Saturday, February 11, 2012

Audiobook Reader for symbian Belle and Anna



I recently ported my Audiobook Reader application to Symbian (supports Anna and Belle).

I struggled a lot while porting this to symbian. For example phonon has some problem with Qt 4.7 on symbian and I wested almost one day to find out solution. If you are also facing similar problem. Then visit this link and this.

Capturing volume key was another problem. I required to use native symbian remote control api to resolve this issue. Visit this link for more info.

And as I use ubuntu machine as development machine, debugging and compilation was another problem.

But finally I was able to port it successfully and now its available on Nokia Store.
Please download it from below.
- Fixed web browser: http://store.ovi.com/content/120217
- Nokia mobile browser: http://store.ovi.mobi/content/120217
Following is demo. Hope you will like it.


39 comments:

  1. Looks like a very interesting application, and I look forward to try it for playing podcasts on Belle. Podcatcher is a very good program for downloading podcasts, but the player seriously lacks features (does not remember last played positions, no keys for jumping forward/back, etc.) and I have been looking for a music player to play the files in the podcast directories.
    However, I can't find the program in the OVI/Nokia Store. Is is too early? Is there a direct link?

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  2. HI, i just submitted the application to store. IT will take around week or so before it apper on store.

    so for now you need to wait a bit. THank you for checking my blog.

    -kunal

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  3. Oh, that long? Too bad, I'll have to wait then.
    Thanks.

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  4. Yes it quite long, but I am glad, at least I have one user now :)

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  5. @arg0, while browsing blogger site from mobile, I somehow deleted your last comment, sorry for that.

    Now you can download application for your phone. Link is posted in blog post. Please also note that there is some problem with sound. I sugges to use head phone from you can control volume.

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  6. Will it also work on Nokia E6-00 with Belle?
    The Ovi store says no. Any chance to install anyway? I have been looking for an audiobook player ever since using the E6.

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  7. Well, I designed it only for potrait mode, so dont think so UI will fit to work on E6. So currently E6 is not supported. I will try to redesign it to work on E6. Lets see how it goes.

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  8. Thanks for your quick response Kunal, hope you will succeed! Good luck!

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  9. Kunal,

    Thanks for such a great application and i am loving it on my N8 with belle.

    However, there is a tiny bit of issue with the application. It doesn’t remember the last volume level :)

    If i move the volume to maximum and exit the application then when i run the application, although the volume level indication (Red bar) on top shows volume as maximum but in fact the sound output is not maximum. It sounds like 50% of the volume. To increase the volume, first i have to lower the volume by pressing hardware volume button and then increase the volume through the hardware volume button.
    I hope, I explained the issue enough.
    One more thing, can we have exit from the application button while listening a book. Currently, the arrow button takes us back to the library and from there we can exit the application. Direct exit button would be handy while driving a car.
    Also, if we can have homescreen widget for this application. playing and pausing a book directly from the homescreen.

    Regards,

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  10. Hi, Thank you for feedback. I am aware of the volume issue, but it behaved differently for your case. For me volume seems to be always 100% instead of 50%.

    but i am not able to find out why device behave this way, I have tried many workaround but none seems to work.

    Now that I don't have access to device for some time, I will not be able to work on issue until I have device.

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  11. Nice program.

    Any chanche to add AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile) support? I listen to audiobook with a stereo bluetooth headset (Nokia BH-905i, fantastic peace of equipment) and it would be very nice to be able to use the play/pause button on the headset.

    Thanks for the work you have done so far, keep up the gooed work!

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  12. Kunal,

    Thanks for the reply,

    Is this application opensource? if so then we (community) can play around with the source code and may find some solution.

    Thanks,

    ReplyDelete
  13. I just found the possible solution today , but as I told in my last comment I will not have access to my device for about two month I can't test it and verify if it works. Will try remote device access program, it that works then I might push the update.

    For AVRCP profile, N9 version support bluetooth headset. I will try to implement it for Symbian version as well, added to my todo list

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  14. Thanks for the app, I've been using it for the past couple of days and its working great. Would love to have bluetooth controls as mentioned above as well, also any chance of a commercial free version? I find that it causes the phone to freeze if it is launched when all data connection is turned off. Anyway thanks again for your efforts so far

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  15. Kunal,

    Great app but there are few bugs as mentioned below,

    Volume level changes (lowers) with the change of mp3 file in the same book,

    if a call is received inbetween, it forgets the playing location and starts from the begining. Same is true, if a call is made without stoping the player.

    without internet connects, it hangs sometimes.


    and few must to haves:
    total time of book,
    remaning time/played time
    on every resume, it should start playing from -10 seconds. ( this will refresh what we were listening. this should be configureable)

    Regards,

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  16. Hi,

    Thanks for feedback. As I am not able to use my symbian device for regular use( network is not compitable). I was not aware of behaviour while call. i will look into it. I will also check why it hangs without internet connection. Rest of the things looks easy to be implemented.

    Thanks again for your feedback.

