#16 New GUI version with ability to edit chapters, embed cover and more...

[Tim]

I'm providing a new version with Windows Forms interface which is based on AaxToMp3_CS_1.0.1. All options are now set in the GUI and I have removed the support for parameterized start but the console still functions as an output window. New features / amendments include:

General options

• Ability to convert multiple files without PowerShell.
• Option to select output folder, the folder is common for all converted books. Converted books are saved to subfolders named [author] – [book name]. Filename numbering is changed to match chapter number instead of index.
• Track file names are formatted as Chapter 1, Chapter 2 etc. if chapter text has not been specified or [00# (chapter number)] [chapter title] with custom chapters, zeros depending on chapter count.
• Option to embed cover art. Cover art is always extracted and cover image is embedded as front cover to all chapters (it's usually 500x500px and 20-50KB) after all chapters have been encoded.
• Option to edit each audiobook’s name, author, narrator, description and all chapters individually.
• Ability to paste chapters from clipboard. Each line in clipboard text is considered to be a chapter and numbers, and other characters that are not letters are removed from the beginning of a line.

Encoding options

• Option to customize author and narrator Meta data. By default aax files have the narrator as "artist" which ffmpeg translates to TPE1 "Lead performer(s)/Soloist(s)" and the author as "album_artist" (TPE2, "Band/orchestra/accompaniment"). This is a bit silly to me because most players populate tracks by TPE1 and, for example iTunes shows the author as the artist, leaving narrator out altogher. So i've included option to change this. There would have been perhaps more suitable fields in the ID3V2.3 (totally lacks of support for audiobooks) like TEXT, TOLY and TOPE, but ffmpeg apparently does not support these so I did not investigate it any further. If someone cares about it, there is TagLib, which I used to include the functionality to embed cover image which provides an easy way to change meta data.
• Enable advanced encoding options by unchecking "Inherit encoding", with Inherit encoding selected all settings are inherited from the original aax file, except Meta tag settings. However, I would advise against using custom sample and bitrate combinations if you are not familiar with audio encoding, especially if you wish to convert to mp3 as results can be quite "unpredictable".
• Option to choose sample rate. Default = original sample rate.
• Option to use FFmpeg's output_file_options. For example: -af highpass=f=4000 for highpass filter. See FFmpeg's documentation for details. https://ffmpeg.org/documentation.html
• Set Bit rate to 0 for default bitrate.
• Verbose option lets all messages through (except repeated messages). Verbose output can be ugly but with Verbose unselected errors are hidden. If the numbers arent running, there probably is something wrong with inputs.

The AAXSDKWin.dll is copied from default Program Files (x86)\Audible\bin, if exists. So you only need to download Audible manager or Audible download manager and activate the pc.

[Jan]

Timo,
Thanks for this terrific AAX to M4a/ Mp3 file converter, Version 1.0.0.0 - Multiple File, Chapter breakdown, is perfect, plus audio book information - author, narrator, cover image & more.
The system crashes if I don't install AudibleMediaPlayerFilter and click on and run ffmpeg first before using. (Windows 7, 64 bit Operating System) 5 stars *

[Tim]

This was by design in the initial version, authentication error caused exception which was not handled = crash. Im posting a version in a bit where this exception is handled.

When converting, the computer always need to be authorized with the Audible account that was used to download the file. This can be with

• Audible manager ( Devices - > Activate)
• Audible download manager (Options -> Activate PC, shown if Audible manager, AudibleDM_iTunesSetup or AudibleDM_WMPSetup is installed)
• Windows media player, by playing an audiobook if you have installed AudibleDM_WMPSetup.exe
• iTunes by playing an audiobook or (in versions older than 12.2 Store -> Authrorize Audible account) if you have installed AudibleDM_iTunesSetup.exe.

If an audible file has never been played by the PC, you also need to open a book once in a player that can play it.

[Tim]

Okay so, I encountered books that failed convert because of missing narrator. That’s 2 out of 126 books in my library and the other one was read by the author. This is fixed in the attached version.

Changes:

• If author is missing author name is set as “Unknown”, if title is missing book name is generated from the file name. Other missing metadata is ignored.
• Check whether the computer is authenticated to use aax files before loading a file.
• When converting multiple files, if failed to load a file user will be prompted whether to skip and continue, quit or throw.
• Included support for .aa files. User can select .aax, .aa or both.
• Info of the original file encoding on details page. The default sample rate and bitrate shown is from the last book, this does not affect encoding of the other if “Inherit encoding” is checked, unchecked all books are converted with the same settings.
• Other minor tweaks / fixes.

Apparently these messages have 50MB size limit, so the src file does not include ffmpeg.exe. The ffmpeg.exe in 1.0.1 is updated to the latest ( Zeranoe FFmpeg Build Version: git-906c0b7 (2015-12-13) version.

[Jan]

Timo,
When I download your newer updated version 1.0.1 of the AaxToMp3 Converter, there is no popup message: C;\Program Files (x86)\Audible\bin\AAXSDKWin.dll found, and the windows close without converting.

