Audiobooks - Aldoblog

Microsoft Packaging Parody Video

OK, lots of people are pointing to this “parody” video, Microsoft Redesigns the iPod Package, but since it involves the iPod, I thought I’d call a little more attention to it.

!/images/ipod/ms-ipod-pro-packaging.png(Microsoft Redesigns the iPod Package)!:http://youtube.com/watch?v=UADizYtTrAI

It’s funny because it’s true, and because the music is perfect. But it’s also interesting because it perfectly illustrates the differences between the Apple and Microsoft design aesthetics — and I’m not talking about packaging. The iPod is so well done not because it’s had so many features added to it, but because it has had so many taken away. The saying “Less is more” is no less true for being cliché.

Which iPod for Audiobooks?

I’ve just published a ridiculously long explanation of why the iPod Nano is the best playback device for audiobooks. If you’re interested, here’s the article:

“Which iPod Should I Buy?”:/audiobooks/ipod-recommendations/

I’ve just published in Aldo on Audiobooks a ridiculously long explanation of why the iPod Nano is the best playback device for audiobooks. If you’re interested, here’s the article:

Which iPod Should I Buy?

I am frequently asked, “Which audio player should I buy to use with my audiobooks?” At first I would reply with a great deal of information, most of which is completely irrelevant to the question. I’ve come to realize that the answer is quite simple. You only have to make one decision…

How Do You Take iPod Screenshots?

I want to take screenshots of an iPod screen, to add more documentation and information to “Aldo on Audiobooks”:/audiobooks/, but I can’t figure out how to take them. Apple includes “terrific screen captures from iPods”:http://www.apple.com/support/ipod101/anatomy/2/#1 — both old and new — in their iPod 101 site. How do you do it? Do you just take photos of the screen using a normal camera? The quality of Apple’s screens is too high for that…

Anyone know? Please tell me!

I want to take screenshots of an iPod screen, to add more documentation and information to Aldo on Audiobooks, but I can’t figure out how to take them. Apple includes terrific screen captures from iPods — both old and new — in their iPod 101 site. How do you do it? Do you just take photos of the screen using a normal camera? The quality of Apple’s screens is too high for that…

I tried Googling around, but came up with nothing. Anyone know? Please tell me!

Update: The iPhone and iPod Touch both allow you to take screenshots without any special hacks; just press both the top Sleep button and the bottom Home button at the same time and, after the screen flashes, the screenshot goes into the Photos application. What I was interested in was how to take screenshots of the “classic” iPod user interface, which seems to not be possible unless you are Apple.

iPod 101

There’s not much about audiobooks (except how to buy them in the iTMS), but Apple’s new “iPod 101”:http://www.apple.com/support/ipod101/ is likely to be an extremely useful resource to all the many visitors who are coming here after getting an iPod for Xmas.

There’s not much about audiobooks (except how to buy them in the iTMS), but Apple’s new iPod 101 is likely to be an extremely useful resource to all the many visitors who are coming here after getting an iPod for Xmas.

Do check it out, and then come back to Aldo on Audiobooks to start on iPod 102, all audiobooks, all the time.

Announcing Aldo on Audiobooks

When I posted my instructions for importing audiobooks into iTunes and the iPod, it quickly became the single most popular post on this site, both in page views and in comments. I followed it up with a companion piece, covering the differences for MP3 CD audiobooks, and that quickly became the 2nd most popular page on the site. After weeks of on-and-off-again writing, I am replacing those posts with a whole new section of Aldoblog: Aldo on Audiobooks. Please check it out.

I also ended up answering a lot of questions in the comments to those two posts, trying to make the instructions more clear, as well as covering special cases which occurred for some people. From the number of questions, it was clear to me that there are a lot of people looking for help in getting their audiobooks onto their iPod. But my answers, while useful, were hard to find, because there was no organization except chronological in the comments. I decided it was time to rethink keeping that information in a weblog format.

Well, after weeks of on-and-off-again writing, I am finally ready to launch a whole new section of Aldoblog, Aldo on Audiobooks. This collection of information represents a complete reorganization and rewrite of all of the information I’ve posted here previously covering audiobooks on iTunes and the iPod, along with all-new information covering recommendations for what audiobooks to get, and where you can find the best places to get them.

This new section entirely replaces the earlier posts; I’ll be going back and amending them to note that fact. I’m also planning a number of additions to the section, which I hope to post in the run-up to the holidays, in time to help folks who get brand new ipods as gifts.

So, please, go on in and give the new stuff a look. Currently there’s no way to comment on the pages themselves, but I’d love feedback, either as comments on this post, or via email — my contact information is in the sidebar of every page on this site.

Importing MP3 audiobooks into iTunes

Our preferred method for obtaining audiobooks is from Audible.com. Second is from the public library. Third is buying them on MP3 CDs.

Note: These instructions have been superceded by a new version available in the Aldo on Audiobooks section of this site. Use that version instead of this page.

