Is there an update on audiobook support?

[turtlefacee 8]

Hey,

 

So maybe Luke or another dev can comment on this. Is there a progress report on audiobook support? are you actually working on audiobook support? We have been begging for this for years, a little feedback from a dev would be nice.

[ebr 14910]

Hi.  There is no further update at this time.  Better audio book support is definitely something we want to do but the number of audio book users is much smaller than just about every other media type so this simply hasn't been prioritized yet.  We will get to it.

 

Thanks.

[Dibbes 431]

@@ebr just out of curiosity, how do you measure this?

 

Also, it's a bit of a Catch-22, isn't it? I mean, if the support for audiobooks is not mature, people won't use it, therefore Emby is not really used as an audiobook server so the implementation is not prioritized... However, I figure that if there's a proper support for audiobooks, more people will use it... Also, is there any real alternative with with a central server keeping your locations and multi-device/multi-os??? If so, I haven't been able to find it... 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Dibbes

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

@@ebr just out of curiosity, how do you measure this?

 

Also, it's a bit of a Catch-22, isn't it? I mean, if the support for audiobooks is not mature, people won't use it, therefore Emby is not really used as an audiobook server so the implementation is not prioritized... However, I figure that if there's a proper support for audiobooks, more people will use it... Also, is there any real alternative with with a central server keeping your locations and multi-device/multi-os??? If so, I haven't been able to find it... 

 

As far as an alternative goes I use MediaMonkey. There are numerous addons that act, mostly, like a client server for many devices. However I use it as a central player with remote speakers in every room throughout my house and many remote control devices including a voice control through my Echo devices.

 

There are many Android based remote controls for MediaMonkey as well that I use as well.

 

MediaMonkey can be run on Android devices using the central library on a computer but I also do not do that.

 

I am a firm believer in the KISS principal and, for me, MediaMonkey running on a central computer feeding my whole house sound system is the most simple solution I have found for my audiobooks.

 

[Dibbes 431]

@@Gilgamesh_48 It's not really an alternative though, is it? I mean though that it does do a proper import and with a little fiddling I have a webserver, my partner is definitely not interested in seeing most of my Audiobooks seeing that she despises Sci-Fi & Fantasy, my 12yr old niece doesn't care anymore about the books my 5yr old boy wants to listen to when daddy is travelling, besides the fact that she's Dutch and my boys have Spanish as a first language...  Also development doesn't really seem to progress very quickly, as the Version 5 has potential, but I doubt they'll get the server part stable any time soon and also I don't think profiles are going to be part of it...

 

I do agree though that it's simple and it's up and running within a few minutes (not including the library scan). Configuring it is a breeze and I really like the party mode of it... I wish Emby would incorporate that too at one point...

 

Oh, I also checked Booksonic, and though it supports profiles, iOS support is abysmal... This is an issue as half my family swears by iPhoneys and doesn't even consider switching to Android

Edited September 6, 2019 by Dibbes

[Dibbes 431]

@@Inrego Are you still working on anything new at this point?

[turtlefacee 8]

Hey, so there is no support for this anywhere, and there are only a few apps with nearly passable support, but in my opinion they are not good. So I still use Smart Audiobook Player

Mediamonkey - sort of works, but I found the android app so not good, I ditched it
Booksonic (Subsonic fork) - has not seen an update in like three years and is pretty bad
Plex - not good support, bearly useable, has been promising audiobook support for years
Emby - not good support, bearly useable, has been promising audiobook support for years
 

Hi. There is no further update at this time. Better audio book support is definitely something we want to do but the number of audio book users is much smaller than just about every other media type so this simply hasn't been prioritized yet. We will get to it.

Thanks.

You do realise, that there are very few audiobook users on emby because of the poor audiobook support. Luke claimed in early 2017, that they were working in audiobook support. But now you claim you aren't working on it. Plenty of users would leave Plex for emby because of this.

And after you have audiobook support, I imagine it wouldn't take too long to implement a basic ebook reader and have ebook support. Ebook and audiobook metadata are practically the same (instead of length it would display page number etc)

You could even get into talks with Goodreads, maybe get an API to pull metadata.

And Goodreads includes metadata for comics and manga, so you could include support for them in emby.

You could be the first centralised library software that supports all library types, but instead you seem happy copying Plex features instead of doing something new.

[Luke 37046]

@@turtlefacee please refrain from profanity in your postings as this is a family friendly environment. Thanks.