I am not having any problems with your original program, 1.0.0.0 so it really doesn't matter that the newer version isn't working on my system. (Windows 7, 64 bit Operating System)

[Tim]

I changed the "AAXSDKWin.dll found" message to be shown only when copied, doest not affect functionality in any other way.

But I did try to run it on a computer that had never played an Audible file and what it currently does is not enough in this case. If an audible file has never been played by the PC, you also need to open a book once in an application that can play it, ffmpeg though has nothing to do with the .aax/.aa files before actual conversion process.

EDIT: When activation is done from audible manager, there is no need to play a file.

[Peter Jordan]

Timo,
thanks for Your great work. Everything is working smoothe and fine, I love it.

One problem left:

The author and the narrator are displayed correctly on the Details screen. It doesnt matter what I mark in TPE1, TPE2 and TPE3 for the author or for the narrator, the author is allways taken in TPE1, TPE2 and TPE3 if it is marked either for the author or the narrator.

Two suggestions if You have a lot of time left:)

1. Could You include "COMMENT"? In german audible it is used as "gelesen von 'narrator'";
2. In "Edit Details" and in batch mode You are asked for each file, if You want to save the changes but only the last change of the last file is shown for each file. A bit confusing.

[Peter Jordan]

please delete

[Tim]

Did you use the initial version or 1.0.3 from my reply to this thread? I believe I have fixed the author/narrator issue but I'm unsure whether it made it to that build as the added text to edited messages seems to have been left out, when changing attachment.

Your first request is unclear to me. Do you want to edit the "comment" metadata or where should the comment be included?

Saving current book's details only was by desing to prevent accidental changes which would result in badly formatted file names. Admittedly it is a bit confusing and redundant since I added a prompt to confirm changes, maybe I'll replace it with auto save function.

[Peter Jordan]

I'm using the latest version 1.0.3 from here:
https://sourceforge.net/p/aaxtomp3/tickets/_discuss/thread/eeccf4b5/9255/13d4/attachment/AaxToMp3_CSF_1.0.3.zip checked it twice.

When I use itunes to "burn" the aax file(s) to vitual audio CDs, and convert the ".wav" files to mp3, there is a tag "COMMENT" with the value "read by 'narrator' " "gelesen von 'narrator'" in the resulting mp3 file(s). So I thought, it should be easy to take this tag unchanged, sorry if I am wrong, .

The prompt is not confusing, but for each change in each file it shows the file name in the lower part of the screen - which is fine - and the last change of the last changed file in the upper part of the screen - which is wrong. The result is nevertheless OK, but it is confusing, that You have to confirm the wrong changes. Please excuse my bad English, I hope this makes sense to You.

[Tim]

Actually there is no comments metadata in .aa or .aax files, at least that we know of. There is one unknown field but it was empty in all of my audible.com marketplace books I have checked. I suspect iTunes simply appends the Comments tag with narrator for Audible files because there is no designated tag for narrator.

I see what I can do but I don't have latest sources at hand right now so it will probably have to wait until next month.

Meanwhile you can always edit the comments with iTunes manually the following way: Select the book (album) or all the tracks of the boook, do a right mouse click and select Informationen (Get Info) and edit the Comments field.

Also in the options tab you can specify the media kind as audiobook which would make the audiobook(s) played in iBooks.

[Peter Jordan]

Thanks for the clarification about the Comment-tag. I dont need it. It was just thought as a work around as long as the narrator is not showing. I am very happy to get rid of itunes thanks to Your fine tool.

Its a mess with the tags in audiobooks. Not only Operating Systems like Windows android and itunes have different tag definitions, it seems to me, that every audiobook publisher and every audio player cook their own tag-soup.

[Tim]

duplicate.

[Hipsu]

Hi Tim. I'm using your 1.0.3. Are you sure the missing narrator -fix is included in that version?

After succesfully converting about 50 books, I finally encountered an error with two books. When I try to "Open" either of them in the GUI, it throws me this error: AAXGetMetadataInfo: -25

If I hover over the file in the "Open"-dialog, I can preview the tags. The Narrator tag is blank, and I suspect that is the reason for the metadata error.

[Jan]

In a second attempt to use the 1.0.1 version of the AaxToMp3 Converter, I uninstalled and reinstalled the Audible Manager, authorized my computer, and played the chosen Aax audio books with the Audible Manager.
Then opened the 1.0.1 Converter. The black popup window opens and is completely blank.
After I select the Aax audio book file, choose save to a folder, and click convert, both windows close without converting. (Windows 7, 64 bit Operating System)

[Tim]

Oh, Try 1.0.3 from my original reply to this thread. Threre was a another bug which caused premature exit, I thought I introduced it after .1 but doing those changes I was attempting to multitask (never a good I idea) so my memory might have failed me there.

