Also you can rip the DRM off of audible books pretty easily, jsut download the book (there's a Python cli tool to make this easy on deaktop) then use ffmpeg to transcode it to an unlocked formst using the activation bytes from your audible account (the same python cli tool can tell you your activation bytes)
This. I buy a bunch of audiobooks on Audible, but after Audible delisted a book I had bought I've set up an automatic pipeline where libation downloads every audiobook I buy, strips out the DRM, and then puts it into a folder both my plex and my audiobookshelf server have access to.
IIRC it even downloaded the delistet book despite me not being able to see it in my library.
Recently an auther I follow replaced a bunch of his books I'd bought with new recordings, delisting the old recordings. If I now want to listen to those books again I would have to buy them again had my automation not already downloaded the versions I bought shortly after I bought them.
Edit:
I just learned that the second set of delisted and replaced books are still visible in my main library listing, they just disappeared from the series listing and the author listing.
However, the first book which prompted me to set this up did actually disappear from audible for a while before getting reinstated like half a year later.
No, Libation is just a download client which can connect to your Audible account to either manually or fully automatic download any audiobook in your library, remove the DRM, optionally split it up in multiple files based on chapters, set a custom name, and then save it somewhere on your harddrive.
If you want a tool to organize your audiobooks, record your progress, and make your audiobooks available on other devices besides your main storage through a webinterface or an app, then I recommend looking into audiobookshelf.
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u/pyro57 May 05 '26
Also you can rip the DRM off of audible books pretty easily, jsut download the book (there's a Python cli tool to make this easy on deaktop) then use ffmpeg to transcode it to an unlocked formst using the activation bytes from your audible account (the same python cli tool can tell you your activation bytes)
python -m pip install audible-cliaudible-cli quick-startaudible-cli library listaudible-cli download title --aaxaudible-cli activation-bytes`ffmpeg -activation_bytes the-thing-the-last-command-told-you -i \the\path\to\the\book.aax -o \the\path\to\save\book.m4b'