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Hard Cover Compatible:
Yes
Color:
Yes
Weight:
0.6 oz.
Size:
2.25" x 2.125" x 0.30"
Conduit:
Windows using USB only
Availability Unknown
$129.95
(Standalone )
$49.95
(With Audible.com stubs)
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Audible Advisor
by Card Access
>>
Read Review (Rating 5/5) <<
The Audible Advisor, like other Card Access products, is a standard size Springboard module with 16 MB of memory. Using a special DSP chip, the Advisor can play any Audible.com content that is using codec 2 or higher. Audible currently has four different types of audio files that can be downloaded, but the Advisor, like many other playback devices, doesn't support Level 1, which has the most compression. I recommend using Level 2 because of its smaller size than levels 3 or 4.
The Audible Advisor can also be used as memory storage for the Visor. Up to 16 MB of applications and data can be stored on the Advisor. The venerable FileMover application is used to move/copy files between the Visor and the Advisor. A set of earbuds is also included in the package.
The Audible Advisor from Card Access is one of the most intuitive Springboard modules available today. The ability to listen to audio books is very appealing to Visor owners, as they already want their information on the go.
See VisorCentral's extensive review for more infomation...
| User Opinions |
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44% |
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56% |
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Best module so far |
This is the most useful module yet. Audibooks that can cost $30 and higher for unabridged versions, are as low as $8 each with an Audible subscription. Format 3 is the best, but format 2 is acceptable for books with a single narrator and no music or effects. Why get a RIO and carry around another unit when I can combine it into the Visor that I already carry every day.
by
bsmeyers |
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Audible Advisor perfect for books |
Audible.com hasn't released a version of Audible Manager for Mac yet. Unfortunately, this makes any of Audible's playback units out of the question for Mac users.
But, I seriously can't believe that ANYONE that owns a Visor and a PC would buy a RIO (?!?!?) over the Audible Advisor. First of all, you can't store anything on the RIO but audio content. No apps, no games, nothing. And you may as well throw out the "ability to play MP3s" because 64 MB of MP3 space is essentially worthless. Besides the fact that the RIO only plays formats 1 and 4. Format 1 completely sucks (sounds worse than AM radio) and 4 gives you really no benefit over formats 2 or 3, except that it takes up more space.
The Audible Advisor supports the two formats that are actually usable: 2 and 3. It also has 16 MB of flash that can be used for both audible content and whatever else you want to store for quick access on your Visor. That ability alone almost covers the price of the module since a 16 MB module costs $113 from PalmGear. I also like having the extra info the Audible Advisor gives you over something like the Rio - you can read an intro blurb about the book, see a picture of the book cover, and see what sections are available.
I've been using my Advisor for a while now and it's become the function I use most on my Visor. Definitely a worthwhile product.
by
ProxyWizard |
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No Mac Support!!??!! |
I buy unabridged books on tape!! Lots! and CD! To do this without supporting the Mac population is very cavalier!
by
sdarch |
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What, another thing without Mac support? And Why get this over a Rio? |
I have no idea why anyone would get this over a RIO, which has 4x the storage and costs less. Yeah, guess its nice to put audio on my palm but umm, you can't fit much audio there.
And then there is the general issue of no Mac support, no need to say any more.
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bsoplinger |
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I like it a lot just got it... wow it great |
good sound ... great books to listen to. All around a great product.
by
jweir |
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Good Idea, Lacks Compatibility |
I don't have an Audible Advisor. I looked into getting on, but then found out that I would need Windows to use it. There is no support for MacOS or Linux.
by
bjskelly |
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Thumbs up, but... |
It doesn't launch the player when you pop-in the module. This almost cause an accident as I tried to drive and start my book.
Would have been nice to have buttons on the module itself, too.
On the plus side, the sound is great and I love having audio books for a $49 player. Its small, easy to carry and well... I am loving the narration on the new John Adams biography.
by
Galileo |
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Why no Mac support?? |
I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and use a Mac.
Why does Audible insist on ignoring all Mac users. The ability to listen to audiobooks from my deskgtop iMac is worthless -- we need to be able to use portable devices!
by
RichardW |
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It's also a 16MB flash card |
Actually, 16MB can hold a heckuva lot of Audible content. If your stuff is in Format 1, you can redownload it in the newer formats from audible.com.
But what's not emphasized enough is that this is ALSO fully functional as a 16MB Flash Memory Card! And it costs only $10 more than the cheapest 16MB card even if you DON'T sign up for an Audible listening plan.
by
dennya |
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Doesn't support Audible Format 1 - and not enough memory |
That pretty much says it all. I have 1Gig of Audible content - in format 1, which right now only the Rio500 supports! They could've squeezed 8 hours on there instead of 4!! Fortunately, it's firmware upgradeable so they may support this down the road.
The memory is another issue - I don't want to hotsync my audible content daily - once a week is about as much as I can tolerate - otherwise a missed hotsync would mean not listenting to content for the day. They should aim for a minimum of 10hrs of content on the player - switching to Format 1 and bumping it up to 20MB might just to the trick - may as well go for 32MB at that point though.
The biggest bonus - is file storage - I love that feature and I'm glad they put it in - I hadn't thought of it before and it keeps it in the running. If they just go with Format 1, I may "upgrade" from my rio to this suckker!
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jradi |
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