[Jan]

Timo Ojala's AaxToMp3 Converter, Version 1.0.3, works smoothly with no problems.
When finished, each converted M4a/Mp3 Audio Book consists of Multiple files, Chapter labels, Author, Narrator, Cover Image and more. (Windows 7, 64 bit Operating System) 5 Stars*

[Mikael Henning]

Converted 3 books, seemed to work excellent. The time left indication in the shell was off by quite a lot, could jump from 4 minutes left to done in 10 sec but that does not matter :)

Have tried the outputs in VLC on Win10 and Smart Audiobook player on Android, only skipped and sampled but seem perfect. Id3 tags + cover worked fine.

Really good job!

[Shane Windus]

This is a great gui. Thanks for writing it. I'm having a problem resampling from 22050 khz up to 41000 khz. The resulting file sounds like the chipmunks. Is there a way around this?

[Tim]

I'm remembering the codec in the custom build ffmpeg.exe for this project is using does not support too many sample rates. The converter is using the default codec of given ffmpeg.exe so you can use another codec by replacing ffmpeg.exe with another build with desired codec set as default.

Try using another build, like https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ , for examble.

[Shane Windus]

I tried those builds and it still resulted in a file that sounds sped up 2x. Thanks for the information.

[Philip Colmer]

I'm using version 1.0.3 and converting a book is giving me this output:

Stream mapping:
Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (pcm_s16le (native) -> mp3 (libmp3lame))
Processing... 00:01:19.6400000 | 100.0% done, est. time left: 00:00Multiple frames in a packet from stream 0
[pcm_s16le @ 0000000004bac320] Invalid PCM packet, data has size 2 but at least a size of 4 was expected
Error while decoding stream #0:0: Invalid data found when processing input
Processing... 00:01:24.9000000 | 100.0% done, est. time left: 00:00
video:0kB audio:664kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.240729%

The last file seems to be OK but I'm not sure if I should be worrying about the error :)

[navydude]

Ok I spent 2 days and never got this to work. This was one of the first articals I found on AAX to MP3 conversion. Using windows 10 1803 build. I even ran across this as well :

https://sourceforge.net/p/aaxtomp3/tickets/33/

While it seemed i had found my answer i never could get authentication from audible to make this work. So after many hours and frustration i finally come across this. I used it step by step and works 100% as of today 7/11/2018. Its isnt automated but its fairly quick even for someone who isnt really skilled. I did use https://conemu.github.io/ to make it easier for me. The guide also suggests this.

https://wphelp365.com/blog/ultimate-guide-downloading-converting-aax-mp3/

Make sure to make the correct changes to the file names when following the guide. It took about 15 mins with decoding and all.

Now Im not saying that AAXtoMP3 isnt a good program because i did use it sometime last year and it worked very well for me. However im not sure if its windows updates or the way the AAX and DRM work but i coundn't for the life of me make this happen.

I hope this helps anyone who is having a tough time with there conversion.

[Xname]

Hey Tim,
I really love your version (v1.0.3 on 2015-12-17).
However, I ran into a problem. While converting an audiobook, the program exited with following error. I restarted (skipping existing files), but the error "Unbehandelte Ausnahme" (Unhandled Exception) keeps terminating the program:

...
Chapter 363 of 373: 00:06:48.4850000
  Skip Chapter 363.mp3: file exists
Chapter 364 of 373: 00:08:48.6260000
  Skip Chapter 364.mp3: file exists

Unbehandelte Ausnahme: System.InvalidOperationException: AAXSeekToChapter: -21
   bei AaxToMp3.AaxSdk.SeekToChapter(UInt32 chapter)
   bei AaxToMp3.AAXDecode.ConvertBook(BookData book)
   bei AaxToMp3.AAXDecode.Main(String[] args)

Any ideas on this?

[Renato Chencinski]

If someone gets error System.AccessViolationException in AaxToMp3.AaxSdk.AAXDecodePCMFrame, try downloading .aax file again, perhaps not using Audible Download Manager but directly (download .adh file from audible, copy content and append to http://cdl.audible.com/cgi-bin/aw_assemble_title_dynamic.aa? - eg ...dinamyc.aa?user_id=CV_j...).
Reference from https://wphelp365.com/blog/ultimate-guide-downloading-converting-aax-mp3/.

Full error for reference:

Exceção Sem Tratamento: System.AccessViolationException: Tentativa de leitura ou gravação em memória protegida. Normalmente, isso é uma indicação de que outra memória está danificada.
       em AaxToMp3.AaxSdk.AAXDecodePCMFrame(Byte* aaxhandle, Byte* encbuf, UInt32 encbufsize, Byte* decbuf, UInt32 decbufsize, UInt32* length)
       em AaxToMp3.AaxSdk.DecodePCMFrame(Byte[]& encbuf, UInt32 enclen, Byte[]& decbuf)
       em AaxToMp3.AAXDecode.ConvertBook(BookDetails book)
       em AaxToMp3.AAXDecode.Main(String[] args)

[Shane Windus]

For anyone (Like me) who cannot get your computer to authorize anymore no matter what you do. I have found this tutorial. It works without any special software. You just need to be able to follow the simple instructions. So glad I found this.
https://wphelp365.com/blog/ultimate-guide-downloading-converting-aax-mp3/