iPod Nano stops playing when display turns off

I am a one for keeping tech that works LONG past its use-by-date, and doing all I can to keep it going. So I was struck with horror when my ancient iPod Nano stopped playing whenever the display screen auto-turned off last year. 

I immediately catastrophised that this would finally, finally be the end of this lovely piece of kit (see previous posts here)... however, this turned out to be one of the easiest fixes! 

A quick online search yielded a repair thanks to zahirkidd (2011). The problem is simply that when the headphone jack is just not quite fully plugged in, the player stops when the screen goes to sleep. To fix, simply ensure that the jack is fully pushed home.

Doh!

Sam

Reference:

zahirkidd. (26 February 2011). Music stops when screen turns off after 1.1 update. Apple Community. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2765444

read more "iPod Nano stops playing when display turns off"

Reporting Audible problems

While I love my talking books, and have an Audible membership which I use regularly, when there is a problem, it can be quite challenging to report.

As a case in point, I ran into a problem with Audible this year, where I could search for books, find them, and add them into my shopping cart... but when I got to the checkout, I got a message "Sorry, we are not authorized to sell this product in your country/region".

What?! I have had an Audible membership for over a decade. Nothing has changed.

Of course, the 'help' function was unhelpful. When searching on the Audible site, it is almost impossible to find any problems which relate to the one you are having. Despite a serious dig, I was unable to find anything. I was also unable to find out how to contact Audible directly to report the issue, and hopefully to find out what has changed in the background which no longer allows me to buy books from the site... and get them to put it right.

I have always found it much more 'helpful' to do a google search, then follow that link, and this time was no exception. A search for "how to report a problem with audible" returned a link to:

https://www.audible.com/contactus/email?n1=somethingelse&n2=great_ideas_feedback&ref=a_contactus_c0_emlBtt&c2cId=6124ec56-ada5-4cb4-9708-184be0ca9c37&csrfToken=goYb+KtTx4jas+ADs86T/YwFFFa64J80yBjTELIAAAABAAAAAGJsZlZyYXcAAAAAFVfwRGgNifE9xfqJS///

https://www.audible.co.uk/contactus/email/

While this is an 'in-mail' page, Audible do eventually seem to answer (and the UK people reply far more quickly than the US).

Further, if we need to contact Audible about a book request, we can email them at:

content-requests@audible.com

content-requests@audible.co.uk

Why is this not easy to find how to do this on the Audible website? The vagaries of large companies remain opaque!

Sam

read more "Reporting Audible problems"

IPod error - file was not copied

When it comes to technology, if I have a piece of kit which works well and meets my needs, I am very reluctant to change it until it really, absolutely, utterly no longer works. Yes, I am a Luddite.

I am still using my old iPod Nano (ie, sixth generation iPod), which must be well over decade old, to listen to my audiobooks. I have worn out many sets of headphones, but my Nano keeps ticking on. While I do have trouble at times with syncing with iTunes, I have not yet struck a situation where I have needed to upgrade.

However, the last couple of times I have gone to delete listened to audiobooks, and to add new ones using iTunes, I got a strange message on attempting to transfer files onto my iPod from iTunes, that:

"[filename] was not copied to the iPod "[name of iPod]" because it could not be played on the iPod."

Interesting.

I deleted the books I had loaded, and reimported them to iTunes. They worked and played perfectly there. Good. Tried again. Hmm. Same message.

I went hunting for posts on this error, but the results were all pretty venerable, being between 15 and ten years old. Nothing recent (but hey, I am probably the last person on the planet using an iPod Nano). There were posts about needing to convert files again, to needing to reindex iTunes, to reimport all the files... but nothing that seemed to relate to being unable to transfer a file which had imported into iTunes perfectly, but failed to copy across to the iPod itself.

So I tried some things. I tried reconverting the mp3 audiobook files into mp3s. Reimported. Tried to copy across again. Hmm. Same message.

Then I disconnected my iPod to see if the book had turned up on the iPod in stealth mode. I found that my Audiobook player button had disappeared from the iPod. Could these problems be related? And if so, how to solve this?

