This app is terrible.
I had to unsubscribe to the service because this app is so bad. The fact that I have to log in every time is slightly annoying, but I wouldn’t mind that so much if it didn’t take forever for a book to load. Sometimes the load screen just freezes completely. I’ve only had this app a few hours and I’ve already had to login multiple times. Sessions should not expire while I’m listening to a book. Such a shame because their library is excellent.
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Incredible collection of classic literature
Very inexpensive access to a huge collection of classic books. Totally worth it compared to purchasing them through larger services.
Great So Far
Works great for me. I see a lot of negative reviews here, perhaps they were pre-update?
Amateurish app
The app itself:
- regularly stops and logs you out
- browsing for titles is poor. The titles are overwhelmingly fiction but this category isn’t broken down further. You just get a non-alphabetised list of titles which you can’t sort or filter, or even limit to your desired languages.
- search is weak but functional. You can’t search by title or author.
- book lengths are often completely wrong by an order of magnitude
- titles are broken down into small chapters usually just named by first line, rather than a book’s actual chapters. There is a several second gap between each of these divisions.
- there is no sleep function, though you’ll likely get logged out at some point if you fall asleep
The titles:
If you’re looking for established classics the range is good, especially pre-20th century. Often there is both an abridged and an unabridged title.
There are also some very low quality titles of the sort you’d expect to find in a bargain bin - outdated self help books and the like. It’s hard to make sense of the editors’ decisions.
I was hoping to use this service instead of Spotify as their audiobooks are limited by time and I’m mostly interest in classics. The app is so off-putting that I haven’t decided yet.
- regularly stops and logs you out
- browsing for titles is poor. The titles are overwhelmingly fiction but this category isn’t broken down further. You just get a non-alphabetised list of titles which you can’t sort or filter, or even limit to your desired languages.
- search is weak but functional. You can’t search by title or author.
- book lengths are often completely wrong by an order of magnitude
- titles are broken down into small chapters usually just named by first line, rather than a book’s actual chapters. There is a several second gap between each of these divisions.
- there is no sleep function, though you’ll likely get logged out at some point if you fall asleep
The titles:
If you’re looking for established classics the range is good, especially pre-20th century. Often there is both an abridged and an unabridged title.
There are also some very low quality titles of the sort you’d expect to find in a bargain bin - outdated self help books and the like. It’s hard to make sense of the editors’ decisions.
I was hoping to use this service instead of Spotify as their audiobooks are limited by time and I’m mostly interest in classics. The app is so off-putting that I haven’t decided yet.
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Just unreliable
Random logouts, stalled streams, failed transfers from one Bluetooth audio device to the next. There is a lot of bad code undiscovered by a developer with obviously flawed test methodology. App can’t recall the last book I was listening to or the place where I left off half the time. Content seems great, if you can get it to play and are willing to tough it out to keep it playing back content. There are not sufficient settings to tune (prev track option on headset should be configured to jump back 10s, not half a chapter.
You should probably just fire your developers, restart from scratch and pay the Overcast people to make you a better app.
You should probably just fire your developers, restart from scratch and pay the Overcast people to make you a better app.
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I love the library and I hate this app
The app is so terrible, I might need to cancel my subscription, which would be a shame because the audiobook library is so good.
Why must I log in every time I open the app again? Half the time, the screen freezes when I open the app, and I can’t even login at all. Can you at least enable facial recognition for the login routine, to save us all a lot of time and trouble? Even better — don’t make us login every single time we open the app.
Why must I log in every time I open the app again? Half the time, the screen freezes when I open the app, and I can’t even login at all. Can you at least enable facial recognition for the login routine, to save us all a lot of time and trouble? Even better — don’t make us login every single time we open the app.
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Limited functionality
The library content is good but the app has limited functionality. The inability to store log in credentials (or remain logged in) is very annoying.
This is possibly the worst app ever made.
