Audio Pod Technology was designed to use MP3 players that present themselves as
Flash Drives when connected. Although we don't yet have a list of players that
have been tested, in our labs we are using both 'Nextar' and 'Hip Street' MP3
Players with a memory capacity of 1GB each. A 1GB player can hold 6 to 8 average
sized books. Each of these players was purchased for less than $20 at places like
Walmart, local hardware and drug stores, and at some corner stores as well. This
is not meant as an endorsement for either brand. Basically, any MP3 player that
works like a Flash Drive should be fine.
You need to buy an MP3 player that uses UMS or MSC (they are the same thing). This type of player functions as a mass storage device, and will show up on your computer as an external drive (eg "E:\").
DO NOT buy a player that use Digital Rights Management (DRM), Microsoft's Media
Transfer Protocol (MTP) or an internal database structure. If the MP3 Player
requires Windows Media Player 10 or better, you are probably looking at one
of these players. These players tend not to be compatible without a lot of
fiddling around and even then it's not guaranteed. You will need to turn off
DRM/MTP and put the player in UMS mode.
An 'audiobook hour' is a relative unit of measure related to the actual duration of the audiobook with a discount or surcharge rate applied. This is the number of audiobook hours your account will be charged to access a specific audiobook. The discount or surcharge rates applied are under the control of the copyright holder. Some copyright holders may provide content without charge.
Audio Pod technology is designed to eliminate the need for CD's and other physical representations of audiobooks. Everything in the Audio Pod environment is designed to use virtual representations of an audiobook, and deliver it to you without the need to manage media or resources. If you need a physical copy of an audiobook, there are a large number of resellers that will provide you with that capability. However, Audio Pod technologies do not support CD operations or batch file processing, so you will have to revert back to the manual management of media, content and resources.
During our period of testing, we are loading our library with public
domain audiobooks from many sources. These audiobooks are typically read
by ordinary people using equipment in their own homes. As a result much the
quality of these recordings may vary, the volunteers who read these
audiobooks must be commended for a truly wonderful effort. In keeping
with their noble intentions, Audio Pod will preserve these audiobooks in
our library and provide access to them for all members at a reduced cost.
Audio Pod Technology is designed to allow you to use audiobooks without manual
steps including content downloads, moving files, tracking your position in
a book, managing media or computer resources. We do all of that for you. To
use an audiobook, install and start the Audio Pod audiobook player, then drag and
drop a book cover from the website to your Audio Pod player. Then push the play
button. See Using Your First Book
The Audio Pod software is designed to use the two most common Internet ports 80 (HTML/WWW) and 21 (FTP). If you are behind a firewall make sure that you have access to the Internet using these addresses.
The Audio Pod, PodLoader software is designed to output all the books in the Audio Pod library in Daisy format. If your Daisy Reader has a USB connection the PodLoader software will treat it in the same manner as any other MP3 player
except it will manage all Daisy file sets on the device. Instead of selecting the number of pages to output per MP3 file just select Daisy Format and the entire selected book will be uploaded to the Daisy Reader.
If your Audio Pod starts, but attempts to drop books are unsuccessful, you may be having problems getting through your firewall. The approach recommended by Microsoft is to grant Firewall exceptions for Audio Pod utilities, using the following steps.
To manually configure a program-based exception, start the Windows Firewall use either
Control Panel -< Windows Firewall
or
Control Panel -< Security Center -< Windows Firewall
Click the Exceptions tab.
Click Add Program button.
Use the browse option to add the Audio Pod Player. The default installed location is:
1 - Go to the main description page of the selected book
2 - Tab to 'Add to Bookmarks' option, and press Enter
3 - Switch to Audio Pod using ALT TAB
4 - Press F10 to retrieve new bookmarks
5 - Select the book from the Audio Pod MP3 Bookmarks dialog
How Do I Make the Audio Pod Library a Trusted Site
If you are using Internet Explorer as your web browser, you may need to tell the browser that the Audio Pod Library is a 'Trusted Site'. This is a common problem when using Vista and Windows 7. With your browser open, from the tool bar select:
Tools -> Internet Options
On the 'Security' tab, select the 'Trusted Sites' option and press the 'Sites' button. Enter the web address
'http://www.audiopod.ca'
in the website text entry box.
Uncheck the checkbox that requires this site to use server verification (https:).
Press the 'Add' button. The Audio Pod Library address should appear in the websites list.
Close the open dialog boxes. You may need to restart your browser to make the changes effective.
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