[Mrstimmy]

I am going to ask for a Kindle for my birthday but not sure which one to go for.

I love the smallest cheapest one, but it doesn't have speakers which puts me off, The touch feature ont he touch model puts me off, as I can see it being a bit of a nuisance. So that leaves the original keyboard version.

How do audiobooks work on the Kindle? At the moment I hire cd audiobooks out from the library sometimes and just listen to them when ironing or driving. But it would be good to have them on the Kindle so I can listen to them in bed when my eyes are too tired to read.

[ironjade]

Assuming text to speech is enabled you can have your Kindle read any book to you. Admittedly, the voice is a bit creepy but it works.

[spiney2]

yeah i am doin this post on k keyboard.......

as long as text to speech enabled in book it will read aloud to you. american accent. choice of male or female. some speed adustment but default seems best.

occasionally it mispronounces a word but usually pretty damn good.

any text based material which will convert to mobi format with calibre software can slso read aloud.

volume control. and headphones socket.

u soon get used to the novelty and just get engrossed in book .......

there is also a mp3 player. which will play mp3 audio books. or any mp3 file.

[spiney2]

for library talikng book cds u wd need to rip them to mp3 format using one of the many freeware cd rippers then just load the files from computer onto kindle. pretty easy.

theoretically illegal under uk law but youre only keeping the mp3 copy for a short while ......

[spiney2]

there are quite a lot of kindle "jailbreaks" and one will give u an english accent. but needs lots of geeky fiddling about so not worth it.

in any case if you ever have to reset to factory default state any added jailbreak software gets overwritten ......

[spiney2]

seems easy on battery too. unlike wireless connections ........

[spiney2]

.......actual ebooks books use up little space and you can have well over 1000 on a 4G memory kindle keyboard. the mp3 files each use up much more space. depending what sort of bitrate you use for mp3. speech with no music needs much lower bitrate for good quality. and mono needs half storage space of stereo .....

[spiney2]

.....more ....... the k keyboard has a "background music" function. mp3 files in the "music" folder will play at same time as you also read a book normally. these files can be anything so might incude audiobooks of course. but this does NOT work with kindle text to speech which is done in software. you can't read one ebook on screen with text to speech going on a 2nd ebook not showing on screen ......

[spiney2]

....... at the moment my k keyboard is connected to internet for me to write this ...... i have just confirmed the background music function works in this mode. as well as while reading an ebook.

[spiney2]

..... you could be listening to pride and prejudice in mp3 format and similtaneously reading the jane austin wikipedia article ......

[spiney2]

....... 3G is by far preferable, but if only wi fi version of k keyboard at least there is also kindlepedia ........

[spiney2]

.....also ereadups .......

http://www.ereadups.com/

[spiney2]

...... the built in speakers are not that loud (although headphones ok). but u can plug wireless headphones straight into the kindle headphone socket and let it read merrily away while you do housework/gardening/whatever ......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Hea...8&node=4085751

[spiney2]

for cd ripping the library ebooks, note that windows mediaplayer usually found on most windows pcs (and free to download anyway) will rip a cd straight to mp3 format (since, this is legal in usa although theoretically illegal in uk!). then you just transfer the mp3 copies straight from computer to kindle. very easy.

realplayer will also do this, again easy to find and download.

..... i would suggest one of the above. providing your pc has a cd drive you just download/install one of them and off you go ........

other cd rippers are avialable for example here is gizmodo's recommendations:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-cd-ripper.htm

[spiney2]

.... probably, realplayer is quickest and easiest. i have certainly used it myself ........ you bung the audio cd in drive and off it goes ..... takes maybe 5 mins and you can see the tracks being converted.

http://mp3.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/RP_ripcd_tut_2.htm

64 kb/s quality is fine for speech. and most music i find. for speech you could get away with lower quality.

most bbc speech podcasts of radio programmes are 64kb/s.

[spiney2]

from mp3, back to text to speech..... as said its an american accent but in fact quite easy to listen to !

this youtube vid shows kindle keyboard mp3 player and text to speech. the synthesised voices are obviously artifical but not unpleasant !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LOSD4_RIAk

[spiney2]

hmmmm .... the demo above shows only "background music" mode, ie mp3 audio on while also reading a book .....
as correctly said i this mode u can only skip to next track !

.... but the K keybaord has an actual mp3 player ! which you'd use for any mp3 audiobooks! when activated you get an onscreen display of time elapsed and position bargraph, and can skip foreward or back through the file in 30 second steps. the name of the audiofile appears at top, with the thumbnail picture icon.

i wd like to post a picture of this but there doesnt seem to be a single one on internet !

[spiney2]

frigging heck! i could not find images but there IS this youtube vid which shows you the kindle keyboard
mp3 audioplayer's on screen display!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM9tfYYvYjk

(the link below video is a lengthy page about getting audio podcasts onto kindle keyboard ......)

[spiney2]

... this link from same site explains the 2 different ways of playing mp3 files on kindle keyboard.

http://www.kinworm.com/2010/10/music-on-kindle.html

[spiney2]

to summarise: (mops sweat off forehead):

1. you'd normally want to use the kindle's own mp3 player for an audio file (including books). this gives you on screen display of position in file and jump foreward or back.

2. the other way of palying audio files is "background music" mode but this give no control of position in file. you just get start, pause, and skip to next track !

3. to convert talking book cd into mp3 format just use a ripper on your home computer. realplayer is possibly easiest one to use. then copy the files onto your kindle over usb. as you would for a memory stick, works just the same!

4. all text e-books without text to speech disabled can be read by the speech synthesiser. note kindle can display a pdf file but not read it aloud. however you can convert to mobi format using calibre and synth voice reading should then work (unless the pdf file is pohtographic eg just pictures and not actual text!).

calibre is freeware. but note it will not work on copyright protected books.

[spiney2]

(columbo mode) one last thing:

if you use the kindle audioplayer with that on screen display for an mp3 file - whether music or speech podcast or rippped cd audiobook, they all "look" the same to the kindle! - then it will save your place for next time, just like an e-book. when you stop listening, you can resume again from where you left off. on next going to that podcast

the alternative "backgorund music" mode also continues from last place, but there is no way of scrolling through the file. you can only skip to the start of next audio file .......

hope all that was helpful and you dont need too many days off work to read through it .......

[JulesandSand]

Is 19 consecutive posts by the same poster in a single thread a

[JulesandSand]

record.

[spiney2]

Originally Posted by JulesandSand

record.

as far as I know the kindle cannot play vinyl.

[mrkite77]

Originally Posted by Mrstimmy

At the moment I hire cd audiobooks out from the library sometimes and just listen to them when ironing or driving. But it would be good to have them on the Kindle so I can listen to them in bed when my eyes are too tired to read.

You can rip those cd audiobooks and put them on the kindle.

However, the newer Kindles have OverDrive, which allows you to checkout library books and audiobooks directly to the kindle.

Check OverDrive's website to see if your local library supports it.

http://overdrive.com/

You can run overdrive on smartphones or tablets or newer kindles or nooks.