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Audible comes (barely) to the Echo

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BeesKnees

Audible comes (barely) to the Echo
« on: June 05, 2015, 08:41:21 pm »
The Echo can now access your Audible books.  Her functionality is limited to playing and stopping (so far).  She will resume from the previous point even if you listened on another device. 


Devilstower

Re: Audible comes (barely) to the Echo
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2015, 11:55:17 pm »
Is there no way to change the chapter?  I've tried "Go to chapter 1" or "read XXXX from the beginning" but I can't find any magic words that let me do anything more than pick up the book where it started—and can't even tell you why it started at that point.

Having it begin reading in mid-book, and not being able to change position, is not very helpful.

LoveMyEcho

Re: Audible comes (barely) to the Echo
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2015, 01:43:34 pm »
I use this feature all the time, and think it's very convenient that it picks up right where you left off on another device. It's not like when you start a new book it starts reading in the middle or at some random point, with a new book it starts at the beginning. I really can't imagine why anyone would find it annoying that the Echo resumes the book where you left off; to me, the opposite would be annoying: if it started at the beginning when I was already halfway through the audiobook on another device.

But no, as of yet there are no voice commands for skipping chapters, going back to the beginning, etc. You can use "go forward" or "go back" to skip in 30 second increments, but that's all.

AbnerDoon

Re: Audible comes (barely) to the Echo
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2015, 05:44:20 pm »
Hello all,
I signed up specifically contribute to this thread. For me, the addition of Audible was the magic pill, it's whats really made me find the Echo everyday useful and valuable. I struggled with this question prior, I thought it was going to be just a curiosity gadget.

You are right that currently there is limited voice functionality controlling your audiobooks with echo beyond playing, pausing and going back 30-seconds. Although I hoped, and what I'm sure is ideal, is to not be forced to use software as a necessary part of using your Echo beyond the initial setup, but for Audible audiobooks you can readily control where Echo starts playing if you use the Echo app from your smartphone or tablet, it gives you the fine control of selecting individual chapters, and even a slider so that you place yourself at a specific place within that chapter. It offers all the control I would think one would want (except custom bookmarks) to eventually make it across to the device and voice control. Also, if you log into your audible account access your library and use the web-player to select and play a book, that will also transfer to the Echo as the book and location from which to start playing. It's a bit fuzzy, and hasn't worked quite 100%, but has been pretty reliable. I'll play a book from a position for about a minute, stop the web player, close it, then tell Echo: "Alexa, read my book." And more than not, it'll pick right up from where I left off from the Audible web player, admittedly a few times it just continued reading the last thing I had playing on the Echo, and I'll have to try again.. just a tad fuzzy.

Hopefully the added capabilities, kinks and quirks are being worked on to bring this device to as near perfect as can be managed. So far I'm loving it..I might have walked the best spy device the NSA could have dreamed off into my private home, but I've adopted a dangerous blissful ignorance and rose tinted glass view apparently because I've just bought my 3rd Echo and now barely use my Sonos gear.


Again, it's not perfect, not by a long-shot, but it's a start good enough to keep me interested.

George Jetson

Re: Audible comes (barely) to the Echo
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2015, 04:28:46 pm »
Hello all,
I signed up specifically contribute to this thread. For me, the addition of Audible was the magic pill, it's whats really made me find the Echo everyday useful and valuable. I struggled with this question prior, I thought it was going to be just a curiosity gadget.

You are right that currently there is limited voice functionality controlling your audiobooks with echo beyond playing, pausing and going back 30-seconds. Although I hoped, and what I'm sure is ideal, is to not be forced to use software as a necessary part of using your Echo beyond the initial setup, but for Audible audiobooks you can readily control where Echo starts playing if you use the Echo app from your smartphone or tablet, it gives you the fine control of selecting individual chapters, and even a slider so that you place yourself at a specific place within that chapter. It offers all the control I would think one would want (except custom bookmarks) to eventually make it across to the device and voice control. Also, if you log into your audible account access your library and use the web-player to select and play a book, that will also transfer to the Echo as the book and location from which to start playing. It's a bit fuzzy, and hasn't worked quite 100%, but has been pretty reliable. I'll play a book from a position for about a minute, stop the web player, close it, then tell Echo: "Alexa, read my book." And more than not, it'll pick right up from where I left off from the Audible web player, admittedly a few times it just continued reading the last thing I had playing on the Echo, and I'll have to try again.. just a tad fuzzy.

Hopefully the added capabilities, kinks and quirks are being worked on to bring this device to as near perfect as can be managed. So far I'm loving it..I might have walked the best spy device the NSA could have dreamed off into my private home, but I've adopted a dangerous blissful ignorance and rose tinted glass view apparently because I've just bought my 3rd Echo and now barely use my Sonos gear.


Again, it's not perfect, not by a long-shot, but it's a start good enough to keep me interested.

Thanks Abner for your thoughts.  I was on the fence regarding Audible I might jump in and give it a try.