Audible has released a native iOS application for downloading and listening to audiobooks from Audible.com on an iPhone or iPod touch. The Audible application allows users to browse through and download audiobooks from their Audible.com library over a Wi-Fi connection and listen to any downloaded titles directly from within the app. Users can begin listening to an audiobook while it is downloading and iOS 4 multitasking support allows users of multitasking-capable devices to continue downloading and listening to an audiobook even while the Audible app is not actively running.
The application also supports chapter navigation, bookmarking and a sleep timer and provides Facebook and Twitter integration and access to the Audible Newsfeed. The Audible app maintains its own library on the device rather than integrating with the built-in iPod app—Audible titles still need to be synced separately via iTunes in order to appear in the normal iPod Audiobooks section. The app also does not provide direct purchasing capabilites although users can visit Audible.com using the Safari browser to purchase titles and add them to their library, at which point they can be downloaded by the Audible app.
Only Audible.com accounts are supported at this time, with Audible.co.uk, Audible.de and Audible.fr said to be coming soon. Audible is available from the App Store as a free download; an Audible.com account is required and users can sign up for a new account directly from the app.
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