transfer CD audio book I bought in a store onto my iPod touch

If the audiobook is on a CD ( a physical CD), use iTunes to rip it into your iTunes Library. Once in your Library, the book will appear as music, so you will need to select all the tracks on the "book" and change the media type to Audiobook.

Once in your iTunes Library as an Audiobook, you may want to check that chapters etc. are displayed the way you prefer. If not, now is the time to edit the audiobook. Then copy it to your iPod using your normal method.

That was a very brief summary. I realise that there may be points in my post that you are not familiar with, but I have no knowledge of your current familiarity with iTunes. If there are points that you don't understand, post back here and we'll try to resolve them.

No problem.

• Select all the tracks for the audiobook and either:
  • right-click the selection and select Get Info from the pop up menu
  • click on Edit/Get Info
  • use CTRL+I (that's the letter "eye", not a one)
• you will be asked if you wish to edit information for multiple items. Yes, you do
• the Details tab will appear. Switch to the Options tab
• on the Options tab, change the media kind from Music to Audiobook and click on OK:

Once the tracks are Audiobooks, make sure that the chapters are kept together and that the complete book appears in your iTunes Library as one book. If anything is amiss, you can select the same tracks and edit the relevant information to correct the issue.

Typically, some tracks may be separated from the rest. This will probably be because of inconsistencies with the book name or perhaps the author. If chapters are not in the correct order, make sure that track numbering is as it should be.

I admit that I have some files that I changed to Audiobook, and the book now appears twice in the list of audiobooks, but I cannot work out why. Partly, that's because I haven't spent enough time on the problem, and that's because it's not the most important thing to me.

• Now that you have the Audiobook, if you wish to add it to an iPod (or iPhone etc.), then if you use Sync, you need to set up Sync options for Audiobooks. With the iPod connected to your iTunes Library, click on the Device icon (1.) when it appears:

• go to the device settings and ensure that Sync Audiobooks is turned on ( you only need to do this once, to set up Sync Audiobooks):

• Having selected the device, click on Audiobooks (2.)
• make sure that Sync Audiobooks (3.) is selected
• the sections numbered 5 & 6 only appear if you choose to Sync selected audiobooks in 4. This gives you the chance to sycn only thsoe books you want

------------------------

If this is all sounding like hard work, there is another option: that is, to keep the audiobook as "music". Don't panic, you won't get the book playing while you have music playing.

The audiobook can be isolated from the music so that it doesn't play when listening to music as follows:

• • when shuffling all your music: set the audiobook tracks to Skip when shuffling. This does exactly what it says, when in shuffle mode, those tracks are skipped (not played)
  • when listening to your favourite artist or album: the audiobook will not be by your favoured music artist, or have the same title as a music album, so it will be in a separate list. In the unlikely event that the audiobook does clash with an artist or album title, simply add a suffix the audiobook's artist or title, to separate it from the musical artist
  • when playing a particular genre: ensure that audiobooks have appropriate genres, such as "thriller", "drama", "romance" etc.

And when you do want to play the audiobook, you simply go to it by title or author and tap play. Only that "book" will play.

#1. Music is simply a word. You can certainly have lots of old radio programmes in your iTunes Library. I have a few and I keep them in the Library as "music". As for trial and error; let's get to the stage where the trial is ended and the errors are minimal. Usually, in iTunes, there's nothing you can do to break it, just don't hit the Delete options unless you really, really mean it.

Since you have little use for music in your Library, just think of the Music section of your Library as the main place where you keep audio. In this situation, there's possibly little need for changing anything to audiobooks. Instead, use things like the genre, Playlists grouping to separate the various parts of your Library.

#2. That's fine. It's your Library

#3. If you want to add the audio to your iPod, we can definitely sort that out

#4. Okay, we won't think about that now

#5. I'm a Windows user, so that makes things easy for me

------------------------

Back to organising your Library. Although your original question was about copying a CD audiobook to an iPod, it makes sense to get things organised in your iTunes Library first, so let's concentrate on that and only think about adding the organised material to your iPod once its tidy in your Library. It will make it easier to find things on your iPod.

Look at this screenshot of my Library (if you right-click the image and select Open image in new tab, from the pop-up menu, you can see it in better detail):

1. Artists - this section can be a list of authors of the audiobooks, or presenters of the radio programmes. You simply fill in the detail you prefer
2. Albums - the title of the book, the name of the radio programme, or whatever makes sense to you
3. Catalogue - as I'm in the Albums view, my catalogue is being displayed by album:

Oops! I didn't mean to post that so soon.

That's what happens when you hit the wrong button, while responding to texts on the phone!

