Audiobooks and podcasts NOT WORKING after iOS 8 upgrade

Are you on Mac or PC? Also what is one of the podcasts you are trying to sync so I could see if I could come up with something.

Hey Cloudster,

I'm trying to find out how to make chapters which show up when progressively downloading a podcast, in the iTunes desktop app.

I can get Objective-C code running which will work for a file already downloaded, and have achieved similar success using systems like Auphonic, and the type of software they and others use (GPAC, AtomicParsley etc.). However, for progressive downloads, no software except Garageband seems to work.

Somehow the iOS Podcasts app does work fine with all software tested, although some chaptering software seems to cause problems in actually delivering the stream until downloaded, or chapters don't seek smoothly.

Best regards

Robin

I have a similar issue but I can't find an answer. I have an older 4S and I listen to podcasts for hours each day on the road. I plug my phone in to do this. Since the ios8 update, my car/phone "loses connection" ....it will often play for 30-45 seconds without any sound and then disconnect or the podcast will freeze and then disconnect. It's the only time I get to listen!! How am I supposed to fix this? Do you have any guidance?

Thank you! This worked for me. I am a grateful audiobook addict. I hope they fix whatever bug is causing the problem...but this solution is only one extra step for now.

I can see an mp3 podcast in my iTunes on my PC but cannot do anything to see it on my iPhone. Yuk. Just Yuk! I do not have enough invested in podcasts to go through the 18 steps listed here.

When I originally updated to iOS 8 I had a problem where I could see the audiobooks but wasn't able to select play. Then yesterday (10-10-14) I was able to listen to my audiobooks again! Now this morning I do not have audiobooks in my "more" selection in iTunes or anywhere else. The only difference is that I sync'd the phone yesterday after I had listened to the audiobook. What's up Apple??

I had an iPhone 4 IOS 7. I upgraded to an iPhone 6 (and thus IOS 8), all went just fine. Audiobooks showed up no problem. Initially they did not have the cover art, but that poped up a while after the first sync as well, so I thought things were good! Now a couple days later audiobooks are gone from iTunes on the phone, the audiobook icon does not even show up as a category. If I run the audible app and select device, it shows 2 titles that I have not synced to my phone for over a year (i.e. listened to long ago). Having discovered this away from home when I went to listen to a book, I haven't been able to see what sync says from my Mac, but this is really ******* me off. One wonders if Apple even has a QA dept these days.

So once I got back home and hooked up to iTunes on my mac, I noticed that the checkbox next to books was not on (in ITunes) despite having restored from a backup of my previous phone. So I went through everything, made sure it was correct, did an "apply", and nothing stows up on the phone (no books that is). I powered the phone off and back on, and presto the audio books, and the audiobook icon show up, as well as all the PDFs I had in books (magazines mostly). How long that will last is yet to be determined.

Also when plugged into a usb port on my LCD I get a message on the mac saying that the phone is not charging, when clearly on the phone itself it shows that it IS charging.

Same,

The audiobooks icon doesn't even appear in iTunes on the phone (brand new 5S bought right before the 6 came out, lucky me) which is really unfortunate since it's most of what I do on the phone (for everything else there's Spotify, which is why Apple should have bought them instead of a headphone company)..

I did note two things

1) when syncing it says "waiting for changes to be applied

2) When I turned off iCloud Drive it reset permissions in iTunes on my Mac but did not change the outcome

R

Also having issues with Podcasting app, but with sync.

Using Mac OSX 10, Iphone 5 OTA update. Also old iPod

Updating and sync works great with my iTunes (latest version, 12 i think) and before IOS 8 everything sync'ed okay OTA. If i listened to half of a podcast on my iPod then plugged in to my laptop, i could go to my phone and it would pick up where i left off, mark as played etc. No longer. podcast app does not sync at all and when i try to mark something as played on the phone it deletes the file from my itunes/ipod. I have checked settings on all devices and its not set up to remove files at all.

I do not understand how they can perfect this platform on multiple devices, but on their own phone they can not.

THANK YOU SLOTH! Your method was the only one that worked for me (iPhone 5S, iOS8).

This has been driving me crazy since upgrading to iOS8, and no one else seems to have stumbled upon the solution but you. (Like you, I hate having to add audiobooks to my iTunes library, when I really only want them on my iPhone. --but this method does work! Woot!)

Thanks a lot, Apple, for breaking such an important feature for all us audiobook lovers! 😠

Thank you very much. I was ready to smash something up. Worked a treat, but Apple need to sort it out!

I got my audiobooks on my iphone while keeping them marked as audiobooks. The reason the files won't sync isn't because they're marked as audiobooks. The issue lies in the folder that itunes has the files located in. For whatever reason, itunes won't sync files from the .../itunesmedia/audiobooks folder. So you can mark the files as audiobooks but just make sure that itunes has them located in your .../itunesmedia/music folder (when you right click the file in your itunes library and select show in windows explorer, it should open a folder in the .../itunesmedia/music folder. If that's not where it is then move it there).

I think there are several issues/problems going on with audiobooks and iOS8.

1a. People are having an issue 'syncing' or adding audiobook tracks to devices with iOS8

2a. People are having an issue changing an MP3 to an audiobook in iOS8

3a. People are having an issue playing an audiobook file on iOS8 devices

The first two seem to have easy solutions:

1b. Change the folder where audiobook is saved (from the audiobook folder to music folder or any other folder on your computer). You can also not 'sync' the device and drag and drop the files to the phone (make sure that on the device under the audiobook tab that the ''sync" feature is turned off

2b. highlight the file in iTunes, right click, get info, click on file type change to audiobook/remember playback position

I'm having an issue with #3 - the files are mp3's - I have converted from default 'music' to audiobook (see #2b) and have been able to get the audiobook file to the iPhone (see #1b)

When I play the file in the stock music player it does not play at all and quickly scrolls through all audiobook files for that book. Even closing the music app i find the phone gets hot and slows until i do a complete power cycle (turn phone off and on again)

I am not at my home computer so I will have to wait but I have found three possible solutions which I will try tonight:

1. Change the files from 'audiobook' (see #2b) to 'podcast or music' files this solution is annoying because the file will be categorized wrong and not showup in the audiobook folder, however I can still have it labeled to skip during shuffle and remember playback position.

2. I saw an audiobook app in the itunes store that said there was an issue with iOS8 and audiobooks with images... strange but could be a simple solution. follow the instructions on #2b go to artwork tab, select the artwork and delete it, (if needed delete the files from the phone and resync or drag and drop) This solution is annoying because now there is no artwork with the audiobook

3. Third party app - I haven't found a third party app that actually plays 'audiobooks' (files labeled audiobook and show in the audiobook folder in iTunes) There are a lot that play music files (they can be audiobooks but are not labeled that way) this is annoying because if there is an app that plays these files it is most likely not free, so I'm paying for a feature that should be native with the device/software

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, and i'm actually writing all this out as a reminder of what to try when I get home - I will try and report back when I find out.