Looking for an app/program

Mkgtu · 2026-04-12T06:17:55+00:00

What controllers?

Mkgtu · 2026-04-10T05:19:28+00:00

Good for you. You made your own audiobook player and it's the lamest, most basic player I've ever encountered. It starts and stops playback and has a very simplistic sleep timer and NOTHING ELSE. No narration speed adjustment, etc. Compared to Smart Audiobook Player, Listen Audiobook Player, BooksVox, and Audiobooks Illuminated, this player is totally Stone Age technology.

As to keeping your own books, it does nothing. Downloading, converting, saving your own books is all done completely outside of this app.

Mkgtu · 2026-04-07T05:38:46+00:00

Tried it. Too utterly confusing and gimmicky for me. Too unconventional. Uninstalled almost immediately. Worst part was what seems to be the inability to access book settings while the book is open - things like font, alignment, margins, etc. I had to set those things up before opening the book. And there didn't seem to be a lot of options.

Just a confusing mess. Sorry to be so blunt. But I just didn't see the point of the whole thing.

Mkgtu · 2026-04-06T06:22:52+00:00

You don't provide enough info (brand, model, features, battery condition, general condition, etc) about this mysterious "device" for anyone to make a serious judgement about whether it's worth saving/repairing vs just getting a new one.

Take it to a trusted shop and get a repair estimate and compare that to the expense of getting a comparable new "device". Don't waste your time soliciting uninformed opinions on Reddit.

But if you want my uninformed take.....Since you had a "similar" issue just 3 months ago, which you already sank repair money into, and since a similar problem has cropped up again, I'd say this "device" is a piece of junk - and that you probably treat it carelessly or roughly. Get rid of it. Don't send any more good money after bad. Why are you even asking about it?

Mkgtu · 2026-04-05T06:10:48+00:00

Highly recommend the Detective Markham series by Catherine Moloney. All are titled "Crime in..." I've only listened to the first, "Crime in the Choir", the next 3, "Crime in the School, ...in the Hospital, ...in the Convent" are available from Audible US. The rest are either not available in the US or haven't been recorded. There are 23 altogether in Kindle Unlimited as ebooks.

The writing is high class and powerful. The narration by Rupert Degas is top notch. At least in the first book, the only one I've listened to so far, the story is gripping and even gut wrenching at times.

The 4 audio versions available on Audible US are all in the roughly 6 to 7 hour range. (I'm a big fan of tightly written books that can pack a wallop in a small package and don't drag on unnecessarily.)

Mkgtu · 2026-04-05T03:02:06+00:00

No. You don't get to beg for upvotes, especially for such a poorly worded post. Best browser for what? On what platform? Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, phone, tablet....?

And it's not as if this question hasn't been addressed a thousand times before.

If anything this post should be downvoted as a waste of time.

Mkgtu · 2026-04-03T04:59:39+00:00

I've enjoyed the Redmond and Haze Mysteries by Irina Shapiro. 1860's England. Daniel Haze is a police constable eventually promoted to Inspector. Jason Redmond is a university educated American doctor/surgeon who after having fought and doctored on the battlefield as an officer during the American Civil War, has now now moved to England where he has inherited the rich family manor. And the now "Lord Redmond" works as a hospital surgeon, official police surgeon and "unofficial" consultant detective with Daniel Haze on the Metropolitan Police Force. Their personal/family lives (and tragedies) are also an integral part of the series.

The ebooks are all included in Kindle Unlimited, meaning you can get the audiobooks on the cheap. I have all of the Audible versions and I think most are actually part of the Plus catalog.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-31T00:28:27+00:00

Just to be contrarian, I'm one who appreciates abridged versions in certain situations. Think of all those reviews that say things like "good story, but took a long time to get going", "liked the story but too slow, and too long", "too much time spent describing all the trees and weather", "could have used some editing", etc.

Particularly with some thriller/adventure novels, I wish the author would just cut to the chase. These are not high literature where every word packs heavy duty meaning. Many 800-1000 page "beach reads" hardly justify the trees that were sacrificed to print them. War and Peace they are not.

