Audiobooks library in macOS Catalina on 128 GB Mac. Thread number two

So - the way I got around this was by converting my audiobooks into MP3s (using OpenAudible) and then, transferring (through dragging and dropping) them into the Music Mac app.

OpenAudible takes a second to figure out, and honestly, it's easier to drag and drop your audiobook files straight into it, rather than attempting to connect your Audible account. When you do this, however, it creates a duplicate of your original audiobook formatted file in the OpenAudible folder, which temporarily takes up space. You can then set OpenAudible to automatically convert your files to MP3s...which creates a THIRD file (this time, in MP3 format), which you then drag and drop into the Music app (creating a FOURTH file).

After doing this, you can, then, delete the original audiobook file (in the iBooks library), the second file in the OpenAudible library, and the third file (the MP3 conversion) in the OpenAudible MP3 folder, because Music will automatically create a copy in its library.

Is this a needlessly cumbersome process?

Yes.

Yes, it is.

But, this is, sadly, probably the most convenient way to place AUDIO files into an app (and library) that is meant to play AUDIO files.

Books was never designed to serve as a media player and, as such, lacks a lot of the functionality that was present in iTunes. By converting your audiobooks into MP3s, you've got a lot more versatility - you can organize them into playlists (which was what I have done), modify their information under the 'Get Info' right-click option (which allows you to change the volume output and EQ settings), and edit author/artist names to better organize your collection.

When I first upgraded to Catalina, of all the various changes, the shunting of my meticulously curated audiobook playlists into the virtually worthless Books app sent me into a fiery rage (from which my cats are still shaken).

I hope this helps.

My solution (which I hope need only be temporary until Apple fixes this boondoggle) is an app called Book Mower. I simply left my audiobooks in their external drive. Books I wish to listen to I copy to the iCloud 'Files' drive (or Dropbox, or SkyDrive, etc...). Then from Book Mower I import them. It's only slightly cumbersome, and I don't need to convert my book collection. However, I really miss having a database with all my book info. Hopefully Apple will fix this mess soon.

I have a very similar temporary solution, though I agree it’s not ideal. I’d much rather go through iBooks/Books to do it. Right now I’m using an app called BookPlayer, which is good enough for the time being. I can just plug up the external drive to my MacBook and airdrop the files to my phone, then in the BookPlayer app import them from Files. Not too hard once you know how to do it, but still not ideal.

What I did, earlier this year, when my iTunes library (because of Audiobooks) took up 65% of my MacBook Pro hard drive, was move my entire iTunes library onto a 400GB microSDXC card and use it in the SD card reader slot. So, when Catalina launched, yesterday, I was relatively well-positioned to put the OpenAudible library on the same card, which made all that file relocation MUCH easier to manage, though neither fast, nor convenient.

I have this question also. Just installed Catalina on MacBook Pro, not able to move my AudioBook library over to Books. There is not enough room to move my library. We need to be able to re-direct the Books library to an external drive like everything else.

Thanks,

Wow!

Thats a lot of moving around, but I understand, I just don't want to spend time re-converting my orginal mp3s to m4b back to mp3 again. I like my m4b files, best option is to by-pass Catalina on Mac or use a windows PC to keep my files where they are. I went with windows PC in a virtual window on my Mac. Apple needs to fix this, it's like AudioBooks are only downloaded from iTunes and no place else and are in the cloud.

Thanks

I've successfully transferred to Catalina a month ago. Books worked fine with audiobooks, epubs, pdfs.

Now...Books is auto shuffling the chapters within the audiobooks. WTH?

Talked to three different senior advisors to no avail. And while Music will play the audiobook in correct chapter sequence it has no way to navigate within the chapter (forward/backward/speed). All but useless.

oh, and the audiobooks I deleted from Books on my Mac are now being copied to my user/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books... even tho the original is on a network drive.

I made a pdf on my iPhone, put it into the iPhone iBooks, then AirDrop'd it to my Mac. it then went into the usual username/

Downloads folder on the Mac and had to then be copied into iBooks on the Mac...which then automatically copied it to that Books folder (link listed above).

incredibly laborious method to get a pdf from my iPhone to my iMac. wish I saw a simpler way to transfer iBooks content right now with Catalina. I've been working with Apple engineer/ts for several months now to no avail. I have well over a thousand audiobooks/books/pdfs on my Mac external hard drive. With Catalina, everything wants to be copied back to that Books folder. Even Apple has no clue why, or at least has not shared a solution with me!

try this link for a better description of what I mean about the tranfer, maybe you will find it works for what you've been asking about. lol

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201454

search for the title and be sure to include system files. I just added another pdf to iBooks and it immediately copied to the Books folder given above.

I have the latest version of Catalina 10.15 I can get my Audiobook files no problem on my MacBook Pro and listen to them with my MacBook. After fumbling around for a while today, I can't transfer the Audiobook files to my IPOD. Then, I tried transferring the AudioBook files to my IPHONE, still no luck. Just to see what might happen, I was able to transfer some music from my iTunes library to my IPOD. But, still could not get the Audiobook files to take on my IPOD or IPHONE. With the Catalina system, the Audiobooks go into a separate area "Books" separate from iTunes/ "Music." Don't know a heck of a lot about this stuff, at least I can listen to my Audiobooks via my MacBook. Maybe it's a problem with the new Catalina system and hopefully Apple will sort out these bugs. Apparently a lot of people are having all kinds of problems with the new Catalina system.

Update: I recently downloaded newest upgrade to Catalina 10.15.1 and seems like I can now sync Audiobooks from my MacBook Pro to my IPOD. So hopefully I'm good to go. I'm guessing Apple has been aware of the various bugs with Catalina and has been working on fixes.

Lazlo666: All I know is I was having problems with the new Catalina system that I downloaded 'till I got the most recent Catalina 10.5.1 Then my music files and Audiobook files seemed to work fine. I previously had the Mojave system where I had no problems. If it makes any difference, I have a 13" MacBook Pro which was manufactured 2012. Actually I don't know a heck of a lot about this stuff: I was frustrated with Catalina 'till I got the latest version 10.5.1

I believe I am now happy with my management of pdf files in Books and my Apple environment generally. I am quite happy to save web pages, documents etc. as pdf files in Books. I am ok that by setting Books in my Mac, my iPad and my iPhone to share via iCloud I can find them 'any time, anyplace, any device'. I also have cracked how to get the Books folder to appear in the iCloud section of the side bar in my Mac Finder. This means that I can now easily manage the pdf files - delete, move and copy to other apps, folders and locations. Thank you all for the conversation. Your suggestions were most helpful.