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Syncing audio book to phone; file names will not update

I have a audio book on CD that I burned to my Mac in iTunes. Here are the steps I used, and the problems I can't figure out.


  1. Burn the disks into iTunes
  2. After burning 13 CDs, iTunes has placed them in only 8 "disks." For example, one "disk" shows all the files from CDs #2 and #13.
  3. If I try to handle the metadata for the files using the Info command, I cannot change these to "audio books" in the options menu. "Music" is the only option it will show.
  4. I created a playlist of these files in iTunes, but the Music app is inadequate to use for playback (no option to speed up the audio).
  5. I renamed the actual files on my HD by separating them into different directories, one per CD. So now I have a list of Cds called "[Disk1]" "[Disk 2]" etc. all the way to "[Disk 13]"
  6. I went into the Books app and imported these files, and they imported only as they appears in iTunes--as just 8 "disks" with multiple chapters combined. I do not understand this because I imported them one at a time. How did the Books app know which directories the files were in originally, and why isn't it importing them the way they are named?
  7. I created a playlist in the Books app and moved the files into it, but they are all out of order. And because it only "sees" 8 disks instead of 13, I can't rearrange the files to play in the proper order.
  8. From the Finder, I have tried to see if I could transfer these to my phone and change the order that way. But the finder will not update. It shows old files that are no longer in the Books app, and will not show the correct listing of the 13 directories of files that I imported into Books.


Why is this so hard??

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.3

Posted on Apr 7, 2022 12:26 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Apr 7, 2022 12:46 PM

See Organizing audiobook chapters - Apple Community. Setting up the correct metadata in music is more important than the physical arrangement, which is ignored when you copy the files into the Books app. When you're happy things work as they should in Books backup the files and remove from Music.


To be clear I'm suggesting that you set incremental track numbers for each track across all 13 disks, set the relevant Disc X of 13 values too for clarity, then make all of the album titles to be the same thing. The AudiobookSortName script with the minor change of line from:

tell application "iTunes"

to:

tell application "Music"

can then be used to set the sort name for each chapter/fragment into the desired <Book>, Part ##[#] form which will then be interpreted correctly when you add the files to the Books app.


tt2

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3 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Apr 7, 2022 12:46 PM in response to bnoof3

See Organizing audiobook chapters - Apple Community. Setting up the correct metadata in music is more important than the physical arrangement, which is ignored when you copy the files into the Books app. When you're happy things work as they should in Books backup the files and remove from Music.


To be clear I'm suggesting that you set incremental track numbers for each track across all 13 disks, set the relevant Disc X of 13 values too for clarity, then make all of the album titles to be the same thing. The AudiobookSortName script with the minor change of line from:

tell application "iTunes"

to:

tell application "Music"

can then be used to set the sort name for each chapter/fragment into the desired <Book>, Part ##[#] form which will then be interpreted correctly when you add the files to the Books app.


tt2

Syncing audio book to phone; file names will not update

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