Can't authorise Audible Books in Catalina

[daijholt]

Just been trying to authorise Audible books through Apple Books in Catalina 10.15.4. Following the instructions on Audible's site, however whenever I get thrown out of Apple Books and into Safari, then Sign into Audible, it presents me with an orange "Activate in iTunes" button (yes it says iTunes, not Apple Books), which takes me back to Apple Books and then starts the whole process over again by saying "this book needs to be authorised".

Anyone experienced or fixed this annoying problem. Tearing my hair out here.

Thanks.

 

[LizKat]

Same problem Catalina 10.15.5. I thought at first it was because the audiobook I decided to stick on a new laptop was airdropped onto it from a different laptop and not downloaded fresh from my Audible account (although that was never a problem back when for instance I went to a new laptop running Mojave from one running El Cap).

Anyway just to be sure that was not the issue, I went to Audible site and and downloaded one of my purchased audiobooks directly to new MBA and stepped through the auth process again. Again the book would not play.

I notice in the Books app under Store menu, under Authorizations, the "Deauthorize Audible account" remains greyed out, so whatever is happening on Audible's end as "activation" is definitely never landing via Catalina in the right place on this laptop for Books to find it.

And in Books under that Store menu, Authorizations, if I say "Authorize Computer" for the heck of it, it just says I've already authorized this computer and reports the number of computers I have authorized, which number is still correct.

Gotta love how Audible's site suggests to Mac owners hey why not go mobile and listen to your Audible books with our mobile app "Audible". And then they provide perfunctory how-to make it happen on a Mac, but it's a dead end at least for me.

Hey guys I just want to use Books or "Music" on my new MBA, m'kay? ​

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Not having fun at that impasse. So I've had it for today and will move on to trying to figure out what to do about my music libraries tomorrow and get back to Books if and after I survive the Catalina experience of "Music".

Have to say the new machine itself is a trip though. I'm so pleased with it. Just wish I could graft a few pieces of Mojave in there at least temporarily.

 

[LizKat]

Just been trying to authorise Audible books through Apple Books in Catalina 10.15.4. Following the instructions on Audible's site, however whenever I get thrown out of Apple Books and into Safari, then Sign into Audible, it presents me with an orange "Activate in iTunes" button (yes it says iTunes, not Apple Books), which takes me back to Apple Books and then starts the whole process over again by saying "this book needs to be authorised".

Anyone experienced or fixed this annoying problem. Tearing my hair out here.

Thanks.

Wow... I went back to square one with the attempt at authorizing Audible with Catalina and Books... and I indicated that I wanted the activation link sent from Audible to the Music app, not to Books. Just on a hunch.

Then in the Books app when I looked in Store menu under Authorizations, the "Deauthorize Audible account" was no longer greyed out, and when I went back to my Books library, the audiobook I had downloaded to the Books app finally played. Go figure. (and leave logic home).

 

[kiwi45]

Still not able to get Apple Books to play Audible books. It keeps redirecting to authorise Audible site and back again...

 

[sdp77]

Have you downloaded audio books and added them to the Books Library?
I have followed the instructions and it worked.

 

[kiwi45]

Yes I downloaded the books from Audible and added them in Apple Books, it immediately prompted I need to authorise the computer from Audible. I clicked on the link to Audible, click on Authorise, select to open in Apple Music. I click on the Audio book to play and it prompted the same message again - that I need to authorise my computer. It makes no difference whether I select Apple Music or Apple Books after clicking on the Audible link.

 

[LizKat]

Yes I downloaded the books from Audible and added them in Apple Books, it immediately prompted I need to authorise the computer from Audible. I clicked on the link to Audible, click on Authorise, select to open in Apple Music. I click on the Audio book to play and it prompted the same message again - that I need to authorise my computer. It makes no difference whether I select Apple Music or Apple Books after clicking on the Audible link.

Ugh, then I feel lucky that putting the link to Apple Music worked for me. No clue why though... and it doesn't make any sense, since even when the authorization of the machine has succeeded, one cannot "play" audiobooks in Music under Catalina.

I would report this to Amazon / Audible and Apple both if I had a clue how to do it outside of feedback to Apple.

Bottom line with DRM on ebooks, there should be a less painful way to deal with it. I find it infuriating that I can't read Kindle books in the Books app, nor read Apple Book Store purchases in a Kindle app. Why should a consumer have to remember where he bought the equivalent of a paperback or hardcover book anyway? And why should he have to get some kind of special permission to accomplish the equivalent of reading it in a new room in his house?​

​

It's insane that we put up with this, really.​

I don't mean to drift from main topic of how to get the authorization from Audible onto a machine running Catalina.

 

[eeb]

I had the dreaded auth loop (but in Big Sur)... but was able to work around it by changing my Web Browser to Chrome (via System Preferences, General)... then was able to de-auth audible from Books... and got a message that said successful from Books (although it still indicated, under the Auth menu, the deauthorize option and not the authorize option... so still kinda broken). Anyhow, then quit Books (completely, not just the window but 'Quit' from the menu), restarted, then tried to play a book that was having this problem... usual prompt came up, followed it (into Chrome, not Firefox), logged in and clicked the Authenticate button and, boom, this time it worked.

Aside: It should be noted that what wasn't playing in my library was older audible audiobooks that I downloaded back before Amazon took over Audible... I still had my original audible account (which had a userid, not an email address, and a password)... and the amazon login allows you to select login with 'username' which is this old audible.com account name. So I had to use *that* account to authorize the set of books that were not playing (the other books were purchased through Books, aka: Apple, and those were fine). Anyhow, you may need to insure that you authorize the correct Audible account (if they are older audiobooks).

Aside: it is annoying that I have, effectively, 2 audible accounts now with my old Audible account and the new Amazon based account, with books purchased under the old and new essentially "separated"... and then there's the books purchased under Books via the Apple link. It's a bit maddening. Perhaps Amazon, at least, can get those old Audible books migrated and auth'd under the newer Amazon based account via my Amazon login/etc. I won't hold my breathe.

This may not do much for anyone, but tossing it out here in case it helps... as this is frustrating.

 

[saltysol]

User eeb is onto the solution. I was caught in the Activate loop using Firefox but when I tried via Chrome I succeeded in getting Apple Books to finally recognize the authorization. Good luck to everyone.