Instaread: Learn Something New

Great app here and have some suggestions for you guys, first off when I download something I would like an option for the audio to download offline as well. Also when I am listening to something the media drawer on the bottom is useless because I would wanna press it and go back to the page of the audio. Last but not least on my iPad I would prefer to see what I'm reading full screen not the square border that doesn't take up the full screen. Other than those little things amazing app.

The summaries of nonfiction books are excellent. Instaread content is a great way to absorb a large amount of information quickly. The audio player is terrible. The user interface is terrible. The whole app needs to be overhauled. The problems are numerous: -if you close the app for more than a few minutes, it will not keep your place where you left off. You have to search for the thing your were listening to. Even if you take the time to find it, it will most often start over at the beginning. -if you listen to something part last through then try to start something else, when you come back to the first thing, more often than not it starts over at the beginning. So frustrating. -half the time you hit fast forward or rewind, instead of going 15 or 30 seconds as indicated, it will just go back to the beginning, or skip a whole chapter. -there is no way to save things you’ve listened to separate from a single shelf that includes everything you save. Once you save a few things, you have to wade through to get to things you haven’t listened to yet. There is no way to organize or only show things you haven’t listened to yet. -if you are browsing the app for other content while you listen, there is no way to quickly navigate back to what you’re listening to. You have to search for it or navigate back to your library and scroll through to find it. It is a real shame such great content is languishing in such a disaster of poor design. For someone who listens to content while driving, the constant restarting at the beginning is actually unsafe. It is too distracting to try to find my place, so I just give up. This is a one star app. With the great content provided, it could easily be a five star app with any effort to bring it up to speed with every other popular podcast or audiobook app available.

Most Recent Update: 24 Jan 2018 ******************************************* There are a lot of opportunities to acquire summaries of fiction and non-fiction audiobooks and I’ve tried a good many of the vendors. They are (IMHO) generally fairly similar, varying only: in their library - in this case better than most; in the utility of the software - easy to use; and in their concerns of the user base - unsurpassed. The old saw “You get what you pay for” is in this instance an undervaluation... here I’ve gotten more than I expected. I’ve changed my evaluation to 5 stars. ******************************************* UPDATED REVIEW ***************************************************************** I initially posted a one star review because I got stuck in a loop and couldn’t access my account. The owner reached out to me and we figured out where the problem(s) started. As is the case with the majority of single engine aircraft accidents, pilot error is the first place to look. I suggested to them to make a couple of changes on their WEBsite to prevent a similar situation. Having used just one item from their catalog - successfully - I will change my review to three (3) stars. I will update the review at the end of my trial. Stay tuned. 😊 ***************************************************************** FIRST REVIEW They have none. Uninstalled. Bye-bye, we gone. Signed: a VERY satisfied long-time Blinkist subscriber.