Back to the Catalogue that I was discussing. In the right hand side of the screenshot in my previous post, the albums are displayed, in this case, by musician. In your case, it would be by author, or presenter (note that I'm trying to use the same terminology each time). Then, under each "album" (in your case, book or show) is the list of tracks for that album.

The key to this is to have the relevant information filled in for each track, be it music, a radio show or a book. Here's a screenshot of one track, while I'm in edit-the-track mode:

In the screenshot above, the left hand side displays the shows (or books) and the panel on right hand side shows the details for one track (episode, individual show or book chapter). My example is using the track Underground Bristol. In that right-hand panel I can edit information for this track only. (There is an easy way to edit common information for several tracks at once. We can talk about that later). The orange numbering links the field in the right hand edit window with the main display on the left:

1. 1. this is the Artist field. In your case, this would be the author, or the radio show presenter. In the screenshot, both shows are from (the "artist") BBC Radio 4. Note the second show (Soul Music) is by the same artist as the show above it, so the artist name is not shown again.
   2. this is the Album field. In your case, this would be the book title, or radio show series
   3. this is the Song field. In your case, this would be the book chapter title (even if it's simply chapter 1, chapter 2 etc.), or the episode title of the radio programme, or even the episode airing date if there is no title (whatever makes sense to you)

Notice the two boxes I've ringed:

• • Grouping - you can type in a keyword (of your choice) that can help sort individual episodes. Personally, I don't think you need this field at this time because there are standard methods for grouping, or arranging episodes and shows, which I'm outlining here now
  • Genre - this is a very useful field. In your case, the genre will be used to indicate the type of book, such as Thrillers, or Romance or Biographies, or the nature of the radio show. The text in the genre field is not fixed in stone, you can use any word you like in here. Once used, it will appear in the drop-down list of genres. By then displaying the Genre section of your Library, you can see all the books of that one genre in your Library as one list, without anything else in that list

I think that's almost enough for now.

RFazar wrote:

Take my word for it and just move on to somebody you can help. Thanks again stay safe and good luck. Ron

As you wish.

I'll just mention a couple of things anyway, for other readers' benefit, if not your own.

The two different worlds are in fact (several) different cultures and while some people say "iTunes" when referring to music purchased from the iTunes Store, I regard as music purchased from the iTunes Store as "music".

iTunes is the programme on the computer, which creates far less confusion.

"Remember playback position" is a great tool, only if I knew how to use it?

You could ask.

Remember playback position is what it says it is: - remember where I stopped playing the track and resume from that point when I next play this track, regardless of what has happened in the meantime. It's similar to a bookmark in a physical book:

• • Usually, when listening to something on an iPod, or in iTunes, you click the pause button to stop playback. Then, the player is in pause mode and when you take the player off pause, it resumes play from where you left off
  • If the player is stopped (instead of paused), or if another track is played - and then you return to the first track, play starts from the beginning of the track
  • If iTunes is re-started (for example, when the computer is turned off and then back on again), or an iPod is re-started, then once again returning to a particular track will start it from its beginning

This is inconvenient when listening to long radio programmes or audiobooks and you stop play part-way through an episode. In order to allow you to resume play from the point you stopped listening, tracks can be set to Remember Playback Position. This is accomplished by editing each track as required:

Once you decide how you want to arrange your Library, it can all be listed in the "music" section, even though none of it is music. It can be your books etc.

Two points though;

#1 Continuing to listen to a book:

There is an option for each and every track to be individually set to Remember playback position. This is obviously a very useful feature, that allows you to return to the point you left off, even if you have restarted iTunes, the iPod, or listened to something else in between. Once a track is changed to be a media kind of Audiobook, that option is (or should be) set on automatically. But if the track is left as "music", you will have to set that yourself (it's very easy to do).

I mention this because somewhere along the line, someone will tell you that my suggestion is "all well and good, but the player will simply start each chapter, or long radio show, from the beginning each time, which will annoy you". In fact, by using the remember playback position as I have outlined, this will not be any problem at all.

#2 Losing things:

As I stated, there's not much you can do to muck up your iTunes Library. Deleting items by mistake is obviously the one to avoid. To prevent loss of valuable items from your Library:

• • don't tap the Delete key on your keyboard. It will delete the current selection, possibly without warning
  • if you see a message asking if you wish to delete something, make sure that you really do wish to delete it. If you're not sure, don't delete it
  • this is the important one: don't use Windows File Manager to edit or delete files that have been added to your iTunes Library. The big mistake that far too many people make is to misunderstand what iTunes is. iTunes is a database (or catalogue) of your media (audiobooks, radio shows etc.). When you add a file to your iTunes Library, what you're actually doing is telling iTunes where (on your computer) the file for that song, book chapter or radio show) is located. (So, a "file" is the raw data that your computer uses. A "track" or "song" is that same file, but in your iTunes Library, So when you ask iTunes to play a chapter or an episode from a radio show, it uses the file to play what you hear. So crucially, the tracks are not "in iTunes". Instead, they are where you put them. If you delete a file from Window File Manager, that you have previously told iTunes about, then iTunes will not be able to play that track, because you have deleted the file. If you edit a file, again, iTunes may not be able to find it.