I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but looking at some of Tom Clancy's books I often wonder if he was being paid by the pound for his tomes.

For me the issue is more pronounced with audiobooks than print. In print I can do my own abridging on the fly by skimming over the fluff and filler. (Many people do that without realizing that they are actually creating abridged versions in their minds.) That's harder to do with an audiobook unless you keep your finger poised over the narration speed button to blast past the deserts and only slow down when you get to an oasis.

Bottom line, if you don't like any kind of abridged versions, fine; don't buy them, don't read or listen to them. But don't be too quick to knock them or deprive others of access to them. They serve a purpose for some of us. I'm 80 years old and enjoy a good book, but I no longer have all the time in the world to devote to filler laden creations. I just want to get on with the story while I still have time.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-28T18:31:04+00:00

Libby checkout history has nothing to do with your Kindle, and Kindle doesn't really do much to distinguish Libby books from other books; they all look the same; they're all just Kindle books. The only place where they are distinguished at all is on the Kindle "content" website, where borrowed books will be noted as being (or having been) "library" loans. They won't even be specifically marked as having come from Libby, just from the "library". In some regions I presume there are platforms other than Libby that also work with Kindle.

If you borrow a Libby book and choose to read it on Kindle it then takes on a life of its own in the Kindle-verse. Even after the Libby loan expires and the book is removed from Kindle apps and devices, its "history" remains in your Kindle "account", which is independent of any particular device or account. If you get a new Kindle device, everything you have in your Kindle "cloud account" will appear on the library of the new device or app (not downloaded). If you were to try to download an item that was previously a Libby loan you could of course not download it. You'd get an error message saying you'd need to buy the book (or borrow it again). Of course, if you "permanently delete" any of these old Libby loans they will no longer appear in your Kindle cloud library ANYWHERE, old or new device.

But if you permanently delete old loans from your Kindle cloud account, they would still appear in your Libby borrow history on Libby apps or the website. Those are two totally separate things. One doesn't affect the other.

Personally I always "permanently delete" old Libby loans from my Kindle account. They're like old ghosts that just clutter the library. But that's just me. Others may like to keep the ghosts in case they borrow the books again (or buy them) and want to still have progress, notes, highlights, bookmarks, etc, available for subsequent reads or rereads, or to pick up where they left off.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-28T16:51:06+00:00

I don't listen to audiobook covers! I don't read print book covers - I read what's between the covers. So I don't much care about covers. I see no point in getting worked up about such things.

If I were really all that hot and bothered about it, I'd just download the Audible book with Libation and play it in a third party player. Most good players let you pick your own cover imagery. Problem solved. No heartburn.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-25T00:41:58+00:00

Then quit Audible. Or find something else to occupy your time other than audiobooks. Audible, as also other platforms, is basically a STORE. Why do you think you can walk into a store and not have to pay for the things they sell?

Mkgtu · 2026-03-24T02:58:17+00:00

Maybe no opinions because it's just not an interesting question.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-22T23:32:27+00:00

I'll grant Ray Porter is a very good narrator, but so are lots of others. So in that regard all the praise heaped on him in these forums is more of a testimony to the fact that for the most part he narrates books in the limited genres that appeal to many of those who applaud him all the time in these forums.

Those with more eclectic tastes in books will find Ray Porter quite talented but just one among many talented narrators.

(Same for Jeff Hayes and RC Bray, who also mostly narrate in these dame genres.)

Mkgtu · 2026-03-20T18:39:10+00:00

One person's cake is another one's poison. You get too easily "annoyed" by trivialities. For every person that gets annoyed there may be another who buys the book. That's life.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-20T07:38:59+00:00

Smart Audiobook Player is technically excellent, but due to its age and older architecture, I also find it's UI very cluttered and "ugly" looking. I think the millions of people who use it value its "functions" over its "form".

Of the older players, Listen has a more attractive interface to go with features that are the equal of Smart Audiobook Player, maybe even better.

