Comments on: Importing audiobooks with iTunes 7

By: Alderete

Alderete — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:59:10 +0000

@mike: Let me try to be more clear how what to do here:

1. After you have properly imported/encoded your audiobook tracks into iTunes (see my various instructions documents), select the tracks in the iTunes Library window and drag them to your Desktop (or a folder, or wherever). This will copy the tracks out of iTunes.

2. Delete the tracks from iTunes. When asked about moving them to the trash, do so.

3. If you have not already changed the file extensions of the tracks to .m4b, do so now, on the copies on the desktop.

4. Drag the tracks from the desktop into the iTunes Library window. This will re-add the books to iTunes. Once they have been copied back into iTunes, you can delete the copies of the tracks on your desktop.

Please note: Yes, this is a giant pain in the ass. It’s only required on Windows, and only if you want things in the Audiobooks source list.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:43:45 +0000

UPDATE: I tried this and it doesn’t work. I’m pulling my hair out.

What do I do with the file on my desktop? I dragged it back from whence it came, but then when I go into iTunes there are no corresponding song files to click because I deleted them (with the !)

I also have mp3 zip files of audiobooks in the download file(folder?) but how do I import them? I am very rusty with windows and can’t figure it out (I know it is something blindingly simple but I can’t work it out – embarrassing!)

Sorry to clog up your comments section, but I’ve been trying to sort this out over three days. There is some piece to the puzzle I’m not getting (or more likely, “pieces” plural!)

Mike.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:03:49 +0000

Oops, sorry for being stupid…I just re-read the FAQ, I copy the audiobook files from the FILE MANAGER in windows, onto the desktop, then go to iTunes and delete the relevant audiobook files (which are still in the file manager because I COPIED them), then I drag the desktop files back into iTunes music library (or do I drop it into iTunes audiobooks?). I hope I’ve got this right.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:52:17 +0000

I need an important clarification:
Should I just copy “all” the specific audiobook files onto the desktop, then delete the ones in iTunes and then drag the files from the desktop back into iTunes, or do you mean I should copy ALL of my entire iTunes music folder library onto the desktop, delete the music folder and then ditto?

By: mike

mike — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:46:07 +0000

Thanks Alderete, I notice in your FAQ that iTunes won’t recognize it as an audiobook if it was imported at above 64 kbps — mine is at 128 !!! If your suggestion works, it still won’t be in audiobooks. I was planning to select all and “convert to AAC” (at a lower bit rate with voice optimization) and then delete the old ones. However will the newly made AAC files keep the .m4b extension (which I laboriously altered earlier) or will they revert back to .m4a ?

By: Alderete

Alderete — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:55:37 +0000

@mike: “There’s a FAQ on that exact issue”:http://aldoblog.com/audiobooks/itunes/frequently-asked-questions/#q4, but you might find it unsatisfactory, because it means a huge amount of work. The fastest way around it is to drag the track files (all of them) out of the iTunes folder (e.g., onto your Desktop), delete them from iTunes, and then drag them from the Desktop into the iTunes Library window.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:51:04 +0000

I have read various online guides for optimizing CD Books for itunes but have run into some problems. I went into iTunes folder in my control panel and changed the file extensions from m4a to .m4b, but then when I went back into iTunes all the files (still listed as song files, by the way) had exclamation marks against them, except for two – even though I changed ALL the extensions. iTunes says they don’t exist but they are still there in my iTunes folder when I look through my control panel. How can i get iTunes to recognize them (and why don’t they recognize them – I already gave them .m4b extensions), and how can I get them into the audiobook category in iTunes?

By: Alderete

Alderete — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:38:34 +0000

@Lightinn: If you’re having problems with brand new CDs, I would imagine that the issue is your optical drive. Beyond a hardware problem, there’s absolutely no reason why a brand new CD would have problems being read in. Do you have the ability to try a new music CD, with music-quality settings (e.g., the default settings, or higher quality)? If that’s also having problems, then I would guess that your issue is an imminent hardware failure…

By: Lightinn

Lightinn — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:00:15 +0000

I have the same problem with slow import on about half of the disks I try to import. I am only loading audio books from various publishers of CDs as I purchase them. I have followed all of the recommended settings including deselecting error correction, etc. I have the latest version 7 of itunes. My theory is a difference in the products published, for example I have seldom had problems with importing books produced on CD by “Brilliance”.

(this is in reference to an earlier question by # Holly Turner on April 26th, 2007 at 12:26 pm):

Holly Turner said: “I am an audio book fan. I followed your previous instructions and CDs would download like a charm. Now, after about 10 tracks (short ones, the audio book tracks), the speed slows until they often freeze. I can hear the CD player start to struggle. Or it copies but the sound quality is terrible, it skips and jumps.

By: Alderete

Alderete — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:22:16 +0000

@Jim: It’s pretty hard to guess what’s happening from your description. The first two steps in the instructions have worked without change in iTunes for many versions. Perhaps if you write up a more complete description, possibly including screenshots, and send it to the email address I include in the sidebar, I can try to help you further.