Archive for June, 2009

We just wanted to share a little bit about our perspective on the recently released Audiobooks update that changes the app from downloading the content to streaming it. We hate it. We KNOW that it makes it a much less useful app, and that lots of people are annoyed by this. We’re very sorry, but we received unilateral word that if we didn’t make this change, it would be pulled from the app store. Permanently. So what choice did we have?

As a reminder, we’re literally a mom and pop shop – we’re not a big company, we’re just trying to make great apps that you all love, that will allow us to make ends meet. We feel like we got punched in the gut when we got the call that our all-time most successful app was being pulled from the store. But don’t turn around and kick us because the app isn’t as useful anymore. We’re trying here, people.

On a more positive note, we really want to thank all of our customers who have sympathized with us during this situation – we really appreciate all of your support. Ultimately, the reason we created this app is to get great works of literature out there for you all to enjoy, and we’re so so glad that we’ve succeeded. Thanks for the encouragement; you all make it worthwhile!

Dear Customers,

We regret to inform you that our Audiobooks app will be temporarily unavailable for download. Late this afternoon we were notified that it can no longer be offered in its current form. It will be re-designed to stream the audio content rather than storing it on your device.

Understandably, we were as dismayed as you are (I’m sure) at this news, but we are working around the clock on an update to get it back in the App Store and hope that it will be back early next week. If you already have the app, it should continue working as before. In the mean time you can still access the content of the app yourself at www.librivox.org.

The good news is that we were already planning to release an update to add some additional functionality (search by genre/narrator, volume control, reviews of books, etc) and make sure that it is compatible with the new OS. The bad news is now we have to redesign it first. So rest assured that those updates are coming, but not as soon as we had hoped.

Regards,
David