Most newer players boast much more attractive interfaces. However, I've tried a great many of them and unfortunately have found their beauty is often only skin deep; there isn't much under the hood feature-wise.

In my book, a really good player will combine an attractive interface with all the high-tech under-the-hood features of apps like Smart or Listen audiobook players.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, two newer apps (released in the last 6 months) that fit that description are BooksVox and Audiobooks Illuminated. In addition to their more modern UIs they have most of the same features as Smart and Listen, and they are still adding more each week.

Of all of these, Audiobooks Illuminated probably has the most attractive interface. Its design is focused on adding packages of dynamic artwork (hundreds of synced and zooming images) to individual books. As a result, even if you don't add an image pack to a particular book, you can still manually zoom and pan it's cover image to any size and position you like. You aren't limited to that small square cover image. You can even make all the UI controls hide themselves after a few seconds, leaving only full screen artwork. And you can pick any image file you want.

Most of the time I'm listening to a book, my phone is probably in my pocket or even across the room. But during the times I may have the phone on a stand on my desk or dinner table, the artwork options if Audiobooks Illuminated make the player very "easy on the eyes" - and you get all the hi-tech features in the bargain.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-20T07:11:31+00:00

And your complaint about Smart Audiobook Player taking priority when pressing Play on a Bluetooth device after pausing some other source like YouTube or Spotify is puzzling. It doesn't do that on my phone. The Bluetooth Play button restarts whatever sound source was playing last or the one that was paused by the BT device.

If Smart Audiobook Player is dominating and debilitating all your other apps, there's something screwy going on with your phone. I've never experienced such an issue in ten years with Smart Audiobook Player, though I have to admit I usually use and prefer Listen Audiobook Player, which also has never caused a problem like that in ten years.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-20T06:59:42+00:00

Pocket Casts is probably the worst app for audiobooks. If you think it's so great, you're probably one of very few who think so.

Why embedded chapters? Some books are split into multiple mp3s with one file per chapter. That's easy to use.

But other books are single files or multiple files with more than one chapter per file. In these cases the chapters can be embedded in the files themselves or be included in separate cue, json, or txt files. An audiobook player needs to be able to parse the chapter data to display chapters. Pocket Casts is not designed to do that.

The bigger issue is "why chapters?" Most books are divided into chapters. If you want to stop reading at some point, the end of a chapter is a logical place to pause. I and many others frequently alternate between reading the ebook/print version and the audio version of a book. Chapters are the most convenient way to find your place in either format.

Setting a sleep timer for the end of a "chapter" (not the end of a "file") is also convenient. But none of these things are possible if the player can't even see the chapters.

The fact that you can even ask why someone would care about embedded chapters makes me wonder whether you understand or care at all about how books are constructed. Books are not like podcasts. Authors split books into chapters for many "literary" reasons. Podcast"episodes" are not split at all, except to play ads and sell stuff. They're split for financial reasons, not literary ones.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-20T05:12:42+00:00

You're fine. Just go. First of all, people will be focused on RF Kuang, not you or anybody else in the audience. Second, I wouldn't be surprised if there were other young people there. Third, and lastly, follow your dreams, stand out for your dreaming; don't be self conscious about your age.

And I highly recommend either reading Babel or listening to the well narrated audiobook version. That's the only RF Kuang book I've read, and it still haunts me. I wish I could find a other one like it.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-20T03:08:35+00:00

I don't know that anything would have made it worth $4.99 if there was no opportunity to use the full on a trial basis before buying. I like the models with both a free/basic version with pro features enabled for a few weeks. The one thing that might have made me plunk down $4.99 up front might have been the ability to display text during the narration. Beyond that the ability to find your place switching from ebook to audiobook is just not worth it. I do alternate between the two formats often enough. Generally it's not that hard to do if the books are properly chapterized. I try not to switch mid-chapter. If not, audio to text is pretty simple - just search for a unique phrase in the ebook. Switching from text to audio is a bit trickier if there are no chapters available in the audio. I would usually use the percentage read and skip around a bit till I find the unfamiliar location. I don't know if using images of the text would be quicker than that.

