Kindle Audio Files – the play

Scene: My desk

Dramatis Personae: Kindle user, Son, Kindaleh

Time: The present

 

Prologue

One of the justifications for getting me an e-reader was to help me through the days before and after my cataract operation; see my three posts in August, all focused on either Kindaleh, or my eyesight, or both. With Kindaleh, I could enlarge the print, making it easier on the eyes; or I could download audio files and listen to stories.

Act I, scene i: I enlist my son’s help, and together we download a few samples of – what was it? A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, which I’ve always meant to read.

I am supposed to make some decisions, such as which formats are best and which books I want, and create a neat selection on my kindle before the operation.

And what happens?

Nothing.

Act I, scene ii: I get involved in two or three urgent translation and editing jobs, which must be finished before the date of the surgery. I spend time chasing the red tape involved. I do everything but.

Act II, scene i: Now, post surgery, when I’m dying to read on the one hand, and want to give my eyes a rest on the other hand, Kindaleh is speechless, through no fault of its own.

Act II, scene ii: Disgusted with myself, I attack the issue again. I go to Librivox.org, and start small: download a short story in MP3 format (after finding out the hard way that .ogg is invisible to kindle) – The New Advertising, by  P.B. Wodehouse -- and have the satisfaction of seeing it on the kindle screen. However, listening to it “straight”, without earphones, the volume, even at max, is very low. So I pull out and untangle my iPhone earphones. Nada. Total silence. Once again, my techie son comes to the rescue, skims through Google replies to the question, and informs me that indeed, this is a known problem. I look through my gadget drawer and fish out a pair of cute Philips earbuds which had proved to be unsatisfactory for listening to music (tinny sound), and exhale with relief: they work.

Act II, scene iii: So, can I now listen to the story? – Sure, if I don’t mind listening from the middle, which is where the progress bar shows the story is at, where it advanced to during our various attempts. Theoretically, there’s a Fast Backward arrow, or Return to Beginning. But it’s grayed out. Oh, wait, I see! You first have to press the Play button, and, as it’s playing, you can choose the Fast Backward arrow. Doesn’t make sense to me, but it must have made sense to someone. At least I don’t have to let the story play silently to itself until the end only in order to start over.

Act III, same place, several weeks later. I listen to all 3 minutes of the story. Groan.

Epilogue

Recommendations, anyone? Links? Free audio files?