Audiobooks

Discussions on how emerging technology can assist the distribution of media content through mobile, kiosks, Internet, social networks, etc.
EmilyHedrick
Church Employee
Church Employee
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Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 3:47 pm
Location: Salt Lake City

#11

Post by EmilyHedrick »

Thank you everyone for your feedback! I wanted to give you a quick update on our audiobook progress.

1. We are currently working with Audible to make available some audiobooks in Audible, Amazon and iTunes. This is the .aa audible format which plays on Android and iOS devices. It covers a wider range of devices (check out Audible's website for a full list of compatible devices). One of the issues with using Audible is that Audible charges listeners to download audiobooks. We like to make all our digital content available for free but using third parties like Audible require a charge to the user. Currently the Digital Distribution Committee is evaluating this and hopefully in the next 2-3 months we will move forward one way or another.

2. General Conference will continue having the audiobook format. We are doing 15 languages this time and in all 5 sessions plus the General Relief Society Meeting. Each session will be available on LDS.org's General Conference page within 5-8 hours after each session.

3. Because iTunes uses Audible for all things audiobooks, our way of getting around that is to make the audiobook format in podcast form. You can find these on itunes.lds.org (the URL will automatically pull up the Mormon Channel iTunes Page in iTunes). The scriptures are all available right now. I will work with the audiobook scripture team to strip the DRM from the audiobooks. There is no DRM on the General Conference audiobooks, but this may have been an oversight on the scriptures. I'll make sure those get changed and swapped out with DRM-free audiobooks asap. Thank you for the heads up on that!

4. We are working to make more audiobooks and the LDS Media Library site will house them. They are not quite in the audiobook/ebook distribution phase, but they are coming shortly. So even if our audiobooks are not on Audible, they will be available on the LDS Media Library.

Again, thank you for all your feedback. Let us know what you are finding out about the format. We're still working out all the kinks. We're continually refining our requirements and would love to hear from you! Feel free to shoot me an email as well if you have any thoughts or feedback: emily@ldschurch.org
sgoodmansen
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Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 11:37 pm
Location: Idaho, USA

#12

Post by sgoodmansen »

Scriptures in MP3 used to be hosted here on lds.org. May I ask why they were removed? Having to download itunes is something I'm not at all excited about doing. Why not continue hosting them on lds.org for easy access to church members who are used to going there for content?
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aebrown
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Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#13

Post by aebrown »

sgoodmansen wrote:Scriptures in MP3 used to be hosted here on lds.org. May I ask why they were removed? Having to download itunes is something I'm not at all excited about doing. Why not continue hosting them on lds.org for easy access to church members who are used to going there for content?
I'm not sure what location you are referring to that once hosted MP3 scriptures, but the scriptures are still available on Classic LDS.org at Church Publications in Compressed Audio Format.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
JamesAnderson
Senior Member
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Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:03 pm

#14

Post by JamesAnderson »

Audible advertises that their audiobooks are compatible with over 500 devices, so this would be a big plus. It is also possible the DRM got into the files due to the software the Church was using to create the audiobooks, as that would probably have been an option in the software. Probably got left in as a result of forgetting to uncheck or check something while setting up the audiobook.
EmilyHedrick
Church Employee
Church Employee
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 3:47 pm
Location: Salt Lake City

#15

Post by EmilyHedrick »

My name is Emily with the Media Services Department. I'm currently overseeing audiobook distribution for the Church. Currently our audiobook portfolio is for General Conference and the Christmas Devotional. We are looking at possibilities to develop more content for other broadcasts and shows. We have been working with Audible to distribute our content. However, they do have rigid requirements and unfortunately not a lot of our content could fall into publishing through Audible. We are currently working through this and hope to have a solution for our Android users as well as distribute to more devices. As we develop our audiobooks we would love to get your feedback and suggestions on how we can better make our content available to you.
jjswew
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Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:49 pm

Re: Audiobooks

#16

Post by jjswew »

iTunes M4B are encrypted with the bothersome DRM so it is hard for users to stream Audiobooks on different devices, so maybe you need some tools like iTunes M4B audiobooks to MP3 converter for helps.
BarbaraBolding
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Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:16 am

Re: Audiobooks

#17

Post by BarbaraBolding »

Yes, I am using audible for audiobooks.
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