Does iTunes Match work with audiobooks?

Question

Level 1

86 points

Does iTunes Match work with audiobooks?

I have an iMac, MBA, and iPhone 4s. Trying to find a way to import audiobooks with iMac, and then listen to them on MBA and iPhone when on road. The audiobooks on my iMac were downloaded from CDs.

iCloud doesn’t work b/c audiobooks were not purchased through iTunes.

Syncing works between iMac and iPhone, but not to MBA. Some audiobooks are too large for storage on iPhone 4s.

So, what about iTunes Match? Match only mentions music, and doesn’t say wh/n Match stores and shares audiobooks “You can access your music from all of your devices and listen to your entire library anytime.”

There are limits on Match that might not work with an audiobooks. For example, these:

Song files over 200 MB will not be uploaded to iCloud.
Song files longer than two hours in length will not be uploaded to iCloud.
Songs encoded as AAC or MP3 that do not meet certain quality criteria will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud.

Some audiobooks have have chapter joined and could be more than 2 hours; all have been imported at AAC Encoder and at 32 kbps.

Appears that Match is not intended for audiobooks? If not, is there any other way to share audiobooks across Apple devices?

Thanks.

iMac (20-inch Early 2008), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), MBA (10.9.5) iPhone 4S, iOS 7.1.2,

Posted on Oct 15, 2014 3:02 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Oct 17, 2014 6:47 AM in response to ArmandoWyo

Hi ArmandoWyo,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

I think the best option for your case would be to use Home Sharing in iTunes to transfer the audiobooks from one computer to the other. Take a look at the support articles below for setting up Home Sharing, and how to transfer your content between computers.

iTunes: Setting up Home Sharing on your computer

Home Sharing

Home Sharing is an easy way to keep all your iTunes libraries in sync across multiple computers at your house. For more information on Home Sharing and syncing your library between two computers, read iTunes: Understanding Home Sharing.

Note: This option allows you to share music between multiple computers if you continue to use both, but it doesn't create a lasting backup. To create a lasting backup, use an external drive or CDs or DVDs.

Home Sharing requires

iTunes 9 or later.

An Apple ID that is also an iTunes or App Store Account. If you need to, you can create an iTunes or App Store account without a credit card.

An active Internet connection.

A Local Area Network connection (Ethernet or Wi-Fi), such as one created by a router.

Follow the steps below to use Home Sharing to copy your music between your old computer which has the music on it already, and a new computer.

Be sure iTunes 9 or later is installed on both computers.

Open iTunes on both computers.

On your old computer:

If Home Sharing is already enabled, iTunes 11 or later displays the option to Turn Off Home Sharing (Account) under the File > Devices menu. If this is the case, proceed to step 7. Otherwise, choose:

iTunes 11 or later: File > Devices > Turn On Home Sharing from the menu bar.

iTunes 9 or 10: Advanced > Turn On Home Sharing from the menu bar.

Select the Home Sharing icon on the left side of iTunes from where you select music, movies, or TV shows.

When prompted, enter your Apple ID and password.

Click Create Home Share.

On your new computer:

Click the Store menu and choose Authorize computer. Enter your Apple ID and password (that was listed in the Advanced menu in step three or used in step 5).

Choose Advanced > Turn On Home Sharing from the menu bar.

Select the Home Sharing icon on the left side of iTunes.
Note: Once Home Sharing is enabled, the Home Sharing option disappears from the left side of iTunes until a Home Share library is found from another computer.

Once your new computer sees the Home Share from your old computer, click that Home Share on the left side of iTunes on your new computer.

Select the content in the Home Share that you want to transfer to your iTunes library on your new computer, or choose Edit > Select All to choose all of it. Then, click the Import button in the bottom-right corner of iTunes.

Wait for the content to finish transferring.

Transferring playlists

If you want not only your content but also your playlists to exist on your new computer, you will want to transfer a copy of all your playlists from your old computer. To do this, choose File > Library > Export Library on your old computer. Save the XML file that is created to your desktop.

Send the playlists file to yourself as an e-mail attachment, use an external drive, or use file sharing to move the playlists file to your new computer. Once the file is on your new computer, open iTunes and choose File > Library> Import Playlist. The import process will remove any items from the playlists that you didn't share via Home Sharing.

iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

Cheers,

Alex H.

Reply

Answer 2

ArmandoWyo Author

Level 1

86 points

Oct 21, 2014 4:41 PM in response to chuck_3rd

Thanks, Alex, I followed your instructions and was able to share several audiobooks between my iMac and MBA. That's great. Now I can import audiobooks without concern that thereafter limited to listening on only that computer.

thanks,

Reply