AAXtoMP3

The purpose of this software is to convert AAX files to a more common MP3 format through a basic perl script frontend to FFMPEG.

Audible uses this file format to maintain DRM restrictions on their audio books and if you download your book through your library it will be stored in this format.

The purpose of this software is not to circumvent the DRM restrictions for audio books that you do not own in that you do not have them on your personal Audible account. The purpose of this software is to create a method for you to download and store your books just in case Audible fails for some reason.

I recently converted this script to bash instead of perl. Something about more people knowing bash or something rather. Additionally I put some work into creating chaptered files as well as the mp3 version. A directory of structure GENRE/WRITER/TITLE will contain the large mp3 as well as chaptered mp3s extracted from the AAX file metadata.

TODO: Automatically fix the MP3 tags on the generated audio files. For now I use easytag which seems to work okay.

Setup

You will need your four byte authitication code that comes from Audible's servers. This will be used by ffmpeg to perform the initial audio convert. You can obtain this string from a tool like audible-activator.

Requirements

• bash 4.3.42 or later tested
• perl version 5.22.0 or later (Converted the script to bash for greater readability!)
• ffmpeg version 2.8.3 or later
• libmp3lame (came from lame package on Arch, not sure where else this is stored)

Usage

bash AAXtoMP3.sh <AUTHCODE> {INPUT_FILES}

• AUTHCODE: your Audible auth code (it won't correctly decode otherwise) (required)
• Everything else is considered an input file, useful for batching!

Tested on Linux with the above requirements. No effort will be made to port this work to any other operating system, though it may work fine. Want a Windows/ OSX port? You'll have to fork the work.

Anti-Piracy Notice

Note that this project does NOT ‘crack’ the DRM. It simplys allows the user to use their own encryption key (fetched from Audible servers) to decrypt the audiobook in the same manner that the official audiobook playing software does.

Please only use this application for gaining full access to your own audiobooks for archiving/converson/convenience. DeDRMed audiobooks should not be uploaded to open servers, torrents, or other methods of mass distribution. No help will be given to people doing such things. Authors, retailers, and publishers all need to make a living, so that they can continue to produce audiobooks for us to hear, and enjoy. Don’t be a parasite.

This blurb is borrowed from the https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/ page.

License

Changed the license to the WTFPL, do whatever you like with this script. Ultimately it's just a front-end for ffmpeg after all.

Need Help?

I'll help out if you are having issues, just submit and issue and I'll get back to you when I can.