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Comment by Panini_Jones | Hacker News Reader

Can someone help me move away from Audible? I have about 20 titles that I've downloaded over the years and enjoy downloading and re-listening to. What's the best audiobook solution I can use so that I can cancel my subscription?

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FWIW, you keep all audible purchases even if you cancel your subscription (regardless if they were bought with credits or cash). So you can cancel and continue using the Audible app as you have been. You need to use all your credits before you cancel though, IIRC.

That said, it's very easy to remove Audible DRM. Each of your purchases is encrypted with the same short series of bytes. You can fetch them by uploading any purchase to this site [0] (also open source). Then, FFmpeg supports the `-activation_bytes` arg for this exact purpose:

    ffmpeg -activation_bytes <ActivationBytes> -i <Input>.aax -c copy <Output>.m4b

Alternatively, Libation [1] is a great open source app that simplifies this process. It's a little rough around the edges, but it gets the job done!

[0]: https://audible-tools.kamsker.at/

[1]: https://github.com/rmcrackan/Libation

> You need to use all your credits before you cancel though, IIRC.

I know this is correct because I found out the hard way. Couldn't keep up with listening so cancelled the sub. Came back when I had time but the credits were gone (think about 7). Was pretty mad but found out they do mention this somewhere. Threw 5 euros at Libation, downloaded my library and never looked back.

Move away as in find another audiobook vendor? Or simply retain access to your existing collection?

Audiobooks from Audible can be downloaded via the UI. They will have DRM, but it's possible to remove.

If you have audiobook files without DRM you can listen to them via any app that plays audio, but there's also at least one OSS project that aims to fill audiobook UI niche [1].

[1]: https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf

+1 for Audiobookshelf, truly one of the most functional and polished apps I self-host, despite being relatively niche.

I have been using Libro.fm. Also, you can put your Audible membership on hold, and still have access to books you have paid money for, but not the free members books.

Despite its many flaws, I use Plex as the single place for all my video and audio content. If you pay for the lifetime pass, you get access to an app called Plexamp which is designed for playing back audio.

Cancel your subscription, download all your books from audible, put them on a NAS, run Plex, and use Plexamp for access.

I still buy things via Audible, I just immediately download them and load them into my Plex server.

I don't listen to many audio books, but I've bookmarked https://www.downpour.com/ as a DRM-free alternative.

I have not tried it but is there some reason you can't simply record from an headphone jack? I thought there was some Linux app that would just do this.

And Kindle and Apple Books

Piracy.

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