I reconnected my iPod, and it showed up as normal in iTunes. I could play my audiobooks from my iPod through iTunes without difficulty. And then, when I disconnected again, my iPod audiobooks button was back on the player. And when I reconnected to iTunes, my iPod could now accept new books.

This problem must be related to deleting books from the iPod. For some reason, deleting books seems to make the iPod think that I have deleted the audiobook player app as well. Ah, well. A least I now have a work-around:

• Plug iPod in. Delete old books in iTunes
• Then play a book still on the iPod through iTunes
• Then disconnect the iPod from iTunes
• Play a book on the iPod
• Then reconnect the iPod to iTunes, and load the new books.

However, I feel I may be getting closer to having to get a new player. <sigh>

Sam

read more "IPod error - file was not copied"

Viewing Audible pre-orders

There are a few things on Audible which are hard to find. That means - from a user perspective - they are not well designed. One of those 'hard to find' things I find is the ability to view my pre-ordered books.

Every time I go to look for my pre-orders, I cannot find them. I look in my library: they are not there. I look in my wish-list: they are not there either. Then I have to Google - again - "how do I find my Audible Pre-orders?".

For some strange reason, Audible lists our pre-orders separately from our library - and our wish list - before they are released. I have no idea why Audible would make it so hard for us to find out what we have got on pre-order, but obviously ours is not to reason why. Ours is to repeatedly go and Google 'how...'.

So. What we need to do is to log in. Then hover our mouse over our account name which appears at the top right-ish hand side of the Audible page, and - when the drop-down menu appears - click My Pre-Orders.

We will be asked to log in (again). Once we have done that, we will see our pre-ordered audiobooks.

We can cancel our pre-orders here, or keep an eye on when they are due to be released.


Sam

• Reference: Audible (2019). Where can I find my pre-orders on the Audible website? Retrieved from https://audible.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6190/~/where-can-i-find-my-pre-orders-on-the-audible-website%3F

read more "Viewing Audible pre-orders"

Returning an Audible Book

Some websites are so intuitive, aren't they: completely customer-centric. Each step seems absolutely logical, and we find things exactly where we expect to. When we search, the search returns terms that are in 'normal' language. Items are named in a way that makes sense to us, as the customer; words and terms are not in esoteric, in-house jargon.

And then there are those websites where things are so obscure that it is faster, easier and more productive to search for the particular page, item or function externally, using Google, rather than searching internally, using the website's own search engine.

One of those particularly poorly designed sites is Audible, which is now owned by Amazon. I often cannot run the searches that I want to run on Audible. For example, it is not possible to run a search for free books. Every month, Audible has an "Audible Originals" book selection, free to Audible members. Each month it is almost impossible to find the Audible Originals for that month, unless you have been sent an emailer which links you that month's group (this is such a problem that there is a Reddit page devoted to Audible Originals!). For an Amazon company, we would - and should - expect better search functionality.

Worse, every time I need to return an Audible book for credit, I look for the return function within my library. However, it is not there. I try right clicking, clicking into the book itself, and everything I think of before I give up and Google search "How to return my Audible book", because I simply cannot find how to do it on Audible. And, because (a) the location is not customer-centric, and (b) I returned books so rarely, I simply don't remember how to do it.

Each time, Google tells me that I have to sign into the website on my Desktop:

1. Go to the "Hi [My Name]!" menu item at the top of the page
2. Select Account Details from the drop-down menu
3. Sign in again
4. Click Purchase history
5. Find the book from the list in the main pane. Click the "Return" button on the far right hand side of the page next to the book I want to return.
6. A dialogue box will pop up, where I can select my reason for returning the book
7. Then I click Return, and I am done.

Audible don't create any problems about us returning a book: the problem is finding how to do so in the first place.

Time for some better functionality, Audible!


Sam

read more "Returning an Audible Book"

Listening to audiobooks

Fifteen years ago I was introduced to audiobooks by a friend. I had dog-sat while he went overseas, and my - unexpected - reward was an mp3 player with a couple of audiobooks loaded on it. Since that wonderful gift, my audiobook collection has grown to the high hundreds, and I listen to audiobooks daily.

