How to remove Audio Book from iPhone but keep it on my Mac iTunes?

Question

Level 1

1 points

How to remove Audio Book from iPhone but keep it on my Mac iTunes?

I have several audio books -- some from CD's and some purchased through Audible.com. I would like to clean up on my iPhone by removing them from my iPhone BUT keeping them in my iTunes library on my Mac. I have "unchecked" the books in the Library "books" I want removed and have checked the "sync books" on my device summary (even though no books show there). Nothing happens when I sync. All the books remain in both places. What am I doing wrong?

17" MacBook Pro, iOS 4

Posted on Jun 21, 2010 5:46 PM

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Answer 1

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Jun 21, 2010 6:34 PM in response to wpitman

Select the iPod in iTunes.
Click the Books tab across the top.
Uncheck *Sync Audiobooks*.
Or tick *Sync Audiobooks* and check only the books you want on the iPod.

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Answer 2

Jun 26, 2010 1:06 AM in response to Chris CA

I have a similar problem--trying to remove an audiobook from my iphone, without deleting it from my computer. But I-tunes won't let me check the "selected books" tab on the sync menu--only the "all books" tab. Anyone have any idea what the problem might be here?

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Answer 3

edmud

Level 1

0 points

Jun 26, 2010 7:53 AM in response to bushiprof

I am having the same problem on my iPhone 4 and iPad. Have followed the instructions noted above many times without success. For some reason the audio books in the iTunes store do not behave like books or songs. The most frustrating thing was that I lost about $500 worth of audio books messing around with my iPad trying to figure things out ... had to buy them all again!

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Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Jun 26, 2010 9:01 AM in response to bushiprof

I-tunes won't let me check the "selected books" tab on the sync menu--only the "all books" tab.

Do you have *Sync Audiobooks* checked?

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Answer 5

Jun 26, 2010 4:35 PM in response to Chris CA

Yep! And I've tried first unchecking and then rechecking the "sync audiobooks" tab to see if that made the "selected books" tab available, but no luck.

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Answer 6

g4s

Level 2

414 points

Jun 26, 2010 8:03 PM in response to bushiprof

Are you sure you scrolled to the bottom of the Book tab page? "Selected audiobooks" is at the very bottom.

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Answer 7

Jun 26, 2010 8:21 PM in response to g4s

aha--another Homer Simpson "doh!" moment . . . I hadn't been looking at the bottom of the page, only the top--I didn't even notice the second set of check boxes. Scrolling down and checking the audiobooks tab (rather than the books tab that I'd been trying to check) worked just fine.

Thanks everyone!

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Answer 8

Jul 18, 2010 1:07 PM in response to bushiprof

This just got me too!!!! Come on apple! I don't usually get stuck from a usability issue with your software!

What made it even harder to figure out is that it hasn't been happening to many people so it was hard to find this thread.

Here's more keywords so people find it: "selected books disabled" "iPhone no longer syncing books" "iPhone no longer syncing audiobooks"

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Answer 9

Aug 15, 2012 10:40 AM in response to wpitman

Try this, it worked for me:

http://www.cultofmac.com/138384/how-to-delete-audiobooks-directly-from-your-ios- device-ios-tip/

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