[Tang! 3]

I'd be more than happy to throw cash at Emby for a product that works.  Heck, I'd actively SELL the heck out of Emby to everyone I know.  Streaming your audiobooks is a wide open niche that they COULD fill.  Marketing-wise - this is a golden opportunity that they could be capitalizing on - quite literally.  Once word gets out on the Goodreads site, or the Audiobooks subreddit - "Ka-CHING!"

 

But I have an idea that the Dev's at Emby are so busy putting out fires that they can't reach for a bigger bucket. It's been the way of things for years.

 

Every few months or half a year I come back to Emby hoping that they fix the Audio Book category, and nearly every time it's the same. "Percentage-wise, there are so few people who have audio books, it's really not on our priority list."  This is in spite of those who have been asking about it since the beginning.  

Not only agree with the Catch-22 concept, but I demonstrate it every time I come back to check and then sadly abandon Emby Again.. and Again.. and Again and Again...

As I DO keep coming back, I have not given up completely on Emby.  I just wish they could see the value add, and the opening in the market.  There is little to no other competition in this area and they could DOMINATE in the Audio Book world. In reality, this kind of opening and opportunity normally doesn't last as long as this one has.  

[Luke 37046]

Thanks for the feedback.

[Jdiesel 1113]

There has been a lot of interest on the largest and most well know audiobook private tracker about Emby. The majority of people interested have never even heard of Emby before but are interested in a management system for the sole purpose of dealing with audiobooks. It already supports key features that people want such are offline playback, casting, metadata management, and remote playback. I feel like Emby does not grasp how close they are to creating a unique product that nobody is currently doing but has a strong demand.

[ebr 14910]

There has been a lot of interest on the largest and most well know audiobook private tracker about Emby. The majority of people interested have never even heard of Emby before but are interested in a management system for the sole purpose of dealing with audiobooks. It already supports key features that people want such are offline playback, casting, metadata management, and remote playback. I feel like Emby does not grasp how close they are to creating a unique product that nobody is currently doing but has a strong demand.

 

Which piece of core work would you want us to abandon right now to focus on this instead?  It really is that simple.  We do have plans for better AudioBook support but, at this time, it simply has to wait for resources that are currently on higher priority things (some of which you guys never see but are still extremely important to our functioning).

 

Implementing this properly will be a very large effort requiring coordination of all apps and every part of the system.  Due to that, it also will require the direct involvement of most of our key resources so even throwing money at the problem wouldn't fix it (if we had money to just throw ). 

 

The potential perceived opportunity for that just doesn't outweigh the other things in front of us right now.  There will come a time when it does, however.

[Jdiesel 1113]

I understand that there are limited resources to work on expanding audiobook support when it may seem like a niche area compared to how the majority of users currently use Emby. I also don't like to speculate too much on how your business should be run but it really is one of those chicken before the egg things.

 

You will never really get a good sense of the demand until you have at the very least something people are willing to use, flaws or not. Hopefully you are able to find some resources to have a look to improve basic functionality in the short term while you gauge the interest in doing a full overhaul.

[Tang! 3]

Which piece of core work would you want us to abandon right now to focus on this instead?  It really is that simple.  We do have plans for better AudioBook support but, at this time, it simply has to wait for resources that are currently on higher priority things (some of which you guys never see but are still extremely important to our functioning).

 

Implementing this properly will be a very large effort requiring coordination of all apps and every part of the system.  Due to that, it also will require the direct involvement of most of our key resources so even throwing money at the problem wouldn't fix it (if we had money to just throw ). 

 

The potential perceived opportunity for that just doesn't outweigh the other things in front of us right now.  There will come a time when it does, however.

 

 

I kind of doubt you'd be willing to give me your list of top 10 pieces of core work priorities you have ::grin::.  That being said, I will ask you a serious question.  Take it rhetorically if you like, but please take a moment to think about it.

 

What is the actual CASH ROI on those top 10 core priorities? 

 

How will accomplishing the first ten impact the generation of NEW members?  Both monthly and lifetime?  I think that if we could sit down for a few hours I could make a reasonable argument that there is a great possibility of a net gain in membership.  And membership can be equated to a cash infusion.

 

I would like to see you RICH and with all the resources that you'd like to accomplish those top ten and much more.  I know "rich" may not be your driving goal, but it sure would be nice. 

