AA from audible

dsneedmd

I have some audiobooks downloaded from audible as part of their premium subsription format, not purchased individually. The file is listed as AA!!??. Is this a known compression format? Does anyone know how to comvert these to MP3s? They won't even play on my computer unless I log-in!( in I-tunes). They are super compressed!(8hrs = 33megs) Any information would be useful. Will these play on anything but a I-pod?

nchtj

we know about the format, but Audible has made it clear its illegal to convert it to other formats, so even if we knew how to support it then it would probably attract the attention of Audible's legal team.

darrmik

nchtj wrote:

we know about the format, but Audible has made it clear its illegal to convert it to other formats, so even if we knew how to support it then it would probably attract the attention of Audible's legal team.

:angry:

That doesn't make any sense. Since we have purchased the files (I also have purchased files from Audible and want to convert them,) they are now our legal property. Since the files are now our property their legal department shouldn't be able to say anything about it. The legallities may come in when you (NCH) gets the info inorder to create a conversion algorithim.

:angry:

nchtj

you might not have been filled in about DRM and copy protection and all that jazz, here is some reading material for you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Rights_Management

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_protection

more importantly, here is the wikipedia article on audible audio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audible.com

In 2003, Audible made an exclusive deal with Apple to provide their catalog of books on the iTunes Music Store. Books purchased on iTunes have a .m4b extension (a variation on MP4), and contain AAC audio protected by Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights Management.

Digital Rights Management: .aa format files encapsulate sound encoded in either MP3 or the ACELP speech codec, but include copy protection by means of an Audible user name and password. Licenses are available for schools and libraries.

and your solution appears to be:

Burning/Copying: Most titles can be burnt to CD once (some leeway is allowed for bad media). Files can be copied to "authorized" devices.

so burn it to cd then rip if off.