure you are the first person to actually verify audible support of any clix model. Hopefully, now that 2.01 supports audible, then the 4 gb clix will also come with firmware that also supports it.. perhaps 2.01 will ship with the 4 gb version. Based upon your input I will now get in line for a 4 gb clix.

Dennis

[Dennis]

I asked iRiver about 2.01 and audible and got another response today.

It was:

iriver America Response: (11/13/2006 08:39)
Hi Dennis,

The 2.01 firmware, does support Audible files. However we are in the middle of creating a new version of our MTP updater, thus the 2.01 firmware will not be available for automatic download until some time in the middle of this week.

We originally released the 2.01 firmware for about 2-3 days, but then had to make a new updater, which explains why at the moment it is not available.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Best Regards,
Baqar R.

[DLF]

Yep. The updater wouldn't work for me either, although strangely and unlike some others have reported, it said that there *was* a 2.01 update available.

I just downloaded the zip, grabbed the hex file and dumped it in "root" (i.e. "iriver clix files" in Windows Explorer. It then saw it and rebooted to install; voila.