There are nearly 77,000 members of the "Audiobooks" subreddit alone - and the vast majority of them have never heard of or thought once about Emby.  And that's just one pool off the top of my head.  What about a working partnership with Downpour? Talk about bulking up your member base!  Even if you were able to sway 10% of either of them for a membership (which I could see a higher rate) that would put new blood in Emby's veins in the form of membership/cash. This open niche will not be there forever - someone will be filling this gap to be sure.  I'd just rather you benefited the most. When it comes specifically to a cash return on your investment of time, that's just the first thrust of the argument to help raise the priority from the near bottom where it's resided for years, to something a little closer to the top.

 

I will head on out for another few months or a year and check back in.  I'd love to see some progress on this front, but I certainly understand there is plenty that us users can't see about the operations and priority lists.  What I and others CAN see however are opportunities for Emby to grow. 

 

Thanks for your time - my apologies for being a bit wordy. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Tang!

[Luke 37046]

It's not always about ROI. Often times we have to go back and support existing features. We want our features to be a solution for people, not just a concept of what it could be like in the future.

 

So every-time you see someone pleading with us to add some kind of option to make something work differently for them, and why aren't we just doing it because it should only take two seconds to add. All of these things add weight to the system in the form of an ongoing cost and this impacts the pace at which we're able to do new feature development.

[Tang! 3]

It's not always about ROI. Often times we have to go back and support existing features. We want our features to be a solution for people, not just a concept of what it could be like in the future.

 

So every-time you see someone pleading with us to add some kind of option to make something work differently for them, and why aren't we just doing it because it should only take two seconds to add. All of these things add weight to the system in the form of an ongoing cost and this impacts the pace at which we're able to do new feature development.

Thank you Luke - Yes, I understand - but by creating the Audio Book type, that IS an existing feature to support  ::grin::

Seriously tho-  I hear what you are saying.  Overall, my overarching point was that an influx of membership could help you add more resources to get more things taken off of your list of to-do's.  

You know that Audible has their proprietary application to play their audio books.  But Downpour does not.  They have kept away from that -  at the same time, they have added other types of media to their DRM free digital download business. 

 

How cool would it be for them to add a "Listen anywhere! Download Emby TODAY" link to their main website.  There wouldn't even need to be any software integration to kick things off. 

 

Adding members means adding resources.  Losing members to some other application may also mean you are never able to draw them away.  Being first to do something well, has it's incumbent and long term rewards. Finding a source of new members has only been getting harder and harder as time goes on.

 

I appreciate your work Luke - though I may not always give that impression.  I understand you want a crisp application that's as lightweight as possible - and that certainly is and should be an ongoing concern.  One little change can make for a cascade that nobody wants to deal with.   

[Luke 37046]

 

 

Thank you Luke - Yes, I understand - but by creating the Audio Book type, that IS an existing feature to support  ::grin::

 

It was added at a time when we had a smaller audience, one that was more understanding of us having features that were not fully complete. That's not the kind of thing we would do again today, but for existing examples of this, e.g. audio books and e-books, it is what it is until we're able to allocate resources towards it.

[Dibbes 431]

It was added at a time when we had a smaller audience, one that was more understanding of us having features that were not fully complete. That's not the kind of thing we would do again today, but for existing examples of this, e.g. audio books and e-books, it is what it is until we're able to allocate resources towards it.

 

You mean when we were still young and naive? LoL

 

I really do get your point, Luke and overall, even though I don't always show it lately (yes I know I'm being a grumpy), I'm very happy with Emby (with the exception of Apple TV support). I'm also really looking forward to the new Music OSD, as I'm playing a lot of music and Airsonic, though pretty good, usually breaks at the most inopportune moment and it's usually faster to reinstall, than to troubleshoot... BookSonic, though a lot more stable, doesn't seem to be in active development and iOS is abysmal, as mentioned before...

 

Also it is frustrating, at least to me, as you could fill a niche for a lot of enthusiastic and paying customers. Though I have a lifetime subscription, I'd pay for a plugin. I know you guys don't do this to get rich quickly (at least not until you sell it for a few million, Elon Musk style), but leaving opportunities like this, maybe missing the boat, getting some money to invest back into the product, might not be a bad idea.

[Jdiesel 1113]

Wow I just tested out Plex with the Audible scrapper and the thirdparty audiobook client Prolouge. This is how things should work.

 

After two years since I last tried Plex this brought me back and I will continue to use it for all of my audio files. Please revisit audiobooks on Emby soon.

[Heronheart 0]

Just wanted to put in my vote for better audiobook support.

[Luke 37046]

10 hours ago, Heronheart said:

Just wanted to put in my vote for better audiobook support.

We are working on improving it. Thanks for the feedback.