Issue with Audible Files

MP3 players Sansa Fuze
1

The Fuze has gotten me into audiobooks, so I signed up for an Audible subscription.  However, when listening to a book, the player will occasionaly lock up, requiring a reset (hold power for 6sec).

I believe that it might be a buffering issue, since the audiobooks can be rather large single files (300MB+)… any hope for a fix?

2

just out of curiosity, do you have the latest firmware?

3

Yep. :robotindifferent:

4

hmm, I haven’t came across that issue, but my files are at biggest 100mb. about how far in the time does it freeze?

5

I haven’t determined a pattern.  Sometimes it will lock up after an hour of listening, sometimes thirty seconds after.

6

do you know what type are you using ? (type 2, 3 or 4)

thanks 

7

Audible identified Type 4 aa files for the Fuze, so they’re what I’ve been using.

8

Format 4 is very clear, but for narrative (speech) it’s also huge.  Try format 3 and I think your lockups/freezing issue will disappear.  Audible describes format 3 as “FM quality”…I agree, it’s compact, and I like unabridged versions.

Try format 3, just make the format change in the Audible Manager drop down list within “My Library Online”.  Audible allows multiple downloads in any format, so you’re not limited to just the format 4 copy!  They keep everything up on the server for you.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

9

So in order for the player to not glitch, I have to listen to worse-sounding files?  O.o;

Sorry, not the type of solution I was looking for. >.< 

10

it is just someone talking, how bad could it possibly sound? :neutral_face:

11

Hah, I guess you don’t listen to audiobooks then.

Is there a quality difference between these?

  1. listening to a person

  2. listening to a person over a phone

  3. listening to a person over a lousy phone 

  4. listening to a bad recording of a person over a lousy phone

Some audiobooks that I’ve listened to have been painful in how bad they sound, obviously transfered from cassette tapes.  The versions I have from Audible are equivalent to number two… can you guess what number four sounds like now?  :D 

12

I have been experimenting with the Audible formats on the Fuze.  I’ve listened to Audible books since 2001 (in format 1 on a Rio 500), so I have a fair amount of experience with the formats.  I also live in the country, so my wireless connection is not nearly as fast as DSL (though much better than dial-up) and file size can be an issue for me. 

According to the Audible website, the Fuze only will accept type 4 files.  I am using type 3 quite successfully on it.  In my opinion, the only difference in quality between 3 and 4 is at times when the book is using music for highlights in the production.  The Fuze will also accept type 2 files, but the quality of those recordings is not acceptable to me.  If you look at the bitrate for the various levels, format 2 is only 8kbps while 3 is 16kbps and 4 is 32kbps.  The first part of Winter Study (by Nevada Barr), a type 2 file is only 24mb, type 3 is 46, and type 4 is 92mb.  I routinely use type 3 files on both my Fuze and my iPod Nano (3g) because it is a satisfactory compromise between quality and file size.  Not only can I put more books on the device if it is at the lower bitrate, but I can’t really hear a difference between 3 and 4 in AUDIOBOOKS (music is a completely different issue).  When I rip books from CD or tape, though, I usually rip them at 96kbps.

Sharol

Message Edited by sharol on 05-25-2008 06:13 AM

13

What she said