Our preferred method for obtaining audiobooks is from Audible.com, as part of our monthly subscription. For about $11 each, we receive an electronic-only version of a book, broken in to manageable chunks of 5-6 hours long each. The files arrive pre-encoded in a format which is bookmarkable in iTunes and on an iPod, and have all appropriate meta-data attached. The subscription format is both cost-effective and highly usable. Audible.com’s major liability is the selection; while there are thousands of books from which to choose, if you get interested in an author who has been writing for a while, chances are good Audible.com won’t have the older books, at least not yet.

The next best method for getting audiobooks is to borrow them on Audio CD from the local public library. While the procedure for importing them into iTunes is laborious, the price is right. This is an ideal way to experiment with authors you don’t know, to find books worth paying for. However, like Audible.com, the selection can be limited.

So, what do you do when you want a book that’s not available from either method?

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I Dream of Harry Bosch

I’ve written how Rochelle and I listen to audio books on our iPods. It’s by far the best way we’ve found to fill commute and other dead time, and I frankly barely use my iPod for music; probably 95% of the time, it’s on for audio books. And one character rises above them all: Harry Bosch.

The novel that got me well and truly hooked was Lost Light by Michael Connelly. It was one of the highest rated unabridged books on ::audibletl(“000”, “Audible.com”):: in 2004, and Rochelle picked it out on a whim. Mystery genre, highly rated by other listeners, a good narrator on the sample provided. Nothing more complicated than that.

We listened to it on a drive back from LA, and were gripped. When we got home, we dragged our crap into the house, and got immediately into bed with the book playing over the stereo to finish it. It was superb, and remains my favorite audio book.

The best news was that it was the ninth book in an 11-book (and continuing) series about LA homicide detective Harry Bosch. We’ve since acquired all of the other Harry Bosch novels which are available in unabridged format on Audible.com (about half of the total books written)…and all the rest on MP3 CD (I’ll write more about those soon).

Every time I listen to a Harry Bosch novel, especially the ones narrated by Len Cariou, I have Harry Bosch dreams, and can hear the narrator’s voice in my head for weeks. Highly, highly recommended.

Subscribing to Audible.com Podcasts in iTunes

Phillip Torrone’s “Audible does Podcasts – the complete guide (and HOW TO)”:http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/06/audible_does_po.html is a nice write-up of a new feature at “Audible.com”:http://www.audible.com/ that supports the automatic download of periodic audible content. Although his article uses the very nice “iPodder”:http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipodder/ application to demonstrate the features, there’s no reason why you can’t use the built-in podcasting features of iTunes 4.9. Here are instructions and a couple of screenshots.

Phillip Torrone’s Audible does Podcasts – the complete guide (and HOW TO) is a nice write-up of a new feature at Audible.com that supports the automatic download of periodic audible content, such as NPR’s Fresh Air (probably the best talk radio show on today).

Audible.com’s features provide support for receiving paid content using the same process for subscribing to the free podcasts which have recently become very popular. Although his article uses the very nice iPodder application to demonstrate the features, there’s no reason why you can’t use the built-in podcasting features of iTunes 4.9, and skip the extra application.

Here are instructions and a couple of screenshots, which you can splice into Phillip’s article where he’s working with iPodder.

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Importing Audiobook CDs into iTunes

Rochelle and I have fallen in love with listening to books on our iPods. We’ve signed up for two books a month through Audible.com, and for me, that pace is actually pretty good. Rochelle goes through them faster, though, and recently started going to the SF Public Library to get more books to listen to. Importing them onto an iPod is not terribly intuitive. This post describes what I think is a fairly optimal process, using only iTunes to do the importing.

Note: These instructions have been superseded by a new version available in the Aldo on Audiobooks section of this site. Please use that version instead of this page.

Rochelle and I have fallen in love with listening to books on our iPods. We’ve signed up for two books a month through Audible.com, and for me, that pace is actually pretty good. But Rochelle has more time to listen while commuting and at work; she blows through our two books a month.

She recently started going to the library to get audio books there, on CD. The San Francisco Public Library has quite a lot of them, and you can reserve them online. The only downside with the CDs is they cannot be played (directly) on an iPod. Enter the second half of Apple’s one-two combination, iTunes, which makes importing CDs relatively easy, and keeping them organized, syncing them with an iPod, and making custom playlists extremely easy.

The only problem is, it’s optimized for music CDs. It’s taken quite a bit of trial and error — mostly error — to come up with a recipe that works well, and produces audiobook files that are reasonable in size and quality, and as easy to use on our iPods as the books from Audible.com. I’m going to save you some time, and share the recipe.

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2004 in Review

2004 was a decent year for us, and as always (at least since I started this blog), I like to take a few moments to reflect on some of the important things that happened.

2004 was a decent year for us, and as always (at least since I started this weblog), I like to take a few moments to reflect on some of the important things that happened.

For me, the thing that dominated the year was my new “job” as a consultant. I’d done some consulting before, but in 2004 I managed to string together almost an entire year of work. Mostly half-time, so it wasn’t quite the income I would have liked, but I was able to pay the bills, and that’s pretty amazing. Really, all the credit goes to my primary client, Nicely Done Solutions, where the majority of my work comes from. They’ve kept me busy, and I hope to keep doing work through them for some time.

That dominated my day-to-day, but my biggest accomplishment in 2004 was my five year wedding anniversary with Rochelle. We have many more of those in our future, if we can both resist the temptation of butter.

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