On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:13:26 -0700 (PDT), Victor Jones <angierman@yahoo.com> wrote: > Audible says "At this time Audible is not compatible with the Linux > operating system. Audible is actively pursuing compability with Linux > in all versions by pursuing support from the open source community > that develops this platform." > I joined Audible in 2002 and saw that exact message shortly after and > it has not changed to this date today. Well, you probably have a fairly realistic understanding of the vigour that they are perusing compatibility then. > Audiible is one of the big reasons I have heard people say they will > not switch to linux. There are already ways to take out the > protections and turn the audio books to mp3 files, but I have a very > large library on their site and need (as do many other people) for it > to just work. Just work is what Ubuntu is all about. If you do not > think it is serious just do a Google search for "Audible linux" and > you will come out with a different frame of mind. That search (well, done via duckduckgo.com rather than google) revealed this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=933707&page=3 which seems to show that you can at least download the files. If the Digital Restrictions Management is any good (which it would seem it's not, since you say there's some way of stripping it out) then you would be stuck with playing those files on platforms where the vendor are willing to enter into licensing agreements to gain access to the secret that allows playback. So as it stands you have the choice of: 1) not giving them any money because they use DRM 2) living with the fact that you're stuck with the platforms they support 3) transcoding the content so you can play it where you like I (and many here) will opt for option 1, so don't really care beyond that (not meaning to be rude, but rather trying to explain why you might not get what you want by asking here). You appear to be torn between options 2 & 3. I suggest that you make your mind up and live with the choice rather than fretting about it, or hoping that Amazon & Co will suddenly decide that all the contracts that they've signed where they make guarantees to protect the content[1] are worthless and change their business model. That may happen, but a few of us techies wailing about it seems unlikely to make the slightest difference (it clearly hasn't so far). It strikes me that a more likely route to your desired goal would be for you and your friends decide to stop paying them money, and find alternative outlets that don't poison their wares with DRM. You could even get enthusiastic about the campagn run by http://www.defectivebydesign.org/ Do that to an extent that puts a dent in their sales figures and you might get somewhere, but of course if you do that, you'll have cured yourself of your addiction to their content, and will then not care very much what they do either. You might want to look at http://librivox.org/ (I've not tried this myself, but just found it by searching for "creative commons audio books") Cheers, Phil. [1] I find it amusing that the content owners are clueless enough to provide the content on the basis of DRM claims that are inevitably shown to be false -- do they do no research whatsoever? -- |)| Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560] http://www.hands.com/ |-| HANDS.COM Ltd. http://www.uk.debian.org/ |(| 10 Onslow Gardens, South Woodford, London E18 1NE ENGLAND
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