iPod no longer starts at last point in audiobook

wednesdaytgw wrote:

not using a book app... downloaded mp3's from library, Overdrive, formatted into iTunes, downloaded to iPod in "music"

That will be why the Playback Position is not remembered.

Originally, you stated that the books came from "audio library > iTunes", by which I believe that you mean that you bought audiobooks from the iTunes Store. These will have been downloaded as audiobooks and as such, iTunes automatically sets the option to Remember playback position. Below is a screenshot of the Options information for an Audiobook:

Note that:

1. 1. media kind specifically tells iTunes whether the audio file is music, an audiobook, a Podcast or a voice memo. In turn, that tells iTunes how to set the options for that particular audio file and which part of your Library to put the entry for the file
   2. the option to Remember playback position is turned on and greyed out. In other words, if it's an audiobook, it will have Remember playback position set on as a default

However, you appear to now be downloading audiobooks from Overdrive instead and as you point out, they are actually listed in iTunes as "music". This is not an error. What you have downloaded is an "audio file" which, by default, iTunes sees as "music". Music files are not marked by default to remember the playback position, but you can make them so.

There are two different ways to achieve what you want, but I'll mention only the simpler one (as the more complicated one will cause the entry to "disappear" until you find it again):

• • In your iTunes Library, select (highlight) all the "audiobooks" that you want to remember the playback position
  • on iTunes' top bar menu, click on Edit/Get Info (a dialogue appears asking if you wish to edit multiple items; you do, so click on Edit Items)
  • click on the Options tab and tick (check) the Remember playback position option. I suggest that you also set Skip when shuffling to on as well; that will stop your audiobooks from being played when shuffling your music

• • click the OK button at the bottom of the panel) (not shown in the screenshot)
  • Important; do not change the media kind - leave it as "music"

The next Sync between the iPod an iTunes will revise the copy on your iPod. (If you don't use Sync, ask for more information on this point.)

Note that if you select just one file for editing, you will see Edit/Song Info and the Options tab will have the song's start and stop time in it:

It's unfortunate that you don't use Sync. It means that once you change your target songs (audiobooks) in your iTunes Library, you need to remove the existing copy from the iPod and then add on the revised copy. If you were using Sync, then changing the song in iTunes would cause the copy on the iPod to be revised by the Sync, without the need for you to remove the old copy and replace it with the revised one afterwards.

wednesdaytgw wrote:

I suppose, there is no way to tall the ipod touch or, iTunes to do that with all book/music?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but...

• you can select (in your iTunes Library) as many songs as you want and edit the common tags all at the same time. So you can turn on the remember playback position on all songs in one go. Perhaps that's what you did before. Note two things though:

1. 1. if your selection has a mixture of remember playback position on and off, the box will have a dash mark in it. If all the selection is turned on, then you will see the tick (check) in the box
   2. if you bulk change your Library, you will need to change any songs added in the future. You cannot tell iTunes to set music to remember playback position by default

You could - if you so wished, import an mp3 as music and then change the media kind to Audiobook. However, as indicated previously, if you do that, the song will be moved into the Audiobooks section of your Library, but since song titles and book/chapter titles do not exactly match, you may have to search out the audiobook and revise the information so that it works as an audiobook.

Oh, here's another important point that may have confused you in the past: the media kind and the genre. The media kind tells iTunes whether the audio file is music, an audiobook, or a Podcast. The genre tells you the style of music (pop, rock, classical etc.), the nature of the audiobook (thriller, romance, adventure etc.) or the subject matter of the Podcast. But I have countless music podcasts in my iTunes Library that "inform me" that the genre is "podcast". In other words, the producer of the media has no idea what the genre is supposed to indicate. That in turn, causes confusion when the end user (you and me) sees that the genre is "audiobook", but the entry is listed under Music instead of Audiobook. To add to the above points:

• • an audiobook that you add to your iTunes Library will be seen by iTunes as media kind is music, even though you are adding something you regard as an audiobook
  • an audiobook, added to iTunes from the iTunes Store will be marked by the Store as media kind is Audiobook, which tells your iTunes Library to mark it to remember playback position, skip when shuffling and to add the entry for it to the Audiobook section of your Library

I realise that my responses create a lot to take in. That's because it's a complex subject, made more complicated by producers who can come up with new ideas for their media, but who have no idea whatsoever what a genre is, or why it matters.

Hello wednesdaytgw,

Thanks for reaching out through the Apple Support Communities about not being able to resume your audiobook on your iPod touch.

Is this happening with multiple audiobooks?

Does that persist if you force close and then relaunch the Books app? Close an app on your iPhone or iPod touch

Also, is your iPod touch all up to date? Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Hopefully those details will help to isolate this behavior further.

Take care.

wednesdaytgw,

If you use those steps to instead force close and relaunch the Music app, does that behavior still persist?

If so, you’ll want to reach out to Apple Support so they can look into this behavior further: Contact Apple Support

Regards.