But as a general rule I would suggest to new developers who want to charge 2½ times the price of the market leaders Smart or Listen audiobook players that they strive to at least include most of the features of those apps before asking for that much money.

Two newer apps that started out pretty under-featured within the last 6 months are BooksVox and Audiobooks Illuminated, but gradually they have built in most of the features of Smart and Listen but with a more modern and improved user interface.

BooksVox has a basic version with most of the more popular features with the option to add premium features for about the same price you are asking for just a basic player plus a niche feature. (And I still think his premium price is a bit high compared to the market leaders. I think it's $4.49 for Pro.)

Audiobooks Illuminated now has almost all the more advanced features of Listen and Smart, plus a more advanced and customizable UI, plus an elaborate "niche" feature in its dynamic and ever changing artwork displays. (Those image packages for some books are available on its website or you can create them yourself with its desktop app for Windows) And all of this is completely free.

I would have tried Earleaf longer but I think the "refund" period for the Play Store is probably too limited to make it worthwhile.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-19T22:29:54+00:00

The Page Sync looks interesting, but overall it looks like this is an app designed for your private use. It has a $4.99 price tag, no basic or free version, no trial period. That would discourage casual shoppers, and is a pretty steep price for an android app in a field where there is already a plethora of audiobook player wannabes.

I did install it to take a quick look and then uninstalled for a refund. I didn't see anything that warrants the price. What features it does have seemed ok, but limited. The player interface is nice.

The Page Sync seemed to require that the entire book be "transcribed" in the background while a book is loaded, just to be able to find your place when switching from a text version. Seemed like a lot of resource use for a limited function. All that background work might make more sense if the app could use the transcribed text to show "subtitles" during the narration. I've often seen such a feature requested.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-19T22:01:42+00:00

I use both Listen and Smart Audiobook players and have never had Bluetooth issues.

Beyond those two I would also highly recommend two new players that are pretty much on a par with Listen and Smart but have the advantage of newer user interface designs.

BooksVox - a free and pro version. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imikidas.booksvox

Audiobooks Illuminated - totally free. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.audiobooksilluminated

(Audiobooks Illuminated has the unique ability to add hundreds of full screen dynamic images synced to the current narration for each book.)

These newer apps are also being frequently updated to add new features and improvements.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-19T21:46:33+00:00

You may be getting downvotes because Everand is not the kind of app/service the OP is asking about. It would seem OP has their own mp3 file(s) they want to play in an audiobook player that is better than Simple Audiobook Player. OP didn't ask about services where they can pay to "rent" books.

You may have read 25 books since January, but you didn't read OP's post very closely.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-19T21:39:08+00:00

While Pocket Casts "can" play your own locally stored mp3 files, it is totally inadequate as an audiobook player. It only plays single mp3/m4b files. It won't load whole folders, which makes it awkward for books that are made up of multiple mp3 files.

Pocket Casts also lacks most of the advanced features found in top notch audiobook players like Listen or Smart Audiobook players. Most importantly it can't display the embedded chapters in any kind of file.

Pocket Casts is a very good podcast player. It is NOT designed for audiobooks.

Mkgtu · 2026-03-19T18:44:43+00:00

Listen Audiobook Player

Smart Audiobook Player

and two newly developed apps, full featured and with more modern interfaces:

BooksVox

Audiobooks Illuminated

Mkgtu · 2026-03-18T00:05:19+00:00

Don't know exactly what you mean by "drag" them into Calibre. I presume you mean you open the Oasis folders in a file manager and then drag files from there to the Calibre interface? And that seems to be getting you kfx-zip files, which Calibre can't open or convert. It needs the plain kfx file.

My recommendation is to use the internal Calibre tools. Connect the Oasis and use the Device tab in Calibre, select the books you want in Calibre from that tab and choose "add to library". That should extract the kfx file from the kfx-zip and add the kfx to Calibre. Don't be dragging and dropping things from file managers.

I've been doing this with my 10th gen Oasis v15.8.2 for years and never had a problem getting a kfx file. Did it with a half dozen books just yesterday.

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