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User profile for user: David Johns3
David Johns3 Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

Audiobooks on my iPod

I just got off the phone with tech support for the second time on this issue. My problem is that I am not able to get my MP3 audiobooks that I imported form CD into the audiobook folder on my iPod. The first tech told me that the only files that will show up in the audio book folder on the ipod are files in an m4b fromat. He said that this works the same way the podcasts do. I looked at the file format of the podcast and the are mp3 format and they leave bookmarks when you start and stop playing them. How can I do this with my Audio books? the only way for me to access my audio books now is to go music > genres > select audiobooks > and then select artist. The problem with this is that some of the audiobooks I have are read by different artists. If after selecting the genre it would sort by album then it this would be ok accept that I have this folder on my ipod labeled audiobooks and its empty. How can I get my audiobooks in my audiobook folder? I dont think the files need to be in an mb4 format because the podcasts are in mp3 format and they leave bookmarks and they should up in the podcast folder

Posted on Aug 6, 2005 9:53 AM

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14 replies
User profile for user: Craig Johnson
Craig Johnson
User level: Level 4
1,030 points

Aug 6, 2005 10:08 AM in response to David Johns3

I think what the Apple tech meant when he said audiobooks get organized into their own playlist the way podcasts do is that audiobooks (.m4b) are recognized by the iPod as belonging in the Audiobooks playlist the same way podcasts are recognized as belonging in the Podcast playlist.

To make your own .m4b files, rip your audiobook CDs to the AAC format (96-kbps mono is good enough; it yields 48-kbps files). Then rename the files from *.m4a to *.m4b. M4B files are the only kind that will remember (bookmark) your place. MP3s have no bookmarks.

CD audiobooks are made up of several tracks. It helps to choose the Combine option when you rip these so you get one large m4a representing the entire CD.
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User profile for user: David Johns3
David Johns3 Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

Aug 8, 2005 4:20 PM in response to Craig Johnson

I am still wondering how the podcasts are different from the audio books the podcasts are mp3 files and they leave bookmarks.

I did what you suggested, but there is another problem, first when you change the extension to m4b it becomes a protected file so if I format my computer and try to add my data back to it I might not be able to play, not to mention I have 2954 files I would have to do this to. In addition to that on my iPod. when I go to Music > Audiobook the list is sorted by the track names, this is worse than going Music > Genre > Audiobook, at least by going this way it sorts it by artist.

Having them sorted by track name is absolutely worth less, some of my audiobooks have multiple discs. For example disc 1 and 2 both have tracks named Track01, not only can I not tell what album I am playing but all the track01 are together and they go to different albums.

There has got to be a better way.
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User profile for user: Franziska
Franziska
User level: Level 1
19 points

Aug 9, 2005 12:22 AM in response to Craig Johnson

Dear Craig, I have bought my iPod Mini one month ago and a am not a crack at PC. I have my Audibooks at a .mp3 format and I do not know how I can switch it to .m4a format. from .m4a to .m4b I have tested, this is no problem.

The problem startet with the fact that my audiobook consist of 10 cds and a good friend make all these cd one file as .mp3 and now I do not know how I can make a audiofiel of it, If I only rename it to .m4a or .m4b the file get damaged. He also could not help me. Do you know how you can help me?
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User profile for user: David Johns3
David Johns3 Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

Aug 9, 2005 8:01 AM in response to Franziska

Not sure were Craig is or if there is anyone else checking the Discussion but I am having a very difficult time getting any of my questions answered. The way they have said to do this is to convert the mp3s to AAC files in iTunes. In itunes make sure that under Edit > Preferences > Import; make sure you this says import as AAC. Then in the on your library right click on the file and choose convert to AAC. AAC is the same as m4b. After it is converted right click on the file and choose show song file. Make sure in window explorer Tools > Folder options > View > Hide extensions for known file types is unchecked. Now you are able to rename the file as .m4b.

Now the problem is 1. it changes it to a protected file so if you ever need to move it to another computer you cant play it. 2. On the ipod Music > Audiobooks the file are sorted by track name. If you are like me and have lots of audio books this is absolutely worthless. I have an audiobook for example that consists of 6 CD the track name are Track01, Track02 and so on. All the Track01s appear together and I dont have no way of knowing which disc I have selected.

An easier way to do it is to go to Music > Genre > Audiobooks. But the problem with this is that 1. the files are now sorted by Artist. Some of my audiobooks have different artist reading different tracks. 2. The iPod will not bookmark the track, so if you stop it and the listen to some music and then come back to it the track starts all over.

It would make sense to me for the iPod to go Music > Genre > Audiobooks or Rock or Jazz > and then have the option Artist or Album so that you can sort it either way. May Apple can come out with and update to the iPod software to do this.

The other thing that does not make sense is that podcasts download in mp3 format and they have no problem leaving bookmarks, Why then do the Audiobooks have this problem?

Finally what good is an Audiobook folder on the iPod if you cannot put your audiobooks in this folder?
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User profile for user: Otto42
Otto42
User level: Level 6
9,070 points

Sep 21, 2005 1:49 PM in response to David Johns3

Now the problem is 1. it changes it to a protected file so if you ever need to move it to another computer you cant play it.


Not true. It just thinks its a protected file. It'll play fine on any computer.

2. On the ipod Music > Audiobooks the file are sorted by track name. If you are like me and have lots of audio books this is absolutely worthless. I have an audiobook for example that consists of 6 CD the track name are Track01, Track02 and so on. All the Track01s appear together and I dont have no way of knowing which disc I have selected.


Change the names to be something more useful, like "My Book 1". Or whatever.

The other thing that does not make sense is that podcasts download in mp3 format and they have no problem leaving bookmarks, Why then do the Audiobooks have this problem?


Podcasts are new, and they work differently.
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User profile for user: Otto42
Otto42
User level: Level 6
9,070 points

Sep 21, 2005 11:00 PM in response to David Johns3

Can I make my other audiobook files the same format as the "new" podcast files?? I is going to be very dificult to convert all my mp3 audiobook files to m4b or do you know of a software that would do that for me???


No, it doesn't work that way.

If you want files to show up in the audiobooks menu, they must be M4B or AA files.

If you want files to show up in the podcasts menu, they must be podcasts, retrieved using an RSS feed.
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User profile for user: Lowell Tuttman
Lowell Tuttman
User level: Level 4
1,358 points

Sep 22, 2005 3:56 PM in response to David Johns3

Let me extend some help as I am a frequent audiobook listener, and I encode them from the audio's I get from the library. You can do this manually by encoding the audiodiscs using the join function for encoding and you will end up with one file per disk in mp3 format (I reccomend you encode at 128k stereo). Once you have all the disks done, you then put them into itunes, select them all and convert to AAC (I use 64k stereo which yields 32k mono files). Then once they are in the .m4A format, go into windows explorer and changes the extensions fo .m4B files and you will be able to see them in the audiobook section and they will be bookmarkable.

What I would really suggest you do, if you do this in any regular way, is to head on over to IPODSOFT, and spend 15 bucks on the MARKABLE product which will do all of this for you automatically (except feeding in the disks :)) and it will also merge the mp3 files into 1-3 files for the entire book. It will then automatically convert it into either podcast or AAC book format and put in itunes for you. They have great support and I've been using it for a couple of months quite happily.

Happy Listening.......
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Audiobooks on my iPod

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