I currently use a track joiner for tracks ripped on iTunes. Problem is that the app destroys all relevant information about the tracks, the resulting file is simply named "output" and has no identifiers whatsoever. Can anyone recommend a joiner which is easy to use and which preserves all or most of original tracks' information? Thanks for all help
iPad Air Wi-Fi, iOS 7.1.2
It slightly depends on the original source format because ideally you want a method that doesn't re-encode the tracks. For AAC files, or if testing shows that transcoding doesn't cause any noticeable loss of quality, Chapter and verse might suit you. I haven't used if for some time, but if it insists on producing an .m4b output you can rename that to .m4a easily enough. It should offer sensible options for preserving and merging metadata.
tt2
I downloaded and installed the latest 2 versions of Chapter and Verse. As soon as I try to open I get a "Chapter & Verse" stopped working. Tried suspending my firewall temporarily, it didn't help. Any ideas? Thanks very much
I've a feeling it probably requires that you have QuickTime installed, which hasn't been routinely installed as part of iTunes for some time. QuickTIme is no longer supported by Apple and is a potential security risk, though the most recent version removed the web plugins so you'd probably have to work quite hard to trigger a real problem.
What version of Windows are you running? I've managed in install and run the latest version here on Windows 7.
tt2
I'll try to get QuickTime and see what happens. I also have Windows 7, as updated. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
ISTR that when I briefly had Chapter and Verse installed on a Windows 10 machine I had to configure it to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode. I'm not convinced that C&V is an appropriate solution to the OP's requirement, since it will convert any mp3 input files to m4a before merging them to m4b audiobook forward (with like loss of audio quality).
Any suggestions for a joiner that doesn't re-encode? I recall using MPEG Audio Scissors years ago, but I'm not sure I can find a safe download for it.
tt2
Can't think of one I've used - I typically only use joiner/splitter tools for lossless audio. There are obviously lots of "mp3 joiner" tools out there, the question would be which of them don't decode / re-encode audio and preserve metadata values.
All my files are AAC 320kbps, ripped from CD's by iTunes. Would C & V be acceptable in this case? Thanks for you input.
I got Quicktime & now C & V works fine. Thanks for your willingness to share your obviously massive knowledge of these questions.
You're welcome. 🙂
tt2
Yes, if your source files are AAC then C&V will not apply any decode/re-encode processing.
Many thanks for your help.
I noticed that the output file from C & V is *.m4b, and before uploading iTunes requires conversion to AAC, even though you mentioned that it should already be AAC since the original files were AAC. Is there a way to avoid this new conversion? Thanks for your help.
.m4b is the same .m4a apart from the file extension. AsI mentioned earlier you can change the extension before importing to iTunes and the file should be treated as music rather than an audiobook.
tt2
Your suggestion of Chapter & Verse works well for ACC Files, thanks. I'd also like to join Apple Lossless (ALAC) files but C&V will not accept them. Can you please recommend a reliable program for doing this. As always, thanks for your valuable help.
Audio track joiner question
