I’m seeing the same thing here, and I’m not sure if it broke with Catalina or with
the 10.15.1 update, or perhaps even more specifically, based upon what I’ve
found below, with the 13.2 update for iOS . I’ve had quite a bit of success
with the Audiobook Binder app in converting MP3 files to M4B audiobook files
and importing them into Apple iBooks/Books and being able to see chapter
information on both OSX on the MacMini as well as on the iPhone with no issues.
This also extended to Audible protected .aa/.aax files which also showed
chapter details on both device platforms. Subsequent to the update, the Audible
audiobooks do not show chapter information; rather, they show one or perhaps
but a few large files only in the chapter display on the iPhone, even though
the chapters display perfectly as before on the OSX platform, so it is obvious
that the chapter information is still there in the file. It seems that the
iPhone iOS may be the culprit. As a temporary work-around, I’ve found combining
MP3 files aand checking the compilation of several artists checkbox on each of
the files in Music with unique track numbers, common Album and cover art and
the remember file location checkbox checked for all of the files applied can be
handled in the Music app as in the old iTunes days, then the separate MP3 files
dragged onto the desktop within a folder, and then that folder would be dragged
from the desktop right into the Apple Books app. The newly-created book will
show as an audiobook when synced with Finder to the iPhone. The audiobook seems
to be retaining bookmark locations. I tested this by shutting off the phone and
rebooting it, went back into the audiobook and the file picked up where it left
off before I shut down the phone. Audible books, well that’s another story…think
we may have to wait for a bug fix on that one. Please forgive me if I feel for
that as if I’m waiting for a bus that’s never going to come. Interested to hear
what others’ experience with this is.
