# Audio books on Kindle



## axxa (Dec 28, 2010)

I received a Kindle 3 Wi-Fi for Christmas. Fabulous machine. I have audio books on my Mac that I'd like to read/listen to on my Kindle. The files are in mp3 format. I loaded the files into the "audible" folder on my Kindle and it simply played the files through the speakers. I deleted the files from the "audible" folder and loaded them into the "music" folder. The Kindle simply played back the files, again through the speakers only. What am I doing wrong? Can I only read/listen to audio books if I download them from Audible?
Thanks in advance for you input. I hope you enjoy your machine as much as I do mine.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Are you expecting the audio books to display as text? That is not going to happen.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah, I'm not sure what you're asking either. 

You _can_ plug in earphones and listen that way. . the earphone jack is on the bottom of the Kindle next to the volume control switch.

My understanding is that, when in the audible folder, they will show on the home screen like books and will play straight through. I think in the 'music' folder they don't show as books. . . .but I admit I haven't got any of either on my Kindle.

If you're looking to read along while the audiobook plays, the Kindle doesn't do that. BUT if a book has text to speech enabled, you can read and listen that way. The TTS voice is not like listening to an audiobook recorded by a human being though. . . . .


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## axxa (Dec 28, 2010)

Gotcha...I understand now...Thank you for your reply's to my post. Happy New Year!


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## arshield (Nov 17, 2008)

I think it would be a great feature to sync kindle books and audible.com books.  Amazon owns them both so it would be theoretically possible.  Practically I am sure it would be a pain in the butt.


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## jaysawn (Jan 3, 2011)

> If you're looking to read along while the audiobook plays, the Kindle doesn't do that.


Actually, I've found that if you put the audiobook .mp3s into the "music" folder on the Kindle, instead of the "audible" folder, you can read along with the audiobook. This is possible because the Kindle allows you to listen to music in the background while the user does whatever.

In case it needs to be said, you can play mp3s from Menu > Experimental. Also a useful bit of info, use ALT-Space to pause/play the audiobook.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

jaysawn said:


> Actually, I've found that if you put the audiobook .mp3s into the "music" folder on the Kindle, instead of the "audible" folder, you can read along with the audiobook. This is possible because the Kindle allows you to listen to music in the background while the user does whatever.
> 
> In case it needs to be said, you can play mp3s from Menu > Experimental. Also a useful bit of info, use ALT-Space to pause/play the audiobook.


That makes sense. . .but I don't think that with 'just music' you can specify where to begin and end. I admit I don't use this function at all, but my understanding from discussions here is that when you stop an Audible book that a bookmark is placed so when you turn it back on you're where you left off. But if you're listening to 'background', there's no control over stops and starts. It always begins at the beginning and just goes 'till you stop it.

Again, I might be mistaken about this, because I don't really use the listening function at all  . . . . . .


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> That makes sense. . .but I don't think that with 'just music' you can specify where to begin and end. I admit I don't use this function at all, but my understanding from discussions here is that when you stop an Audible book that a bookmark is placed so when you turn it back on you're where you left off. But if you're listening to 'background', there's no control over stops and starts. It always begins at the beginning and just goes 'till you stop it.
> 
> Again, I might be mistaken about this, because I don't really use the listening function at all  . . . . . .


The 'experimental' Kindle MP3 player lets you pause, resume, and skip to the next track (via keyboard shortcuts). That's it. So yes, very limited. Better to listen with a real MP3 player while you follow along on Kindle. Then you can control playback more precisely, set audio bookmarks, etc.


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