John Whiteside

Q: I am totally confused by audio books in iBooks

OK, I don't use audiobooks much but today I bought one for the first time via iBooks and I am totally confused by how this works. I bought it on my iPad, assuming I'd be able to download it to my iPhone to listen to in the car. Later I opened iBooks on my phone and it wasn't there; I looked in the store but it didn't show as purchased, just as something I could buy again. Weird. So then I went to my Mac, and it also is not in iBooks there. In fact, you can't buy iBooks in the iBooks store from the Mac, from what I can see, though you can go to the iBooks store in iTunes and find them. And there's a "my audiobooks" area in iTunes, but it's not there.

 

Reading some support articles it sounds like you cannot re-download audiobooks and there's no cloud backup? I assumed they'd work like everything else Apple sells (music, books, applications, etc.) and once you buy it, you've bought it. Is that right? If that's not the case I would have appreciated a warning that it wasn't going to work like every other thing piece of digital content they sell.

 

So before I go ask for my money back, I thought I'd ask here & see if I'm just missing something.

 

Thanks for nay help

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Oct 24, 2015 2:42 PM

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Q: I am totally confused by audio books in iBooks

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  • by King_Penguin,Apple recommended

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Oct 26, 2015 3:35 AM in response to John Whiteside
    Level 10 (133,631 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 26, 2015 3:35 AM in response to John Whiteside

    Audiobooks are a one-time only download, they will not show in the cloud. If you connect the iPad to your Mac and do File > Devices > Transfer Purchases in your Mac's iTunes then it should copy over to the Audiobooks section of your library - you can then play it on your Mac and/or sync it to your phone (and add it to your backup of your downloads/library ; other items are only potentially redownloadable whilst they remain in the store and you don't move countries).

  • by John Whiteside,

    John Whiteside John Whiteside Oct 26, 2015 3:40 AM in response to King_Penguin
    Level 2 (350 points)
    Oct 26, 2015 3:40 AM in response to King_Penguin

    Thanks - that's a pretty clear explanation. The support folks were pretty nice & undid the purchase (I bought it from Amazon instead). I assume this is because of some licensing stuff with Audible - it's really at odds with the very good way Apple handles all its other digital content.

  • by Strider007UT,

    Strider007UT Strider007UT Nov 5, 2015 7:55 AM in response to John Whiteside
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 5, 2015 7:55 AM in response to John Whiteside

    I had the same issue, bought my audiobook last night on my iPad but really want it on my iPhone to listen in the car.  Went to download it on my iPhone just like I would music and wasn't listed as purchased grrrr frustrating.

    Luckily found this post and am going to try to transfer it to my PC and see if I can sync my iPhone that way.  Guess I will need to look at either Audible or Amazon for my audiobook purchases going forward.

  • by georgewit,

    georgewit georgewit Jan 6, 2016 2:25 AM in response to King_Penguin
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 6, 2016 2:25 AM in response to King_Penguin

    But how do you get them shared via iCloud in your family?

  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Jan 6, 2016 5:00 AM in response to georgewit
    Level 10 (133,631 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 6, 2016 5:00 AM in response to georgewit

    You don't, audiobooks are one-time only downloads, they are not eligible for family sharing - you have to sync/copy them onto each device/computer that you want them on

  • by timfromrockwood,

    timfromrockwood timfromrockwood Jan 29, 2016 9:32 AM in response to King_Penguin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2016 9:32 AM in response to King_Penguin

    This is a terrible arrangement.

     

    In fact, so terrible that I will not EVER purchase another audio book through Apple again.

     

    I spent $20 on an audiobook on my iPad. I received the indication that my iPad memory was full so I had to delete it. Then I could not recover it.

     

    This is a REALLY poor set up.

     

     

     

    Apple may hit the mark as a great company on many levels, but on this one...it's very poor.

  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Jan 29, 2016 1:33 PM in response to timfromrockwood
    Level 10 (133,631 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 29, 2016 1:33 PM in response to timfromrockwood

    Blame audible, I think they supply all the audiobooks to Apple, so I assume that it's them requiring the one-time only download

     

    The stores terms advise you that you may not be able to redownload items and that you may want to take a backup copy

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 4, 2016 1:12 PM in response to King_Penguin
    Level 10 (85,833 points)
    iPod
    Feb 4, 2016 1:12 PM in response to King_Penguin

    Interesting that if you buy direct from Audible it seems you get a repeat download and a cross platform service. I'm somewhat surprised the limitations on Apple's audiobooks haven't gone the same way they did for music back in 2009, or that anyone buys from Apple.

     

    tt2

  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Feb 4, 2016 11:53 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 10 (133,631 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 4, 2016 11:53 PM in response to turingtest2

    I assume that audible are trying to push people to buy direct from them, what I don't know is what countries audible is available in

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 5, 2016 1:53 AM in response to timfromrockwood
    Level 10 (85,833 points)
    iPod
    Feb 5, 2016 1:53 AM in response to timfromrockwood

    I would try contacting iTunes Store support, explain the circumstances, and ask if they can help. My understanding is that they have a certain amount of discretion and my be able to requeue content lost in error in certain circumstances. See also Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.

     

    tt2