OpenAudible Review: Features, Benefits, and Top Alternatives

Part 1. What Is OpenAudible?

OpenAudible is a cross-platform desktop program that works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, designed to help Audible users download, manage, and convert Audible audiobooks easily. Unlike Audible's previous tool, Audible Manager, which only allowed downloads in restrictive formats like .aa, .aax, or .aapx, OpenAudible gives you more freedom by letting you convert these files into user-friendly formats like MP3.

Imagine you've purchased several audiobooks on Audible. When you download them, they might come in a format that can only be played on the Audible app. OpenAudible simplifies this by enabling you to convert those .aax files into MP3, which you can use on any device - like your MP3 player.

In addition to converting formats, OpenAudible offers advanced features that Audible Manager lacks. You can join multiple audiobooks into one file, split audiobooks by chapters, and edit ID3 tags, which contain information like the title and author. Most importantly, it removes the DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions, allowing you to fully own and manage your audiobooks as you wish.

Note:
It's important to note that OpenAudible is not the only option out there. While it offers more features than Audible Manager, it can be a bit complicated to use, which might confuse some users. It's a good idea to explore other user-friendly alternatives. Tools like Libation, InAudible, and the recommended ViWizard Audible Converter provide similar functionality without the learning curve.

Audible Audiobook Converter

A unique and innovative Audible audiobook converter to convert any protected Audible audio book from AA or AAX formats to universal formats, including lossless audio, MP3, AAC, FLAC, M4A, M4B, 2AV, AC3, and more in an easiest yet fastest way ever and with up to 100× super faster speed.

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Part 2. How to Set Up OpenAudible

Setting up OpenAudible is simple and allows you to manage your Audible audiobooks easily. First, you need to download and install the program on your device. Then, connect your Audible account to load your audiobook library. If you already have audiobooks downloaded, you can also import them directly. Here's a step-by-step guide:

Step 1Download and Install OpenAudible

• For Windows:

  1. Visit the OpenAudible website and download the Windows version.
  2. If prompted about security, verify the certificate and continue.
  3. Double-click the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.

• For macOS:

  1. Download the macOS version from the OpenAudible website.
  2. Open the DMG file and drag the OpenAudible icon to your Applications folder.
  3. If needed, right-click the app in Finder and select "Open" to bypass security settings.

• For Linux:

  1. Download the appropriate package for your distribution (e.g., .deb, .rpm, or AppImage).
  2. Alternatively, run this command for a quick install:

  wget -qO- https://openaudible.org/latest/OpenAudible_x86_64.sh | sh -s -- -q

Step 2Connect to Audible

1. Open OpenAudible and go to "Controls," then select "Connect to Audible."
2. Choose your Audible region and log in using your Audible credentials in the browser.
3. Complete any CAPTCHA and two-factor authentication if prompted.
4. OpenAudible will sync your library, and the status will show "Connected: Yes."

Step 3Sync or Import Audiobooks

1. To sync new purchases, go to "Controls" and choose "Quick Audible Library Sync."
2. To update all titles and metadata, select "Full Audible Library Sync."
3. If you have downloaded audiobooks locally, you can import them by selecting "File" > "Import" and choosing the files from your device.

Part 3. How to Use OpenAudible

You can learn how to download and convert Audible books, split and join audiobooks, manage your library, and back up your Audible collection using OpenAudible.

1. Download & Convert Audible Books

Here's how to download and convert your Audible books into more accessible formats like MP3 or M4B:

1. Open OpenAudible and ensure you are connected to your Audible account.
2. Select Controls > Connect to Audible from the top menu.
3. Log in to your Audible account when prompted.
4. Your Audible library will appear automatically. If any books aren't downloaded:
• Select the book you want to download.
• Click Action > Download.
5. The download may take a few minutes. Click the Library Status: Downloads panel to view the download queue.
6. Once downloaded, the book is saved in AAX format on your computer.

To Convert Audible Books to MP3 or M4B:

1. Select the book from your library.
2. Right-click and choose Convert to MP3 (or M4B for smaller file size with chapters).
3. The converted file will be saved in your chosen format in your library.

2. Split & Join Audible Books

You can split audiobooks by chapter or join multiple files into one:

3. Manage Audible Library

Easily manage your audiobooks and library location:

4. Backup Audible Library

To back up your audiobook collection:

1. Select File > Backup Library.
2. Choose a location on your computer or an external drive for the backup.

OpenAudible will save your entire audiobook collection, ensuring you won't lose any files.

Part 4. Best Alternatives to OpenAudible Loved by Audible Users

Definitely, OpenAudible is a great way for Audible users to organize audiobooks in one place, but there are some users who seek for OpenAudible alternatives since it charges on version 2.0. Luckily, we find several best alternatives to OpenAudible. Generally speaking, the tools below are easy-to-use and powerful to convert Audible to MP3 and even own more functions than OpenAudible. Let's go to see them now!

Alternative 1. ViWizard Audible Audiobook Converter

ViWizard Audible Audiobooks Converter is designed for Audible users aiming to convert all Audible audiobooks to MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, FLAC, WAV, and more with lossless audio quality. At the same time of conversion, it removes DRM protection from Audible. Same as OpenAudible, the ViWizard program also functions as a splitter. It supports dividing Audible books by chapters, by segments, or by time so that you can extract your favorite part to loop. Moreover, it enables you to change the narration volume, speed, pitch, and tags as you like. What's more, it works automatically at 100X faster conversion speed. You can upload several Audible files to ViWizard since it supports batch conversion. With the aid of this converter, you don't need to authorize your Audible account. As long as you downloaded Audible files, this powerful converter can work well for you.

