Problem with MP3 audio books - truncating

This didn't quite work, but it did help me find the "gapless" album option, which seems to be better about not trimming the end off chapters.

Yes, they play perfectly on my computer, just not on the shuffle.

- Beth

Yes, my ipod is reset every evening. I got it so I can listen in the car (plugs into the car speakers). I turn it off in the evenings and on in the mornings.

There is something different about the shuffle software from itunes. I've never had a problem when listening from my laptop (windows), but have had periodic problems with shuffle. I had one book that played perfectly on itunes moving from part to part, but in the shuffle it would always start the part over rather than moving to the next one in the play list. (Yes, I checked that it was set to play in order not shuffle.) Then this problem with the mp3 book. I wonder if may have to do with the way the book was recorded. I'll have to wait and see if my next mp3 book has the same problem. The ones I'm listening to now are WMA format and don't have gap problem.

Thanks for your help and ideas to try to fix this.

- Beth

I use "My Media Mall" (http://www.mymediamall.net) to check out audio books from the library. They come in 2 formats - mp3 & WMA. When I check out a book it downloads to OverDrive Media Console. Then in OverDrive I transfer the book to my shuffle (through the manually mange the storage option). If I then start itunes, I can see what's been downloaded and what all the properties are. By default WMA books are loaded as audiobooks and there is an automatic play list created. The mp3 books are loaded, by default, into the music section.

Per your original suggestion, I converted the "music" attribute to an "audiobook" attribute, which automatically move the files and created a playlist for the book. It did not stop the truncation problem. I then converted the book back to music, and selected the "gapless album" feature. This has significantly reduced the amount of truncation so that it's gone from a couple of sentences to less than a full sentence.

If I listen to the book on my computer (windows) through itunes, there are no gaps, and no problem automatically finding the next part to play.

FYI - each audiobook is made of several parts (usually 8 - 11 for the books I listen to). Each part contains multiple chapters. Some books only break parts over a chapter break, others seem to divide the parts into semi-equal sizes. If in the shuffle I "skip to next track", it starts the next part. The voice-over feature on the shuffle announces each playlist (eg. book1, book2) and then each individual part (book1 part 01, book2 part 02, etc.). Usually when I start a book, I use the voice-over to find the playlist instead of locating a specific part. If I've been listening to the book via itunes, then I'll have to step through the playlist until the second portion where it lists the individual portions.

- Beth

The audio book is Forever by Maggie Stiefvater. It's The Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy, Book 3. The version I downloaded was the OverDrive MP3 Audiobook. I borrowed it from MyMediaMall at http://www.mymediamall.net/8C67C6F6-8729-4F9D-83FC-F2ACE6CBEF82/10/391/en/Conten tDetails.htm?ID=D15E8205-83DA-4810-942E-CD40BD010674 . I assume that from the description on the page you should be able to find the same audio file through your local library.

Failing that I'm not sure how I can set it up for you to get the files. I have to download from the website, to my local copy of OverDrive Media (which only downloads the access control file not the actual audio file) and then "transfer" the audio files to my shuttle. As far as I can tell, the transfer process downloads the file from the library site and places it on the hard drive in the shuttle. They never actually appear in my itunes library, just the shuttle content page. I can only set preferences on the files or mess with the play lists when my shuttle is plugged in and is displaying the shuttle content.

- Beth

Yes, OverDrive is remarkably un-helpful. They refer me to the "local library support system", who has little or no technical support. It's not even clear that OverDrive provides support to the local librarians. Part of the problem is that I belong to a tiny little library, but get most of my books through a larger library via an exchange agreement. Unfortunately when it comes to technical support requests it goes back to the small library, thus I'm left trying to figure out what's wrong by myself. Hence my requests for ideas from this forum.

I do want to thank you, B-rock (planb77), for all your efforts to get this straightened out.

Sincerely,

Beth

It's not possible to place the files in iTunes. I've tried. I even got my son to try, and he said that I've run up against the anti-theft features that prevent proliferation of copies. The weird part is even though they are playing from the same drive (the actual shuffle), when I play them in iTunes there's no truncation. The truncation only occurs when I'm playing directly from the shuffle into the headphones.

Thanks again for your help, but I'm giving up on this problem for now. I've finished the current MP3 audiobook and the next few in my list all have WMA formats available. So I'm good for the next month or so. If I run into problems again with another MP3 only format book, I'll repost here.

Bye,

Beth