Since updating to Big Sur, the Music app that replaced my iTunes app seems to have no Option for "Audiobook." Under Get Info/Options/Media Kind, the only option is "Music."
How do I import audio books from my CD's and get them over to Books so I can hear them?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.14
(previous post, continued)
If you used Big Sur's Music app to create a new Library instead of using an existing iTunes Library, the Music app creates the same folder structure as the old iTunes app, except that only the "Music" type of subfolder is created in the folder "Media," along with a folder "Automatically Add to Music." The Music app does not create a subfolder for "Audiobooks" or "Podcasts," as did the previous iTunes app.
3) You can select an entire folder to Add to the Books app. Books will leave your original audio files in the iTunes or Music Library, and create copies of the individual files in the Books hidden library: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books
4) When you connect your mobile device and Sync, the audiobook files will appear in the Books app on your mobile device.
So, although it takes several more steps, audiobooks can still be imported from your audiobook CD's and listened to on your mobile device Books app.
(previous post, continued)
If you used Big Sur's Music app to create a new Library instead of using an existing iTunes Library, the Music app creates the same folder structure as the old iTunes app, except that only the "Music" type of subfolder is created in the folder "Media," along with a folder "Automatically Add to Music." The Music app does not create a subfolder for "Audiobooks" or "Podcasts," as did the previous iTunes app.
3) You can select an entire folder to Add to the Books app. Books will leave your original audio files in the iTunes or Music Library, and create copies of the individual files in the Books hidden library: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books
4) When you connect your mobile device and Sync, the audiobook files will appear in the Books app on your mobile device.
So, although it takes several more steps, audiobooks can still be imported from your audiobook CD's and listened to on your mobile device Books app.
Hello tfeledy,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
We understand that after updating to macOS Big Sur, you have questions about importing and listening to audiobooks from CD's. You can take a look at the following support articles on importing audiobooks to your Mac, listen to audiobooks and syncing audiobooks between your Mac and iPhone or iPad.
Import books, audiobooks, or PDFs in Books on Mac - Apple Support
Listen to audiobooks in Books on Mac - Apple Support
Sync audiobooks between your Mac and iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
Best regards.
Sadly Music and Books are not integrated in the way that iTunes was. You can use File > Add to Library in Books to add new content to it, however once it is there you'll find you cannot edit any metadata. See Audiobooks on iPods and Organizing audiobook chapters - Apple Community for advice on setting metadata for best results which you can do in Music, then add the files to Books, and remove them from Music. Books should make its own copies of the files so you could delete or archive the ones from the Music folder once you're happy you don't need to make any further changes.
tt2
Hi,
tt2
If you open Books (v 3.1) while holding down the Option key, it brings up a window that allows you to point at an old iTunes Library to Move audiobooks into Books.
From this, it appears the new Books app has only one "library," into which it seeks to combine the books and audiobooks of each of the individual libraries for all synced mobile devices.
The Music (v 1.1.28) app, on the other hand, seems to allow individual Libraries to be retained, and does not seek to combine them into one Library like the Books app.
Thanks, Joseph S. but my question pertains specifically to importing audio books from CD's.
Big Sur replaced iTunes with the Music app.
And as I described above, the Music app seems to have no way to change imported CD audio book tracks from "Music" to "Audiobook."
Where can I find instructions for importing audio books from CD's now that I have upgraded to Big Sur?
Thanks for the response, Turingtest2.
1) Why do you suppose the Music app continues to have an Option menu under Get Info/Options/Media Kind, even thought there's now only one choice there, "Music?" Could it be that Music is supposed to continue the seamless transfer of imported CD audio books to the Books app, the way that its predecessor iTunes so recently did, and that Apple simply forgot to implement that functionality? Otherwise, why didn't they just remove the Option menu entirely?
2) It currently appears that to get your CD audio books into Books you now have to (a) Use Music to import them, (b) Use Books' File/Add to Library to locate the folder in Finder that contain the imported audio book files, and (c) Add them to Books. Based on your response above that Books copies these to its own files, where do you think these imported audio files are kept?
-Tom
On a Mac, the Books app stores its audiobook files in a folder called "Audiobooks" here:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books
In the Audiobooks folder, subfolders with long names like "sha1-14bda2a1acec40a15657a306e3d12684f6ed3cbb" contain the individual mp3 files for each track of an audiobook imported from a CD or other external source.
To use Apple's iTunes replacement, the Music app, to import audiobooks to Apple's Books app:
1) Use the Music app to import the audio tracks from your audiobook CD's.
2) Use the Mac's Books app to File/Add to Library, point it at your iTunes library: /Macintosh HD/Users/[yourname]/Music/iTunes [your iOS device]/iTunes Media/Music
(Even though the iTunes app is no longer on your Mac now running Big Sur, the iTunes libraries are still there, and the Big Sur Music app will continue to use them to store imported files. Music will also create a new folder with a default name of "Music 1" and containing only a single file, "Music Library."
Offhand I'm not sure, but a key feature of syncing is that it is selective. I generally sync with selected playlists, but you can also drill down to individual genres, artists, or albums, if you prefer.
tt2
is there any way to manually transfer audiobooks in the same way we can with music files? my goal is to avoid syncing since the air doesnt have enough storage for my entire audio library.
Can Apple's new Music app import audiobook CD's to the Books app?
