Smart AudioBook Player - Listen & organize audiobooks

A specialized app for playing audio books that requires manual book downloads and organization into subfolders within the "My Audiobooks" folder on your device. Each book should have its own subfolder, regardless of the number of files it consists of. In the Library→Settings→Root folder, choose the "My Audiobooks" folder. After arranging the books, remember to click the "Update" button at the top of the Library window. Initially offers a full version for 30 days, then shifts to a basic version.

Features include:

+ Control over playback speed for adjusting narrator pace.

+ Book classification (new, started, finished) for easy tracking of reading progress.

+ Downloading book covers from the internet to enrich the visual experience.

+ Bookmark feature for marking interesting parts of the book.

+ Capability to create a character list for better story comprehension.

+ Automatic pause if you fall asleep, with playback resuming by shaking your phone.

+ Playback history for returning to previous listening positions.

+ Chromecast support for listening through full-size speakers.

+ Application Widget for convenient player control on the home screen.

+ Ability to save progress independently for each book without needing to finish one before starting another.

+ Ad-free experience.

For the full version purchase, navigate to menu→Help→Version tab. It's a one-time payment, not a subscription.

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Using Guide

Smart AudioBook Player is an app that lets you enjoy all your audiobooks in the easiest possible way. Similar apps offer basically the same features as a standard music player, but Smart AudioBook Player has a few special and interesting options.

While you're playing an audiobook, you can increase or decrease the speed with just a tap. This means you can quickly skip over any parts you've already listened to or just don't want to hear. And thanks to the widget included in your app you can do all this right from your home screen.

As you'd expect, Smart AudioBook Player remembers the exact place you left off listening to an audiobook. In fact, you can have as many active books as you like, and resume listening to any of them at any time.

Smart AudioBook Player is an excellent audiobook app that's compatible with MP3, M4A, M4B, AWB, OGG, and WMA formats.

Using Experience

It finally dawned on me late last year that Overdrive MP3 audio books are DRM-free. Yes, I’d known that fact on some level, but I still listened to the books in the Overdrive app, which is okay but not great. Plus it often takes me longer than three weeks to finish an audiobook, so I was only checking out short ones (less than 10 hours).

Once I processed the implications of DRM-free audio books (Hooray! I can check out long books!), I started looking for an audiobook player app and found Smart AudioBook Player. It has great reviews and offers a 30 day trial of the full version (which costs $1.99 as an in-app purchase).

I probably haven’t taxed the app to its fullest, but I liked it enough to upgrade. One of the features I really like (and required the upgrade) was the percentage finished of the book. Since I like to track my reading status on Goodreads, that’s a handy feature. With Overdrive, I had to actually do math. The horrors!

You load the books into a dedicated folder, so they aren’t mixed in with your songs. You can have multiple books at various stages, and the app keeps track of each book separately. I don’t usually listen to multiple books at once, but it’s a nice feature.

The app automatically rewinds 30-60 seconds when you start a new listening session, which I like. I usually need a few seconds to remember where I left off. You can rewind manually in 10 second or 1 minute intervals.

Although I’ve never used it, you can speed up playback. I like the unhurried aspect of audiobooks, so I’ve never used that feature, but I know other people who like to speed things up.

It does have a widget, and it appears in the Notifications area for easy starting and stopping. I’ve been using the app for about 2 months now, and I’ve found it to be stable.

In many ways, I like it better than the Audible app, which has badges and other stat tracking features I don’t care about. Smart AudioBook Player just plays audiobooks and does it well. I plan to seek out other sources of DRM-free audiobooks to supplement those I listen to in Scribd.

If you listen to DRM-free audiobooks and have an Android device, check out the app. Sorry, Apple users. There isn’t a version for you.