Why daily? Because I sleep deeply and short: my husband sleeps lightly and long. Audiobooks fill the gap between my needed sleep, my low boredom threshold and my husband sleep's very well indeed. I use a trusty old iPod Nano which I clip onto my pillow, and listen n whisper-quiet through $3 earphones from AliExpress (here). The earphones usually crap out within about 6 months from being rolled on, so I don't go for high value or high cost ones.

What is even more interesting is that I will listen to audiobooks that I probably wouldn't have the patience to read, or think of buying. One of my favourite audiobooks is the seven volume work on Winston Churchill by William Manchester. I have an annual Audible subscription, have converted DVDs and CDs, have downloaded books from authors, and have borrowed audiobooks from libraries.

What do I use to listen? I listen on my phone, my iPod, or my PC. My iPod is my go-to listening device, but sometimes - if I am travelling internationally - I will load some extra books on my laptop, to be transferred to my iPod as I run low, as well as filling up my iPod. When travelling within NZ, sometimes I will add some books to my phone as well as on my iPod.

But the result of all these devices is that DRM causes me grief: many formats lack transferability, particularly Audible. To avoid that, I use a couple of pieces of kit to help me with getting the books that I own - or have borrowed for a time - onto my phone, my iPod, my laptop or my PC.

One way using three pieces of kit:

• When downloading books from the Audible library, download (a) in Enhanced format, (b) using the latest Audible Download Manager, but (c) have an OLD version of Audible Manager installed (version 5.5.08 or earlier). Once you have downloaded, use a piece of German freeware kit called AaxToMp3GUI.exe (download here) and go to the file that Audible had saved your download to. Although this software is in German, you can easily work out that "Durchsuchen" means search, and "Umwandeln" means convert. Conversion will take a while. Then save the file and import it into whatever the software is that you use.

And another way using one piece of kit:

• Manage all your downloads and file conversions using OpenAudible (download here). I have tried this and it seems to work just fine. Simply import your existing Audible files and the software will auto-convert them to mp3s. It says that it will work for the US, UK, DE, FR, AU, JP & CA regions (no mention of NZ, but we are probably lumped in with Aussie). The cool thing about this software is that you can do everything in one step: download, MP3 conversion, and file management, right from the desktop. Tip: set your conversion folder location as the same as your fave player folder (eg iTunes location).

I hope this allows you all to listen to your books more easily.


Sam

read more "Listening to audiobooks"

When Audible books won't download

I was so excited. I got an email from audible.com to say that a long-awaited audiobook had arrived. I dumped what I was doing and rushed off to audible to download my book...

...only to find that when I clicked on the download link against the new book in my library, I got taken to the page: https://www.audible.com/howtolisten. I tried it several times, to no avail. I seemed to be stuck in a loop.

Interestingly, have had this happen before, and it turned out to be a glitch at the audible.com end: once I contacted them, they repaired the problem for me. It was a website update which had reset all user's settings to ask to "Check for Audible Download Manager" each time the user went to download. I had never seen this as an option before (probably because I have been using audio books for ten years or so and there was only one choice when I started!).

I searched on the site to look for my previous problem, but could find nothing about it. So I went to tech support (you can access them here).

I got connected to a very helpful person at audible.com who showed me how to correct this issue (just in case it happens to me again, following another website update). The instructions were:

• If you are being directed to the "How to Listen" page after downloading an audiobook, you need to change your software verification setting. Follow these steps:

1. Go to www.audible.com
2. Hover your mouse over "Hi, [Your Name]".
3. Select "Account Details".
4. Select the "Update Settings" option on the left-hand side of the page.
5. Untick "Check for Audible Download Manager".

And everything was perfect again. I am now happily listening to my new book :-D


Sam

read more "When Audible books won't download"

Audible Downloads

Audible book purchases used to download and start simply by me clicking on the automatically downloaded the 'admhelper' file in my downloads folder, after I clicked on the "Download" button in my Audible library.

Until it stopped working. Suddenly the file has begun downloading without an extension.

A puzzling issue, which I had to google to solve. Luckily it was exceptionally easy to find out what the extension needed to be: ".adh".

To solve this wee problem, all we need do is to add the extension so our admhelper file reads "admhelper.adh" and all association problems are solved, and double-clicking on the download file works exactly as expected once more.

I wish every problem had such an easy solution!


Sam

read more "Audible Downloads"