Key Features of ViWizard Audible Audiobook Converter

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* Security verified. 5,481,347 people have downloaded it.

• Convert Audible audiobook to unprotected audio formats like MP3
• Split Audible book into several smaller segments by chapter or by time
• Support playing Audible audiobooks on any device or media player
• Handle the conversion of Audible audiobooks up to 100× faster speed

1. Open the ViWizard Audible Audiobook Converter on your computer.
2. Click the Add Files icon in the upper-left corner.
3. Alternatively, you can drag and drop your Audible files directly into the ViWizard window.
4. To adjust audio settings such as volume or narration speed, click the Edit icon (blue) next to each title.
5. Click the Format panel located at the bottom left of the window.
6. In the new window, choose your desired output format (e.g., MP3, M4B).
7. Adjust additional parameters such as codec, channel, sample rate, and bit rate.
8. If you're not using Lossless format, select your preferred audio quality.
9. Click OK to apply your settings.
10. Click the Convert button located at the bottom right of the window to begin the conversion process.
11. Once the conversion is complete, click on Converted at the top to view your converted audiobooks.

Alternative 2. ViWizard Audio Converter

ViWizard Audio Converter is another converter produced by ViWizard. This one-stop tool not only supports you importing Audible audiobooks but also supports audio files from Apple Music, iTunes, and other 100 common audio formats. With advanced technology, it can convert your inputted files to MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC, WAV, and M4B. In the same vein, it also supports changing the volume, speed, and pitch if you're not satisfied with these effects. And more, long audiobooks can be cut into small pieces either by time, chapter, or segments. Using ViWizard Audio Converter, you don't need to worry about any audio quality or tag loss.

Audio Converter

A full-featured audio converting tool that allows you to convert some special audio files, including Apple Music, iTunes songs and audiobooks, Audible audiobooks, as well as, more than 100 kinds of common audio files to MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC, WAV, and M4B to listen anywhere.

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1. Open the ViWizard Audio Converter on your computer.
2. Click the book icon at the top center of the window to add your downloaded Audible books.
3. Alternatively, you can drag and drop your Audible files or folders directly from your local directory into the ViWizard program.
4. Click the Format panel located at the bottom left corner.
5. In the pop-up window, choose from 6 output formats (e.g., MP3, M4B).
6. Modify settings such as bit rate, sample rate, channel, and codec.
7. Edit audio effects or split the audiobooks by clicking the two icons beside each title for additional customization.
8. Click the Convert button to begin the conversion process for your Audible books.
9. After conversion, click on the Converted icon at the top to view all converted audiobooks in the history list.
10. Use the search icon to quickly locate specific audiobooks if needed.

Everyone loves free items. If you are unwilling to shell out a fortune on Audible converter or OpenAudible, here we collect and gather some free tools for you that perform similar functions as OpenAudible. Read on to check.

Alternative 3. Libation

Libation is another audible audiobook manager. It is a free and open-source to download, decrypt, organize, search, and tag your audiobooks. It even supports you to connect several Audible accounts. Moreover, it can download the book along with the PDF if Audible adds a PDF to your book. Choosing to install and run this application brings so many files to your computer and takes up a lot of space.

1. Install Libation and click Settings > Accounts to enter your Audible credentials.
2. Libation will scan and load your Audible library automatically after linking your Audible account.
3. Simultaneously, it will automatically download some or all of your audible books. Also, you can select Liberate > Begin Book Backups to download titles manually.
4. You can use the spotlight to decide the downloading progress: Green means downloaded and decrypted; Yellow signifies downloaded but still encrypted with DRM; Red indicates not downloaded.

Alternative 4. Online Audio Converter

Online Audio Converter is a free yet beginner-friendly site to convert over 300 audio formats including Audible AA/AAX formats. This tool also enables you to configure the format, quality, bit rate, frequency, and number of channels. It supports batch conversion and offers different uploading paths, such as local folder, URL, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Note that all converted files will be automatically erased from the website after a few hours. If you have the need of splitting Audible audiobooks, the Online Audio Converter is not your choice.

1. Visit Online Audio Converter from a browser and click Open Files to add Audible books that you downloaded on your computer before.
2. Choose the MP3 format and change the quality or other parameters, such as the bit rate, sample rate, channel, and effects. You can also edit tags as you like.
3. Click the blue Convert button to start the conversion and click Download to save the converted audio file when the conversion is complete.

Alternative 5. AAX Audio Converter

From its name, it is not hard to see AAX Audio Converter aims to convert AAX (Audible files) to MP3 or M4A. Also, you can optionally split the book into chapters, names the MP3 files, and adds tags according to the patterns you specify. But it only works on Windows. Running AAX Audio Converter requires the activation code that can be got by installing either Book Lib Connect or Audible Manager. So we do not highly recommend this way.

1. Install AAX Audio Converter on your Windows and follow its instruction to activate the program.
2. Click the Add button to add Audible files.
3. Select the output format as MP3 and choose which local folder you want your files to store.
4. Choose the mode to split audiobooks under the Mode section if necessary.
5. Hit on the Convert button to initiate the conversion.

Here is a comparison table of OpenAudible and OpenAudible alternatives. We compare different aspects so that you can select the one best suits you based on your needs.

Summary

Now, you may have a better understanding of OpenAudible. For those who looking for OpenAudible alternatives, we offer 5 options to choose. If you focus on the conversion speed and audio quality, ViWizrad Audible Converter undoubtedly comes priority. If you just save money to find a free alternative to OpenAudible, Online Audio Converter is the best one that meets your needs.