Audible Downloader & Decrypter

A command-line tool to interactively browse your Audible library, download audiobooks, decrypt them to the standard .m4b format, and clean up the intermediate files.

This script acts as a user-friendly wrapper around the powerful audible-cli and ffmpeg tools.

Features

• Interactive Library Browsing: Navigate your entire Audible library in a clean, paginated table right in your terminal.
• Configurable Sorting: View your library with the newest or oldest books first.
• Direct Download: If you already know the book's ASIN, you can download it directly without browsing.
• Automatic Decryption: Converts the proprietary .aaxc format to a standard, DRM-free .m4b audiobook file.
• Metadata Included: Chapters, cover art, and other metadata are preserved in the final file.
• Automatic Cleanup: All intermediate files (.aaxc, .voucher, .jpg, .json) are deleted after a successful conversion, keeping your download directory clean.
• External Configuration: Easy-to-edit config.ini file for all user settings.
• Profile Support: Works with named profiles from your audible-cli setup.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you must have the following software installed and configured on your system.

1. Python 3.8+

   • You can check your version with python3 --version.

2. FFmpeg

   • This is a critical dependency for decrypting and converting the audio files.
   • On macOS (using Homebrew):

     brew install ffmpeg

   • On Debian/Ubuntu:

     sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg

   • On Windows (using Chocolatey):

     choco install ffmpeg

3. audible-cli

   • This is the underlying tool used to communicate with Audible's servers.
   • Install it via pip:

     pip install audible-cli

Installation

1. Clone or Download:

   • Download the files (audible_downloader.py, config.ini.example, requirements.txt) from this repository and place them in a single directory.

2. Install Python Dependencies:

   • Navigate to the directory in your terminal and run:

     pip install -r requirements.txt

Configuration

1. Configure audible-cli (Crucial Step):

   • You must authenticate audible-cli with your Audible account. Run the quickstart command and follow the on-screen instructions. It will likely open a browser for you to log in.

     audible quickstart

   • If you have multiple Audible accounts, you can create named profiles. This script supports them via the --profile flag.

2. Configure the Script:

   • Make a copy of the example configuration file:

     cp config.ini.example config.ini

   • Open config.ini in a text editor and customize the settings:
     • output_dir: The default folder where your final .m4b files will be saved.
     • page_size: How many books to show on each page in the library browser.
     • default_sort: Set to newest_first or oldest_first.

Usage

Make sure the script is executable (you only need to do this once):

chmod +x audible_downloader.py

Interactive Mode

To start the interactive menu, simply run the script without any options:

./audible_downloader.py

You will be presented with a choice to either browse your library or download a book directly by its ASIN.

• Library Browser Controls:
  • Enter a book #: Downloads the corresponding book.
  • n: Go to the next page of results.
  • p: Go to the previous page.
  • q: Quit the library browser.

Direct Download Mode

If you already know a book's ASIN, you can download it directly:

./audible_downloader.py --asin B002V5A12Y

Command-Line Options

Usage: audible_downloader.py [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -a, --asin TEXT     The ASIN of the book to download directly.
  --profile TEXT      The audible-cli profile to use.
  -k, --keep-files    Keep intermediate files after decryption.
  --version           Show the version and exit.
  -h, --help          Show this message and exit.

Troubleshooting

• Error: "Could not get library data" or "command failed"

  • This is almost always an authentication issue with audible-cli. Your login token may have expired.
  • Solution: Run audible quickstart again to refresh your credentials.

• "rich" or "click" module not found

  • You haven't installed the Python dependencies.
  • Solution: Run pip install -r requirements.txt.

• "ffmpeg: command not found"

  • FFmpeg is not installed or is not in your system's PATH.
  • Solution: Follow the installation instructions for FFmpeg in the Prerequisites section.