iOS 7 and Audiobook Chapters

I was sidestepped by your statement "Since it still is working the same way on iOS 8", but re-reading it I can see the ambiguity - please mentally redirect my post to Glowazowski. 😉

No problem. I was confused for a second. Carry on. :)

To clarify things: I do not have iOS 8 Beta 1 installed, since I am not a developer. My colleague is. I asked him to try for my, he told me, that the chapter behaviour in audiobooks did not change in iOS 8.

We have been discussing for some considerable time. In my opinion Apple are not going to fix the problem for us. Just like battery life on some MBP.

UNLESS some person is going to go to the courts in the US. Apple just do not care. We do not matter.

So we are stuck.

I don't know how many people are still monitoring this discussion, but I've come back to "hawk" my audiobook player, Bookmobile, which is now actually two apps, the original, which supports podcasts, and now Book Mower without podcasts.

Bookmobile/Book Mower fix a lot of the issues caused by using Apple's Music app to play audiobooks.

This discussion spawned a number of questions and feature requests that have almost all been added with newer versions of the app -- things such as an iPad-specific interface, Dropbox support, and per-chapter artwork.

More info can be found here: http://freshmowed.com

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bookmobile-audiobook-podcast/id416457527?mt=8

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-mower-audiobook-player/id880696382?mt=8

Chapter display is still a limitation of what is included/accessible with specific audiobook files, which often not available in DRM-enabled audio (such as from Audible/iTunes). IF the chapter information is available, Bookmobile/Book Mower will show them.

-Duke

Thanks for mentioning Book Mower, I had missed that you had released an audiobook only app. It looks interesting.

Does the sleep timer in Bookmobile work like the one in Book Mower? It's not clear from the decriptions in iTunes. In particular, does it bookmark the start and stop points of the timer in case you fall asleep while listening? Since both apps cost the same, it seems that Bookmobile is a better value since it also works with podcasts. Or does it lack audiobook features of the new app?

Yes, the sleep timers are the same - start and stop points are bookmarked. In fact, everything is the same except for handling podcasts, and the color scheme (green vs blue).

Bookmobile is a better value, but some people only do audiobooks, and are just inconvenienced by the podcast features.

The only other thing that might matter is that Apple has been approving Bookmobile updates much faster than Book Mower updates, so bugs fixes and new features show up several days earlier in Bookmobile. This might change in the future as Book Mower gets downloaded more.

-Duke

Does this allow easy imports or adding files from the iPhone Podcast and Music app? Or do they have to be added from iTunes on a computer? I know that AudioMark, the other program that does similar things, just reads what's in the built-in iOS apps.

Yes, it imports from the on-device iTunes library that the Music and Podcasts apps use. It will also import from the iTunes shared files area, from Dropbox and many other file sharing services, from any accessible web URL (mp3, m4b, and zip archives), and browse/search/download directly from Librivox.org for free audiobooks and the iTunes audiobook store for premium audiobooks.

Re: Audiobooks. I use it all the time but notice that when i first press the time wheel to go back (typically), it just pauses the book, i have to press a second time to move my place in the book. this is a relatively new issue but happening for at least the last couple months.

Also, using it in a car is often a pain, in that when i first plug into the USB port or restart the car, the radio defaults back to using the Music app and i have to reselect Audiobook.

Any fixes for these issues? thanks

oops, the prior mesage was regarding "Bookmobile", which i use for Audiobooks. sorry for the confusion

I can definitely track down the first issue and get it fixed. I might not have any control over the second issue.

Please send bug reports to support@freshmowed.com. I usually fix all reported bugs fairly quickly.

-Duke

hexonxonx wrote:

It's not broken if it's working the way Apple intended. Since it still is working the same way on iOS 8, it's the way they intended it to be.

That's a nice semantic distinction, but its kind of a slap in the face to the people posting in this thread. I don't see why someone who isn't a troll or an Apple zealot would bother to post that, but on the off chance you've just stumble in here and were trying to be helpful in some way, let me explain the context of this thread.

The point here is that 1) audiobook playback is not working the way it used to work and 2) the change from the way it used to work is _bad_ from the point of view of the people in this thread who have hundreds of dollars invested in audiobooks and Apple hardware - during the time when the system used to work to our satisfaction.

Some are wondering if Apple has new engineering management who don't understand use cases or whether there Apple is bowing to possible pressure from Audible to get people to use their player - they have a virtual monopoly on distribution of downloadable audiobooks and their system pushes a subscribe to buy model.

Regardless, most of us here would like Apple to restore the features found in iOS 6, so that we don't have to buy a DRM -> M4B converter for our purchased audiobooks and a new app to listen to them.

So, I think we've reset the context for the 'broken' statement for you.

I'm tired of the powers that be. Tired of YouTube, tired of Google, tired of Apple, tired of "pushy" audible and anyone else who wants to intrude on my privacy.

On a one month phone detox. I now leave my Samsung s4 and iphone 5 at home and use a simple "no so smart" PHONE to make CALLS if I need to. Not easy but doable.

Quite refreshing buying a real book, magazine, newspaper, with a coffee in hand. Cheers.