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<< My Cuz: Best New Country | Home | SlickEdit 2008 - My Evaluation >>

Audible .aa to .mp3



I checked out a few applications that claimed to be able to convert Audible's crappy DRM'd .aa files to .mp3.  All of them failed (for me at least), except one:  Total Audio Converter from coolutils.com.  For a well spent $19.99 I am now able to automatically convert my Audible downloads to a format (mp3) in which they will work on my cell phone and my mp3 player, neither of which are otherwise supported by Audible.  Woohoo!

Now if only Amazon would provide direct MP3 downloads for Audible books (where possible).

I have the output folder for Total Audio Converter set to a Live Mesh folder, so that I can have access to my books both on my laptop at home and on my desktop at work.  And my friend Eric pointed out that Total Audio Converter supports command options, so I can completely automate the whole process from the point of downloading from Audible!  All I'll have to do is start the Audible download and voila!

Update:  I amm using Audible Download Manager 6.5, and Audible Manager 5.1.0.2.


posted @ Friday, June 20, 2008 4:35 PM | Filed Under [ Just For Fun ]

Comments

Gravatar # re: Audible .aa to .mp3
Posted by AZ Geek on 6/23/2008 8:30 PM
It appears that, sometime over the past couple of months, Audible forces everyone using older versions of Audible Manager, such as 3.5, to upgrade to the current version (which reportedly blocks conversions from aa to mp3, which was possible using an older version of Audible Manager plus Goldwave). If you use an older version of Audible Manager, you cannot download files (you get "cannot open parameter file" error message). Does anyone know if Total Audio Converter or any other program will handle the conversion task even as to aa files downloaded with the current version of Audible Manager?

AZ Geek
June 23, 2008
Gravatar # re: Audible .aa to .mp3
Posted by Mike G on 11/19/2008 12:38 AM
I found it easy. Just purchased a copy of Sound Taxi to convert the .aa file to MP3 and then used a CoolMp3 Splitter to break up the audiobook from a single large file into more listenable smaller segments. My Sansa MP3 Player can only be loaded via Windows Media Player and it was a bit fiddly renaming some of the book files so that they came out in the right order on the Sansa. Part of this problem was caused by Windows Media Player which never reloads a deleted file to the library unless you ask it to restore them (in which case it picks up the 'old' file name - not the renamed filename). To get the sequence right it's best to view properties for each file and rename the files in sequence in Windows Media Player before synchronising. Seems crazy but it all works. I can't believe that Windows Media Player is so ordinary!
PS I also had to reformat my Sansa evertime it came out wrong because that too does not substitute 'new' for 'old' filenames when synchronised(when not formatted).
Gravatar # re: Audible .aa to .mp3
Posted by PEter on 11/23/2008 7:57 AM
i have tryed with both. I am using Version 6.6 for audible.

if i try with sound taxi, it askes me for a valid playing licence.

i i try with total audio converter, it gives me the error: cannot open file.

i tryed with a backup of itunes-libary.

:-(
Gravatar # re: Audible .aa to .mp3
Posted by Lance on 11/23/2008 10:11 AM
Yeah...*the latest version* of TAC no longer works on my Audible downloads. Fortunately I still have the old version of TAC on a different computer and it works on my current downloads! Whew! I'll find out what version it is and post it here for download.
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