I think I've given you a lot to think about.

RFazar wrote:

But some how they ended up out of order?

It depends on which view you're looking at the books and what you mean by "out of order" (that's not as odd as it sounds).

For example, regardless of whether the books are on your iPod as "Music" or Audiobooks, if you look (on the iPod) under the Recently Added section, they may well be out of order because the most recently added track (chapter) is the last track on a CD. So in other words, in the Recently Added list, tracks will be in reverse order. Many of the views can have the sort order set by you, but for now, worry about the order of the tracks (your chapters) within each book title.

This why each book has it's own book title, or album title and the tracks are numbered. Numbering should be completed automatically by iTunes when you import the CD. The reason for having track numbers and chapter numbers is so that everything is correctly sorted.

You haven't said whether these audiobooks are on your iPod as Music or Audiobooks, so for now, I'll assume they are in the Music section. However, the same basic principals apply if they're in the Audiobooks section.

So - on the iPod, do not use the Songs view, or the Recently Added list to look at these books. The Songs view is a list of songs, probably in alphabetical order. So no use to you. The Recently Added list also be of little use to you.

Instead:

• • go to the Albums view: are the books listed separately, that is, is each book listed separately? They should be. Note that at this time, if the book titles are in the wrong order, don't worry about it. That can be changed in a minute
  • if you then look in any one of the books, the tracks (chapters) should be listed in the correct order. Are they?

Alternatively:

1. 1. use the Artist view: each book by that artist should be listed and when you tap on that book, each track (chapter) should be listed in the correct order. Again, don't worry if the artists are in the wrong order, once you go into a book, are the chapters in the correct order?
   2. or you can look in the genre view. Useful when you want to listen to a whodunnit: in the genre view, each book should be separately listed and by tapping on one book, the subsequent list should be the chapters in the correct order. Once again, look in one book for the chapters to be in the correct order, not the list of books.

We can address the issue of the Artists, the Albums or the Genres views not being in the correct order later. For now, look into each book to ensure the chapters are correct. If they're not, that suggests that the track numbering and total number of tracks is not correctly filled in.

#1. Have I understood you correctly, you are not able to add "music" to your iPod?

#2. Is this why you're keen to convert the CD audiobook from music to Audiobook?

RFazer wrote:

There is over 100 tracks listed in songs, 8 sections in albums and genres.

#3. But none of the music in your iTunes Library (on your computer) is on your iPod?

#4. Has your iPod been set up to copy Audiobooks from you iTunes Library, but not music? If so, we can soon sort that out

#5. Do you use a Windows computer, as suggested by your reference to a PC, or do you use an Apple computer?

Getting music from iTunes, onto an iPod is best done by using the iTunes Sync procedure. After setting up the specific iPod with your iTunes Library, all you need to do afterwards is connect the iPod to your computer and let iTunes do all the work of copying music onto the iPod.

RFazar wrote:

I have only had an iPod for about 10 years (I am on me 3rd one?), and never been able to get to I tunes on it!

"iTunes" is the computer programme that runs on your computer. Sometimes, users refer to iTunes when they mean the iTunes Store. Apart from that, you cannot get "iTunes" on an iPod.

I am a lost cause.

Thanks for trying to help me, but your time would be better spent on someone with a better chance to learn.

You're doing yourself an injustice. It's also said, but not originally by me, that you're never too old to learn. (And you don't know how old I am yet)

So, let's try and clear up any lack of knowledge that you have with iTunes, your iPod etc.

Music is songs, by a singer or singers. (It could also be speech etc. Anything listed in the Music section of your iTunes Library.) These songs are not "iTunes", even if they were purchased from the iTunes Store.

So, if you can provide answers to the numbered questions above, and let us know what else you are not familiar with, perhaps we can help you make more use of your devices.

RFazar wrote:

I think that sounds great, it would make life much simpler. I am not able to understand how to!

Follow any steps I've given here, by reading the steps carefully. If you get stuck, re-read the steps. If that fails, post here with specific information about what goes wrong, or what doesn't happen when you try.

With regard to the remember playback position feature, you have presumably managed to edit tracks before now, probably on the Details tab. Before clicking the OK button, go to the Options tab and the box for remember playback position is there, as shown in my last screenshot.

If you look at that screenshot, you will notice that the Options tab towards the top and which I've ringed in orange, is just along from the Details tab.

Sometimes you simply need to try things in order to find out where other features are located and what those features do.

Take care.