Comments on: Another audiobook importing tool for Windows

By: Alderete

Alderete — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:57:29 +0000

@Joe: Whenever you’re dealing with an unfamiliar file extension, it’s often useful to look up what the file kind is. For example, the .cda extension is described as:

Shortcut to a track on an audio CD; plays the referenced track on the CD when opened; therefore, the CD must be in the CD-ROM drive for the shortcut to work correctly.

So most likely you don’t have the actual audio tracks, and therefore there’s nothing to convert. What happens when you double-click them? What about if you copy the file to your computer, and then eject the CD, and then double-click it?

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:00:47 +0000

I have read your many articles on taking audiobook cd’s and importing them into iTunes and then onto a iPod. You talk about MP3 CD’s. What about audio cd that have a .cda extension? How does one covert, import or whatever to get these into iTunes Audiobooks. I really would like them in this Library instead of into the Music Library.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:08:46 +0000

it does seem to work if you join up the cd tracks before using the program, now if only i could link several cd’s together in “chapter” format like the audible books… i’d be set.

By: Robert Jacobson (aka Teridon)

Robert Jacobson (aka Teridon) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:26:38 +0000

Thanks for linking to my program. @Donna: Sorry, there is no built-in way to join tracks. I’m not sure what would happen if you did it manually in iTunes first before importing using my program.

I welcome constructive feedback. You can email me at the address provided from the “Instructions” button in the program. You can also get my email address by clicking the PayPal button on my web page (you don’t need to donate to get my address).

By: Derek Wain

Derek Wain — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:51:40 +0000

So, to get your audiobooks to show up there, you need to trick iTunes and your iPod into thinking the tracks are stored in that format. On Windows, this is easy enough to explain and understand, but the process is labor-intensive. You need to change the file extension for every track in the audiobook from .m4a to .m4b, and then play a few seconds of each track after renaming.

I have an iPod Nano with the latest software. My problem is that the instructions for “Optimal iTunes Import Settings for Audiobooks” don’t seem to apply, e.g., I don’t find any “Preferences dialog” to make any of these settings. I am able to import an audio CD into the iPod and then synch it. However, at that point, if there were, say 9 CD discs, I will have the tracks showing up in the iPod menu under “Cover Flow”, not Audiobooks. The tracks will have no overall title. Also, I will have 9 of each track, e.g., 9 “Track 1” etc. So the result is practically unusable.

With respect to the advice about renaming the file extensions from the FAQ, where does one find the files to rename? And does one reimport and resynch after renaming?

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:56:30 +0000

For merging tracks (thereby getting around the sorting problem), I strongly recommend Direct MP3 Joiner. I don’t even remember where I got it, but I’ve tried a number of Windows programs to do this, and this is the only one that doesn’t fail.

By: Donna Ford

Donna Ford — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:47:05 +0000

Looks very promising. Not clear from his website if the join tracks option is done; I use iTunes because of the ability to join tracks. So if I understand correctly when I download this program I use its info in place of iTunes info as I’ve always done per your instructions?

Lately, I’ve had one or two ripped books to simply cut off the end anywhere from
1 minute to longer. Can’t figure if this is a CD problem or iTunes.