It has been a while since I posted about Audible.com's AudibleAir application being ported from the Palm OS to the Windows Mobile platform. At that time, the port was to the Smartphone version of the OS. Since then, Audible has released the AudibleAir component for the Pocket PC as well.
If you are not aware, AudibleAir allows you to access and download your Audible.com content (audio books, subscriptions and podcasts) directly to your Windows Mobile device. Previously, users had to connect their device to their PC and use the combination of Audible Manager and ActiveSync to copy content (note - this option still exists for those that prefer or must use it).
AudibleAir Subscriptions View
Subscription Details
For downloading purchased audio book content, the ability to only download a segment of the book (like on the desktop with Audible Manager) can be useful from storage, bandwidth and time perspectives.
AudibleAir Online Library View
Selecting a portion of a book.
As a very long-time Audible subscriber, AudibleAir is perhaps the most significant enhancement for Windows Mobile users to come along since the initial release of the AudiblePlayer for Windows Mobile devices. As always, there is still room for improvement in the Audible.com platform, especially from a Windows Mobile perspective. My "wish list" includes -
- Ability to purchase content easily from my device. A mobile-friendly web front-end is really all that is needed here.
- Either:
- Windows Media Player Mobile direct support (i.e. - Janus DRM support), or
- Continued improvement to the AudiblePlayer application.
If you have yet to check out Audible.com, now might be the right time.