To be filed under "It wasn't broken, why did you 'fix' it?

Audible, in their infinite wisdom (said in a very sarcastic tone), have decided to force all their subscribers to use the "Enhanced Audio" version only. 

First, they did away with Format 3, which was ok with my old Treo Smartphone,  leaving us Format 4.  I have been using it for close 10+ years with SansaView.  Their excuse umm 'reasoning' is they are moving to a more mobile direction. How is only being able to play them on my Desktop MOBILE?!  In other words, phones.  I used my phone once for an audio book, and it chewed through the battery. But since I had my SansaView, it was a non-issue.

Oh, did I forget to mention that their new enhanced version can't be played on my SansaView? Also, my mp3 player is smaller and lighter than my phone.

Audible has given me three choices:
1: Use all my credits, download everything NOW in Format 4 and cancel my account.
2: Shell out $200 for a new Audible 'approved' device. (Nope, not happening, health more important)
3: "Jail break" the Enhanced Audio files into MP3s (which I am capable of doing), and then downsize their bitrate so they will play on my SansaView. It also will make the file size smaller.

I'm a nerdy sort of person. Anyone want to bet what I will end up doing?

Audible.. WTF??

I have been trying to get the 2 Books for One credit special going on at Audible the past few days. I kept running into errors during the purchase. Either "You already own this title", or "Not Authorized to sell this".  It would depend if I refreshed the browser (I tried Chrome, IE, Firefox) and kept getting the erroneous messages.

So, I finally contacted Audible support. Of course I was run through the obstacle course of "do this, do that" that I had already been doing for the past two days, only to be told that they know about this error, and it will be solved in 24 to 48 hours, and I can buy them after it's fixed.

Uhhh, the 2 for 1 special runs out in 5 hours, meaning I will be paying full price.

Good scam, Audible.

I just gave it to Audible with both barrels.. again

I gave them POOR rating on how they handled my problem, and the reasons why:

No one bothered to read what I had sent. I TOLD you I had already followed the instructions on your website, but that the SEND THIS BOOK option was NO WHERE on my Android App. That the app is fully up to date, using a Galaxy S7, Android Ver 7.01. All you did was copy and paste the website instructions into an email and send it to me. NO HELP!

I am not the ONLY person having this issue. It's making the rounds in REDDIT and you have really cheesed off your customers removing the ability to gift a book. And don't tell me to just get a membership, because the people I have wanted to give a book to already have one. It's stupid stuff like this that makes people look for ways to 'convince' your proprietary MP3 format, which can ONLY be played on Audible approved devices (that still rankles me), to play on other devices, in NON-proprietary MP3 format, or look for the audio CDs instead. I am not saying I do this, but I can understand WHY.

Think it will get through their thick heads that removing the ability to gift a book is LOSING customers?

Hey, Audible, want to stop shooting yourself in the foot?

Audible keeps 'fixing' something that was never broken.  Over the past year, I have traded comments, and requesting help and asking why.  Finally, I just sent this:

April 19, 2017 FEEDBACK, and I don't think you're going to like it.

Dear Audible, first you got rid of "Gift a Credit!" from your audiobook service, so one could no longer give someone an extra credit at the end of the rollover period. It was also a great way to give someone a birthday or Christmas present, so they could choose which book to get.

Then you switched to "Buy as a gift". Ok, a bit less of a surprise, unless you're really sneaky finding out what someone wanted without their realizing.

Then, for some unfathomable reason, you removed the "Buy as a Gift" option for audiobooks. Your lame excuse of "we will be focusing on our most popular customer benefits" is utter codswallop, because how does removing these two options benefit me? Or benefit a gift recipient?

It's stupid crap like this that makes people look for ways to 'convince' your proprietary MP3 format, which can ONLY be played on Audible approved devices (that still rankles me), to play on other devices, in NON-proprietary MP3 format, or look for the audio CDs instead. I am not saying I do this, but I can understand WHY.

Audible's lame assed reply - Use SEND THIS BOOK from Android app.  Two problems: Send This Book option isn't ON the Android App, and they removed it from their webpage.

So, I have to BUY a book *I* don't want, and then send it to someone with an option that doesn't exist?

Oh, and the kicker: if the person HAS an audible account, and you use the SHARE option, they get sent a link to BUY the book.

All I want to do is listen to my audio books on specific devices

As much as I understand copyright, intellectual property etc etc, I should be able to play my audio books on whatever device I so choose, not just on 'approved devices'.

I have a few programs that 'convinces' a certain format to play on a generic MP3 player. But there's always a catch. The problem is it makes it into a bunch of 7 minute MP3 files, so instead of 3 part "Approved device" format, I have 70 some odd mp3 files.  So, I have to get an MP3 joining program to make "Part One" etc etc.