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  17. Kunal,
    I have installed Audiobook Reader on my Belle C6-01. First, thanks for developing this application.
    I do face a couple issues though and I think I have narrowed the problem down. I can add a audiobook through add folder or add book but they will not play. No sound. If I add a mp3 music file it will play. I believe this is because the program does not recognize the file extension mp3.ab (audiobook) which many downloaded audiobooks come in now. The reason is so the audiobook files don't show up in you music player library, the .ab prevents that. Could you please support mp3.ab files.
    Also will WMA files be supported, here in the U.S. many public library audiobook downloads are only available in WMA file. WMA support would also be important looking ahead to WP7 application. A complete list of supported file types would be helpful to all.
    I hope you find the time to continue developing Audiobook Reader.
    One last comment, I would prefer the option of a paid (no add) application. I don't mind paying for time and effort if the end result is a product of value.
    Thanks again,
    Tim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to check about mp3.ab and wma file. I never tried those format. In general my app support the file format what it supported by symbian platform and phonon api. If that API does not support that file then I can not support those as well.

      And regarding "no ad" version, my experience till now with paid app is not good, i don't think i will try that mode again.

      Delete
  18. Great application!
    A little bug: without internet connection always freeze... and block the phone. Please, check for a solution

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    Replies
    1. Hi,Thank you for feedback. Yes I am planning to work on that issue. will provide fix as soon as possible.

      Delete
  19. Without internet connection always freeze... Please fix it! It's only one realy working audiobook player for my Nokia 500 phone! Thanks!

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  20. At last I find a great audiobook reader for my symbian Nokia n8 [Belle] only to find it locks up the phone when in offline mode. Will there be an update to this app. Please say yes!!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for feedback. Yes, I am planning to fix.Its only delayed because of unavailability of HW for test. I am hoping to get my device back soon and will start working on fix then.

      Delete
  21. I have to recommend this app for Belle. I only got one problem that it seems not working with Audible.com files. Or maybe I got a problem?
    Is there any recomendation to use audible.com files.
    It have taken a long time till someone have solved the problem with Nokia N8 audiobook files. Thumps up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Currently this app does not work with audible format. One of my N9 app user do following workaround for audible. He first burn audiobook to CD and then rip this cd back to computer. Now he can legally transfer this book to phone and listen using my app. Hope this will work for you as well.

      Delete
  22. Hi, Thanks for this excellent app for symbian belle. Should I be seeing the book cover art on my phone (N8) as I only see the the book cover that comes in the app.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Thank you for your feedback.

      You should be able to see the book cover art, not default one, however application try to download it for internet, if your phone is not connected to network then it might not download coverart.

      Other reason might be that my app is not able to find cover art on internet, can you let me know the book name and author name ? I will check if app is able to download cover art or not.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the reply, the books I have are free downloads from Librivox with the covers downloaded and added as a JPG into the folder. They show as cover art in the phones music player but I guess no go for your app.

      Delete
    3. Looks like there is some problem in app. I will download my self and test it. Thanks for providing information.

      Delete
    4. Hi is the update still very far away.

      Delete
    5. I am planning to start working on it soon, as I have access to phone now. But still it will take some time.
      Thanks for your comment.

      Delete
  23. says item not available..

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    Replies
    1. Can you tell me from which country you are trying to access the store ?

      Delete
  24. Hi Kunal,

    I had been using Nokia Audiobooks for S60 FP3, and now I use your nice app for Nokia Belle. It works great for me, although I can suggest some improvements:
    - The default cover could be any jpeg in the directory, rather than having to download it.
    - There is no sleep mode, which is handy when listening to audiobooks at bed time...
    - It would be great if the length of the whole audiobook was displayed, and if the progress bar would show the progress for the whole book, not just the chapter (maybe a using a second progress bar).

    Thanks and keep the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi Kunal,
    I wish to load the Audiobook app for Belle from
    http://store.ovi.mobi/content/120217
    but the Link dos´nt work. Is there another way to get the file for this app?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, I think its not showing because of country restriction by Nokia store. I am not sure how you can overcome this. may be proxy can help?

      Delete
  26. Recently found your audio book app and love it with the exception of minor bugs (volume lowering at each new file). I did run into a usability issue though, which might affect others with very long audio books. I resample my audible.com books into m4a format which play fine. The major issue is that I end up with 2 or 3 very long files (8-12 hours each). If I want to skip around the 25 seconds forward/backwards makes it slightly cumbersome. Worse though is that during an unexpected shutdown or restart the previous location is does not appear to be saved and I can end up having to skip through the entire file in 25 second increments. I'm currently running on a Nokia 808 with Belle which has some stability issues and likes to reboot every so often. The stability is not related to the audiobook software but to the default firmware. Otherwise this is almost perfect.

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  27. Check out the podcast capability of Nokia Music Player, it works very well with audiobooks:

    http://discussions.nokia.com/t5/Nseries-and-Symbian-Smartphones/Getting-frustrated-with-audiobooks-podcasts-on-701/td-p/1262049

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