Thanks, Carol. I downloaded Goldwave and it worked fine. Two questions, what does Goldwave charge to buy their software and what format do you convert Audible to? I noticed an mp3 file jumped from 60 to 240M for a five hour book........mike
I checked my receipt and it was $42.02 for the software. They list $55.00 on their site but that is Canadian dollars. I usually convert to mp3 so I can burn them to one CD. Below is an exerpt of a post from one of the newsgroups I belong to. I am not that "savy" with Goldwave, so I mostly use the settings that he suggests. I'm pretty sure the size of the file is in relation to the "kbps" setting. May also be in relation to the "hz" setting also. I have used mostly 64kbps, did one in 56dbps and don't think there was much of a difference. However, I do wear a hearing aid, so don't go totally by me. <grn> Carol Van "Most of the time I use the "Batch Processing" to do several files at a time over night. Select the files that you want to convert similar to what is described above and then choose the settings that you want to use. I generally use MPEG, Layer 3, 2400hz, 32 (or 64)kbps, mono. This will create one big mp3 file. I usually archive them to CD this way after trimming the lead in and lead out off. When I transfer them to my listening device I generally split them into 3 minute segments. Go to TOOL|Cue Points. Then choose AutoCue and then the MARK Silence Tab. I set the "Below Threshold" to -32, the "Minimum Lengths" to .50, the Minimum Seperation to 3.00.00 ( you can choose larger or smaller), and Cue placement to 50%. This way it will spilt the file into approx 3 minute segments and do so by finding silent spots instead of mid word. When you click on OK it will create the cue points. The choose split and give it your filename and directory now when you click OK it will create the smaller files for you. I have had problems with this on about 1 in 10 files. Usually I would redownload the file from Audible and it would work fine the second time. Occassionally Goldwave or Audible will update their software and it may break the process but I have always had good success when I am using the latest version of each piece of software."
OK, I downloaded and paid the $29 for the River Past 5.0. (not the latest version but the one recommended to work) Everytime I try to open an aa file on it though I get the message:The following files do not contain recognizable audio. I have no idea what y'all are talking about when you say codec (yes I read the link) so I don't know if this could have something to do with it or not. I am hesitant to spend more money on Goldwave now since I have read conflicting results about this too. I just got the ipod and purchased some books from audible and now I am finding out what I thought was going to be a file I could listen to on anything is not turning out to be the case. All I want to do is convert my .aa files to mp3s. Any help would be so grateful.
Robert123 You can go to the Goldwave site and download a fully functional copy of Goldwave to try. Here is the link: http://www.goldwave.com/release.php Also download the LAME encoder. This may be where some are having problems. I am using version 5.06 and it works fine. Carol Van
Hi, I downloaded goldwave and the lame MP3 programme and I had problem converting .aa files to .mp3 directly. I got around this problem by converting .aa files to .wav using goldwave and then converting the .wav to .mp3 using Lame. Thought this might help. Paul
Don't know what to say. I have no problems. I am running v5.06 of Goldwave and v4.0 (I think, am at work so I can't check) of Audible manager. Carol Van
Hello, Carol. I have absolutely no doubt, of course, that you're succeeding just the way you describe, and I'm pleased for you. I do have to take up for Paul. There has to be something he and—I and others on this forum and on other forums—have failed to do or have done wrong. I bought GoldWave, a terrific product, and I'm able to use it the way Paul does, by first converting from .aa to .wav and then from .wav to .mp3. I've never been able to get it to convert directly from .aa to .mp3. Fortunately, I also paid for an early version of RiverPast which does convert audible.com material directly. We've read reports recently from people who've been able to use the latest version of RiverPast to do the same thing. Unfortunately, the version that was current when I downloaded it last summer wouldn't do the job. I got a letter of apology from RiverPast explaining why. It said Audible.com had asked—or warned—the German company to cease and desist from providing a means of converting Audible material to MP3 format. Audible representatives have given me two different explanations for their policy. While the two aren't mutually exclusive, alternating between them has a suspect ring. I've been told that theft of their material is rampant—which I'm inclined to doubt, despite the widespread theft of music by file swapping. I've also been told that Audible's policy is dictated by the owners of copyrights who require Audible to restrict distribution to its protected format. Since much of the same material is