IPOD Audiobooks

For a while, using IPODs to read MP3 e-books was a pain.  the Ipod generally didn't save locations within a file, so unless you were listening to a book in one sitting, it wasn't a very convenient mechanism.  There were audiobooks for IPOD (M4b extension) which worked well.

I used a freeware converter (see http://www.freeipodsoftware.com/) to convert individual MP3 files (often chapters) into a single M4b file, which was transferred to the Ipod.  I did run into problems with very large Audiobooks (Einstein and Oppenheimer biographies were over 7 hours long) - these longer files would not keep track of location in the last 3rd of the file.  I blamed this on the Ipod, however, some internet chats point toward the freeware conversion process.

When I picked up a 5th generation Ipod Nano (not the new square one, the last long one with the camera) and updated Itunes, I noticed that there are now options to set up any MP3 files as audiobooks (through the "get info" option for each file, choose the "options" tab, choose "Media Kind"=Audiobook,   check the "Remember Playback position" and I click on the "skip when shuffling" box as well).

I also use another freeware product - Merge MP3 (see http://www.shchuka.com/software/mergemp3/).  This allows me to either use the program and merge all individual parts/chapters of an audiobook into one large file, or I can choose to keep the individual chapters.  In either case, choose the Audiobook settings as described above and all works great.


1 comment:

  1. Have run into some additional problems with some audiobooks - not tracking location within a book beyond a particular point (3 hrs in this case). In fact, moving past the 3 hour point could be done, but when played, the IPOD jumped to the next track (in this case, another book).

    However, I also had my IPOD no longer recognized by my car stereo. When I restored and re-installed the content, it worked fine.

    By that point, I had already finished the problematic book so couldn't assess whether or not that was the problem.

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