Convert audible aa files to mp3

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www.audible.com has a ton of audiobooks that can be purchased and downloaded downloaded. They also provide a file manager which allows you transfer your audiobooks to a digital rights management (DRM) enabled player. What do you do if your MP3 player isn't supported by the Audible manager? You can use this tutorial to convert the Audible aa to a non DRM mp3 file by following the steps in this tutorial.


Obtain the Necessary Programs

You will need a few programs to accomplish this.

  • An older version of the Audible download manager the one named "AudibleManagerAM_CDBurner.exe" (Audible Manager 3.5) works
  • Microsoft's Graphedit, comes with the DirectX SDK
  • Your favorite MP3 converter - I'm using lame for this tutorial but any one will do
    • Try FormatFactory [1]


Where to find the Files

  • At the time of this writing files can be obtained on the USENET newsgroup "a.b.mp3.audiobooks" under the header "Attn: The Geezer and others - [1/1] - "Audible convert solution with graphedit.zip" yEnc (1/19)"
  • You can also find them as a Bittorrent file here (Not yet)
  • GraphEdit can be downloaded with the DirectX sdk at http://www.microsoft.com/directx


Installation of Required Files

  • Install the old Audible manager software
    • You will need to un-install any newer version on your computer
    • If you don't want to un-install the newer software you could install it to a secondary pc such as a laptop.
  • Install the Graphedit software
    • Read the readme.txt file
    • Extract the Graphedit zip file
    • Copy the Graphedit folder to c:\program files\graphedit
    • Double click the file register.bat to register the program with the system registry
    • Graphedit is now ready to be used

Converting the aa file to wav

  • Download the Audible files you want to convert. I suggest the type 4 format for best audio quality.
  • Open GraphEdit
  • Open the aa file by "File/Render Media File..." Or pressing (Ctrl+R)
    • The aa file will usually reside at "C:\Program Files\Audible\Programs\Downloads"

You will see a graphical representation of the files, codecs and filters, that are required to play the Audible file.


  • Select the box labeled "Default DirectSound Devive" by clicking on it
  • Delete it by pressing the (Delete) key
  • Insert the "WAV Dest" filter by "Graph/Insert Filters..." or (CTRL+F)
    • In the filters dialog box scroll down until you find "DirectShow Filters"
    • Click the "+" box to the left and scroll untill you find "WAV Dest" and select it
    • Click the "Insert Filter" button then close the dialog box
  • On the "Audible Words Codec" box click the small gray box labeled "output" and drag it to the small gray box labeled "In" on the "WAV Dest" Box
  • Insert the File Writer filter by "Graph/Insert Filters..." or (CTRL+F)
    • Select the "File Writer" filter
    • Click the "Insert Filter" button
      • Select an appropriate destination for the output file and name it whatever you wan, I named mine "converted file "
    • Then close the filtersdialog box
  • On the "Wav Dest" box click the small gray box labeled "out" and drag it to the small gray box labeled "In" on the "converted file" Box
  • Once everything is connected, press the green “Play” button on the toolbar. Depending on the size of the audiobook, it will take a few minutes to finish.
  • Since you won’t get a message when the file conversion is done, go to the folder through Explorer to the location you selected to save the converted file. Look at the file, and if you hit F5 (refresh) you will see the filesize changing. When the number stops changing, you know you’re done. Or just step away from you PC for several minutes.


Converting the wav file to MP3

To be continued...


Bibliography

  • ISBN 1932813403
  • ISBN 0764548891
  • ISBN 3540404104


Amazon's Related Products

  • ASIN B000QCQH9U
  • ASIN B004GEAEZM
  • ASIN B002C1AQS6


See Also