available for sale from other sources in MP3 format, this latter reason sounds disingenuous, but it may be true. It's clear from reading a lot of recent posts on this forum that people submit questions and comments about this issue without reading earlier posts in this thread. Consequently, I won't refrain from repeating an analogy I offered last year: Skeleton keys are sold to people who buy old houses that have lockable doors between rooms. Original keys have been misplaced over the years. A few old houses even have entry doors that can be opened with skeleton keys. Now imagine the manufacturers of those locks suing the skeleton key makers for providing the convenience they do. Criminals have myriad ways for gaining entry, so what would be accomplished by outlawing the sale of skeleton keys which are used as a legitimate convenience? Audible insists that it conveys property rights to its subscribers as surely as booksellers do, and to their credit it enables subscribers to play its material on more than one desktop, to make a single sets of CDs for each book, and to transfer content to portable digital players. Unfortunately, less than 10% of the players on the market today will play Audible's format, and not a single Audible-capable player offers the combination of truly skip-free play and weatherproofing runners need. Besides being able to play Audible material on a suitable player, I can also navigate Creative’s desktop player from anywhere in our house with Sound Blaster Audigy2 NX and infrared receivers in all our rooms—which were built into the house for controlling whole-house audio and video. Audigy allows us to stop and start and to fast-forward and rewind Audible material from anywhere in the house. But the Creative player won't play the .aa format. As soon as I download a book from Audible, I immediately convert it to MP3 for my player, for my whole-house system, and also for making MP3 CDs which hold entire books on single discs. I've been subscribing to Audible.com since it came into existence, and it continues to offer the biggest selection coupled with the most convenient delivery system. Because of the surly attitude of many of its representatives, along with its policy against distributing in the MP3 format, I'll drop my subscription and go to another provider as soon as other companies began providing comparable service. It's true that I've occasionally lent CDs of Audible material to my best friend, just as I have lent him or given him books. But I've never uploaded a file or made more than one copy of a book, much less sold Audible material. Audible agrees that I own the material—or at least the right to use it for my own entertainment in any way I want that doesn't deprive Audible, the authors, the narrators, and recording companies the income due them. I don't blame RiverPast for dropping the capability of converting .aa—at least as of last summer—but I'd be very curious to see what would happen if it defied Audible. (Maybe it has, since some of you say you're able to use the latest version of RiverPast to make the conversion.) I don't even play a lawyer on TV, but the legitimacy of .aa converters would seem to easily meet the standards of common sense and fairness. Audible's policy will do little to hamper determined file swappers. Does it think clever college students haven't discovered GoldWave or versions of RiverPast that will do the trick? Meanwhile, the policy has succeeded in depriving legitimate subscribers of conveniences such as those I've mentioned. Bryan Crow
Bryan, I don't know why the problem. I'm really not that savvy with Goldwave, so I can only guess. When you do a file\save as, are you saying that .mp3 is not one of the options?? What version are you running. I have v5.06. If you have a later version, that may be the problem. Maybe Audible made Goldwave stop also. If you are running a newer version, maybe try doing a google search for version 5.06 and uninstall and then install v5.06. Wish I could be of more help! The main reason I convert to .mp3 is so it will play in my CD player on one disc. I do have a Muvo that I got when I joined Audible, but when I try to backup to replay a section, it always screws up and goes too far. Yet I do like the size of the Muvo (until I can get an Ipod Mini ). Carol Van
Hello, Carol. I have Version 5.06 too. GoldWave announces that it doesn't recognize .aa files, but that's not the problem, because if you just ignore the box that says so, it will certainly convert an Audible file into its own native GoldWave format for editing. But when I try to save an Audible file from the GoldWave display, I can't save it as an MP3 file. Let me try again when I get a chance, and I'll tell you what message I get. I installed the LAME codec. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to convert .wav files to MP3 format. I'm sure you have been a help to other people, and as I say, I'm in good shape anyway, because it's actually easier and faster to convert with RiverPast than with GoldWave, even if GoldWave would do it in a single step. The Mini iPod looks like a terrific gadget, and I'd love to have one. I have to tell you that I tried running with my brother-in-law's regular iPod, and the laser tracker kept losing its place on the spinning hard disk, forcing me to stop again and again to wait for it to find it again. (Maybe I need to smooth out my gait!) I prefer flash memory. I have a total of 768 MB of storage in my Rio Cali, more than enough to listen throughout a 100-mile bicycle ride. The manufacturer doesn't claim the Cali is waterproof, just water resistant. I wouldn't try to swim with it, but I've ridden and run for hours through hard rains (the death of the Rio 500 I got from Audible), and the Cali just keeps on playing. Bryan
