After upgrading to Catalina, the chapters in my iPod Nano are gone

Until Apple faces up that it's the new Catalina OS upgrade that caused the problem and fixes it, I decided to switch the managing of my Audible books and its syncing to my iPod Nano to my PC laptop.

It's a paradox and a shame that I need to switch back to a PC to get an Apple product (iPod Nano) to work again.

I suspect that Apple decided to make Audible books no longer work optimally because it was competing with its own audio books offering.

Shame on you Apple!

------ PART 3 ------

ME:

just curious how the the last position read in the book saved? and passed from the Mac to the iPod and vice versa?

either the file is modified or there's some additional meta data passed along

if it's in the file itself, the OS does modifies the file

MATT:

What model iPod nano do you have?

ME:

6th generation

MATT:

As the iPod nano isn’t as sophisticated a device as an iPod touch or Mac the level of data it can see is going to be limited.

ME:

all I'm asking is for the OS not to break my iPod

what was done here

"Improves the reliability of syncing books and audiobooks to your iPad or iPhone through the Finder"

as part of macOS Catalina 10.15.2 (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210642#macos10152)

MATT:

I am sorry that a feature you made use of is no longer compatible.

Over time, technology changes and there is always a trade off between compatibility (as it imposes a performance cost) and innovation.

ME:

is there a chance your dev team might take a look at it?

I've been a s/w engineer for 25+ years, I get that but NOT in this case

MATT:Sometimes it’s no longer feasible to maintain compatibility in the same way with older devices. The good news here is that you can still use the iPod for audiobooks, but a newer device is required to use a richer feature set. I am sorry for the inconvenience caused.

ME:

check out

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250815165?answerId=251568196022#251568196022

MATT:

To recap: the iPod is not compatible in the same way with your Audiobooks as before. I strongly recommend contacting Audible as they may have additional troubleshooting you can perform on their content and services. Should the issue not be able to be resolved the best alternative (if it were me, anyway) would be to look into an inexpensive device like an iPod Touch which runs the Audible app.

This is the final response you will receive on this matter.

Are there any other technical concerns you would like to address today?

ME:

ppl discuss how the Book app had issue and it was fixed

I bet that's in the same area of the code that a bug was introduced

MATT:

The forum post refers to devices that use the iOS version of the Books app, which the iPod Nano can’t run.

the iPod Nano doesn’t even run iOS or a mach kernel

ME:

my recap: the new version of Mac OS (Catalina) either purposely or unintentionally broke a feature that had been working for ~10 years, on its own hardware and is unwilling to fix it

So while the issue is similar, it is different, and at this time as the content is not something Apple produced you need to contact Audible for further assistance.

I'm tired

I'll post this to the Apple discussion to see what people think of it and maybe that will get someone to open a ticket to fix it.

thank you for your time

MATT:

Thank you for contacting Apple. If there is nothing else I can assist with, I am going to end our chat. Please enjoy the rest of your day.

----- PART 2 -----

MATT:

Try redownloading them then

ME:

where the audible files converted as part of the OS upgrade?

MATT:

As we needed to do that before resyncing

No

An OS upgrade can’t update non MacOS related files

ME:

does the OS inject something to the audible file before the sync such as the chapter and the last read position?

MATT:

There is literally no possible circumstance where that can happen - the only thing that happens when a device is synced is a data flow. What you put in comes out the other side, or on the other device in this case. Have you deleted the originals from your Mac and tried to resync those?

It’s possible the files on the Mac have an issue but that seems less likely given that chapters work on the Mac directly. However, it is still worth us redownloading the files to make sure.

ME:

I tried to redownload a book

but I didn't try to delete it first

let me try that

MATT:

Thanks!

ME:

still downloading... :-(

450MB

30 secs left ...

MATT:

Thanks for your patience.

ME:

loading in Books

chapter available in the Books app

trying to sync

sync'ing...

no luck

same ONE 7hr chapter

:-(

MATT:

If the file is still not recognizing chapter breaks an alternative may be to pause and play when you return to the file. If I had to make an educated guess at what is happening here it’s probably a case of the iPod not understanding the chapter breaks in the file.

That would be something Audible have to resolve, by making the chapter breaks something the iPod can understand and make use of again. Another alternative may be a more recent device - iPod Touches are inexpensive and run the Audible app directly. I use it on all my iOS devices.

ME:

the iPod Nano 6th generation is the BEST mp3 player even created, small with touch

I still think if the OS

can you at least log it as a bug for your dev team

MATT:

It is not the OS Jerome.

You could consider using the Nano for music and looking into a dedicated device more compatibile with your audiobooks, and the iPod nano can still be used, you’d just have to use the pause feature rather than chapter navigation.

ME:

I'll try on my wife Mac to see if she has the problem since she's hasn't upgraded to Catalina

MATT:

I am sorry for the inconvenience.

ME:

would that prove my point that the OS is the issue?

MATT:

No, and Apple isn’t in a position to do anything to troubleshoot problems with audiobook content sold by an audiobook provider that competes directly with us.

ME:

with all due respect that's BS.... you are basically sabotaging the competition by restricting features that have worked for 10yrs

not cool Apple

MATT:

We would be able to troubleshoot issues with the Audiobook content we produce and sell as that’s what we’re trained to support.

Audible, conversely, are the experts in the content they produce so it would be worth you contacting them - if they’re unaware of the issue, they may be able to fix it, or they may be able to provide further explanation on why this is happening.

ME:

u r not hearing my point the ONLY thing that I have changed is upgrading to Catalina, period

nothing else has changed

MATT:

I am hearing your point. Upgrading your operating system would not change the way the files behave. If it did, you would see the files behave in the same way as they do on your iPod Nano in the Books app on your Mac. The problem here is the fact that the chapter information is something the iPod cannot understand (which makes it read as a single audio file), or because the data is being stripped out when removed. I do sympathize with your situation but Apple isn’t able to edit the content that belongs to another company (to do so would be a massive copyright violation in fact) and even if we could, Audible would be none too happy about it.

Audible would need to make the changes to their content themselves but need to be told there is an issue so they know they have to do something.

IF the issue isn’t something a change on their side can resolve

This is a compatibility issue with the iPod and so you would have to forego use of chapters or look into an inexpensive device that supports them. An iPod nano could be picked up inexpensively, even used, and that supports the Audible app fully which would resolve all of these issues for you.