Migrating from Audible to Audiobookshelf

In the current day and age moving from Amazon is not unappealing. I wish that Audible.com had never been bought by Amazon because I love Audible but hate what Amazon represents. It represents a monopolisation of the way people shop and by content around the world. Luckily in Switzerland we have Galaxus as a practical alternative.

For several months, by now, I have migrated all of my books from Audible.com to Audiobookshelf via Openaudible. To be clear I am not encouraging piracy. I am encouraging a personal backup for the books that we have bought as individuals, to preserve as individuals. I have used Audible for years and want to preserve what I have invested in, for my own enjoyment.

OpenAudible is a tool that you can use to convert Audible aax files to MP3 or M4b files. You download your library, convert the books and then keep them on your own hard drives.

The next step is to get a raspberry Pi. With the Raspberry Pi if you install Ubuntu and Docker you can use the docker file to install Audiobookshelf on your own machine. You can then import your audio books to your library and listen to them at your convenience.

To keep your books safe you can add tailscale to the Pi and connect to the server via tailscale and Firefox on an iOS device or the Android App on an Android phone. You can then listen to your books from anywhere at any time.The reason for using Tailscale is that you keep your books private, to avoid the risk of the content you own being pirated by others.

Remember, as I keep repeating, this is not about piracy, this is about backing up the content that you legally bought, for your own personal use. I am still subscribed to Audible and will probably not cancel my membership. This is about self-hosting and a measure of digital sovereignty, although I hate the term and connotations of the word. I prefer digital "self-reliance".