Phenner, thank you very much. This is the most riveting information I've ever seen about Audible's attempts to suppress the conversion of its material from its format to others. The letter from Audible's attorney is surprisingly clear and generally well constructed, isn't it? But Chris Craig's reply is priceless. I'm sure it's not copyrighted, and it's OK to quote passages anyway if you attribute them, so let me cite my two favorite paragraphs from Chris's letter to Audible: 1. "Third, people use GoldWave to convert Audible files for personal use. They must own legitimate copies of the files, or they would be unable to use them in the first place. Files are converted for use on portable devices or to write them to CDs. This may be legal in the US under "fair use" provisions." 2. “After receiving the C&D letter, I searched Google for the words "audible pirate goldwave". There is little indication of outright piracy of Audible content. If people are using GoldWave to pirate Audible's content, then they are likely using an unlicensed or pirated version of GoldWave as well.” Chris's Google search confirms what I've always suspected—that piracy is not the bugaboo audibles representative claimed it is. As far as Audible's allegations of GoldWave's deliberate circumvention of digital protection is concerned, GoldWave's creator, it turns out, didn't even know Audible.com existed, much less that his excellent software could be used to convert its format. Again, phenner, I'm grateful to you for posting this link, and I bet lots of other people will be intrigued and indicated by it just as I was. BC
Oops. I dictate with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I said "vindicated by it," not "indicated by it." Foolish Dragon.
Can anyone help me get a copy of the River Past Audio Converter v. 5.0? I dl'd a supposed copy via a link posted above and it just hangs when I run it - I hate to think what I may have just installed... Thanks
Carol and the group. I agree with Carol. Upon her suggestion, I downloaded the trial version of Goldwave 5.06, and easily converted a 4 hour Audible book to mp3 in one step. Two observations, however. The conversion took a long time and the 60Meg audible book became a 240Meg mp3 file. I didn't have time to adjust and test Goldwave's settings to see whether a better format, or other adjustments would reduce the file size and conversion time........mike
Mike, Glad it worked for you. I've only used it a few times, but it's worked fine for me. If you play around with the settings (bitrate, hz) you can lower the size some. Audible's format compresses the file quite a bit. What I like about Goldwave, is I can split the file into 3 min. segments. That way it is easy to back up to replay a section of the book without having to go all the way back to the beginning. Carol Van
Hi all, I wrote a program that makes the conversion of Audible files into mp3's very easy. I did this originally for my Dad who wanted something really quick and easy to use. I've found it pretty useful myself. You can find the code and instructions on how to run it at http://www.geocities.com/app_hq/AudioBook . It's free, free, free! But if you really like it, donations are of course appreciated! Enjoy, Adam
Adam, Just curious ... who is the guy who wrote "Quicksplit" almost 1 1/2 years ago and posted it on a website in Texas ... you? http://home.austin.rr.com/unpocoloco/java/AudioBook/index.html
haha! Nice! Yeah, that was (is?) me. I've always wondered who all saw that - and how many people have to date used my program. Where did you find the post? Wasn't quite over 2 years ago though...I think I made it somewhere around Nov. 2003. The thing is, I no longer use RoadRunner for my internet. I don't know why my webpage never got taken down, but that is good and bad. Good cuz people still have access to it (and the link on my previous posts still works), but bad because I can't update it. So I created a new page that I should always have access to no matter what ISP I have. Also, I made it so that you don't have to go to the command line to run QuickSplit. And I added a donation link to the webpage Completely optional though. Other than that, I don't think I made many big changes.
Hi Adam, Thank you for posting the audio splitter. It's a useful prog to have esp when you're a newbie like me. Is there another version where you could also split the files into specified file sizes (eg 50MB, 100MB, 200MB, etc depending on the capacity of player) Thank You for listening. Paul