I truly app grateful that this app is available to use since I am a college student on a limited budget with lots of books to read. Nevertheless:
I wonder whether the people at Naxos even care whether their apps work well. This app is crap. It stops downloading if the screen goes into standby. That’s ridiculous. There’s no fast forward or rewind buttons in the standby screen mode. The app will only allow a certain amount megabytes to be downloaded, apparently, even when you have many gigabytes left in storage. The app crashes repeatedly for no apparent reason. Naxos would know this if they even bothered to use their own app to see how it works. Either they haven’t done this (which makes no sense if you cared whether your app works well), or they have done this and just don’t care that their app is crap.
I wonder whether the people at Naxos even care whether their apps work well. This app is crap. It stops downloading if the screen goes into standby. That’s ridiculous. There’s no fast forward or rewind buttons in the standby screen mode. The app will only allow a certain amount megabytes to be downloaded, apparently, even when you have many gigabytes left in storage. The app crashes repeatedly for no apparent reason. Naxos would know this if they even bothered to use their own app to see how it works. Either they haven’t done this (which makes no sense if you cared whether your app works well), or they have done this and just don’t care that their app is crap.
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Useless.
Can’t subscribe via app & subscription signup via website doesn’t work. Site design & coding from the Dark Ages.
Useless.
Useless.
Terrible app
This app is virtually unusable at this point. I’ve downloaded an audiobook several times to listen offline but the playback always fails a couple of minutes in. What’s the point of having an audiobook app if it won’t play the audiobook.
iPhone 11, btw. Update this app.
iPhone 11, btw. Update this app.
An outstanding collection but the app is missing basic features
Can't fault the books. The app is seriously lacking, however. There is no sleep timer, no playback speed adjustment, no 10 or 15 second skip, not even the capability to see how long a book is overall and how long you have left to go. To demonstrate how bizarre the design of this app is, there are repeat and shuffle functions - on audiobooks. Whoever is listening to War and Peace on shuffle deserves to go to jail. You can't make a reading list, although you can download books, which ends up working just about as well. It's a shame because the library is stunning, in its breadth, depth, and the standard of the performances. At times with longer books I have bought a copy on audible for £2-£3 just to save the hassle of having to use this app.
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Great w/ Institution Access
My college has a subscription to the Naxos Spoken Word Library, so with an access code from the college librarian, I have free access to all these great titles! Unlike other reviewers, I’ve had no problem searching the collection on the app and browsing too. Great app for audio book lovers.
In need of a major update.
This app is in need of a major update. When it works it is very, very good, but it unfortunately shuts down all the time. I have to hold my breathe, cross my fingers and say my prayers all while I start an audio book. Please debug it! The main reason I subscribe to Naxos Spoken Word Audio is because of the possibility of listening by way of the app.
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Permanently on shuffle
This app would be great if tracks weren't skipped so often. Really annoying.
execrable
drops
restarts from beginning
skips
forgets login and password
hangs
restarts from beginning
skips
forgets login and password
hangs
Finally
Offline listening! Happy days. Thank you, Naxos!
Good selection of titles, terrible app
Pros: You can listen to the entire Naxos Spoken Word Catalog
Cons: You can't browse the catalog (must know the specific author or title), you can't favorite books, no captions on the screen, have to wait at least 1 hour to use the app if you forget to log off their website (even if your computer is turned off!)
I hope they improve this app!
Cons: You can't browse the catalog (must know the specific author or title), you can't favorite books, no captions on the screen, have to wait at least 1 hour to use the app if you forget to log off their website (even if your computer is turned off!)
I hope they improve this app!
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Not the best interface
- The streaming needs improvement. I get more streaming errors than I'd like. I listen to Pandora radio for hours which is free and no streaming problems. It costs $150 to listen to the naxos aduiobooks.
- The interface is subpar. When I get a streaming error, it will start over at the beginning of a section. I cannot fast forward within a section, only to another section. I've listened to the beginning of the same section at least three times. I have a free audiobook interface with free books that is much better. I hope they upgrade this interface soon. At this point, I don't plan to auto renew next year.
- The interface is subpar. When I get a streaming error, it will start over at the beginning of a section. I cannot fast forward within a section, only to another section. I've listened to the beginning of the same section at least three times. I have a free audiobook interface with free books that is much better. I hope they upgrade this interface soon. At this point, I don't plan to auto renew next year.
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