AAXtoMP3

The purpose of this software is to convert AAX files to a more common MP3 format through a basic bash 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.

Setup

You will need your four byte authentication 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
• ffmpeg version 2.8.3 or later
• libmp3lame (came from lame package on Arch, not sure where else this is stored)

OSX

Thanks to thibaudcolas, this script has been tested on OSX 10.11.6 El Capitan. YMMV, but it should work for conversions in OSX.

AUR

Thanks to kbabioch, this script has also been packaged in the AUR. Note that you will still need to extract your activation bytes before use.

Usage

bash AAXtoMP3 <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!

You can also convert the output to FLAC encoding instead of MP3 by doing the following in order:

bash AAXtoMP3 --flac <AUTHCODE> {INPUT_FILES}

Note that FLAC encoding is typically a little faster, at the cost of compatibility with some players.

If you wish to convert to a single file you can add --single to the input. This will prevent chaptered content from being extracted.

Additionally, if you have a .authcode file available in the current working directory, it will read the first line of that line and treat it like your auth_code. When you do this you do not need to specify an AUTHCODE input.

Here is the full usage (NOTE: Order matters!)

bash AAXtoMP3 [--flac] [--single] AUTHCODE {FILES}

Anti-Piracy Notice

Note that this project does NOT ‘crack’ the DRM. It simply 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/conversion/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.