Now that the nights are starting to get shorter and I will soon have increasing time to kill in the tent when out backpacking I have remembered something that occurs to me every year.
I have never successfully looked into the best way to source, organise and playback radio dramas and the like. I keep meaning to snag the podcasts when they are available from the bbc (many are usually only up for a month or so) but often I forget to fireup itunes once a month or so and download the ones I subscribed to. I've found itunes on my ipod not great for navigating long tracks, or displaying the title (it is often a long string with episode number or name at the end and so off screen for bbc podcasts). I am more likely to now be listening on an android phone and have similar problems with the apps I have tried on that platform. Buying and ripping audio CDs results in the same problems with filenames.
I see amazon now has some audio books and so on for use with an app and subscription service called audible. How is that for ease of use and can you play other podcasts from it? Or alternatively is it possible to play the audible purchased content in another application? I would ideally like one app with which I can manage a library from various sources. Does the audible service have a wide range of quality content to justify the subscription and can it be used offline. I tried to read about it fully but can't find an "introduction to." For instance I am unsure if you can get many dramatisations or simply readings of audiobooks for the most part? Browsing the catalogue makes it a little hard to tell the difference when both productions exist for a title. I'd gladly pay for it if the catalogue was suitable but on first inspection it seems expensive when compared to video offerings.
Choice of application aside there's loads of stuff I would like to grab hold of to eventually get around to listening to as and when the mood takes me. I don't mind paying for stuff like this but an example would be
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408427745 of which I caught half the episodes for free when they were originally broadcast. It seems very steep when compared to a paperback that you would intend to get around to reading "one day." I estimate I only missed about 4-6 hours of content. It seems a shame the bbc don't have a paid for on demand service as they have a massive catalogue that they randomly deliver on 4extra.
I used to make use of a public library for such things but on popping my head into the local library recently the choice seems quite sparse.
So anyone else a fan of things like this who has a good and reasonably priced way of getting hold of and managing such content? I'm pretty tech savvy but each time I get 5 minutes to look into this I end up drowning in links to robotic readings of public domain classics and the like....
(Anyone who has never tried this on climbing or walking trips is, I believe, missing out. I spent hours over three nights laughing my self silly in my bivibag listening to
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1405503874 despite having read the book a couple of times)
