iPod How do I get my audiobooks to show up in the "Audiobooks" section?

Unless something else has changed in iTunes 7, audiobooks must either be .AA Audible files or .M4B AAC files which are differentiated by atoms in the file as well as their file extension from typical M4A AAC files. You can make a .M4A file into a .M4B file using a variety of scripts or a hex editor.

I don't know of any tools that will tag MP3s appropriately unless you convert them to AAC first.

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balamw said:

Unless something else has changed in iTunes 7, audiobooks must either be .AA Audible files or .M4B AAC files which are differentiated by atoms in the file as well as their file extension from typical M4A AAC files. You can make a .M4A file into a .M4B file using a variety of scripts or a hex editor.

I don't know of any tools that will tag MP3s appropriately unless you convert them to AAC first.

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I have several audiobooks ripped from CD to m4a, and then renamed to m4b to enable bookmarking and they don't show up in the audiobooks library, either.

Do you know what needs changing within the file?

IscariotJ said:

I have several audiobooks ripped from CD to m4a, and then renamed to m4b to enable bookmarking and they don't show up in the audiobooks library, either.

Do you know what needs changing within the file?

Click to expand...

Did you remove them from the library and then add the new file or just point it to the new location. I usually find remove/add to be necessary.

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balamw said:

Unless something else has changed in iTunes 7, audiobooks must either be .AA Audible files or .M4B AAC files which are differentiated by atoms in the file as well as their file extension from typical M4A AAC files. You can make a .M4A file into a .M4B file using a variety of scripts or a hex editor.

I don't know of any tools that will tag MP3s appropriately unless you convert them to AAC first.

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Any idea where these scripts can be downloaded?

islandman said:

Any idea where these scripts can be downloaded?

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Doug scripts if you're on a Mac. http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/

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You know, I have the same problem. I like to rip audiobook CDs: first I use the iTunes "join tracks" command, then import them using the AAC encoder, then use Doug's "make bookmarkable" script to give them the correct .m4b extension. That pretty much did the trick for iTunes 6, though annoyingly, the files would show up under both Audiobooks and Music on my iPod.

But now with iTunes 7, which has a dedicated section of the Library devoted to Audiobooks, it's even more annoying, because the files only show up under Music. Anyone have a suggestion for how to get iTunes to properly classify them as Audiobooks? It almost seems as if Apple has done a deal with Audible.com to ensure that only their audiobooks get the proper classification...

MockingbirdGirl said:

Anyone have a suggestion for how to get iTunes to properly classify them as Audiobooks? It almost seems as if Apple has done a deal with Audible.com to ensure that only their audiobooks get the proper classification...

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It seems like they made the situation stricter. I took an M4A file of an Audiobook rip and did my usual M4B conversion with a hex editor and renamed the file .M4B, but I was unable to add it to the library. When I changed the genre from "Books & Spoken" to "Audiobooks" (also with the hex editor) it imported correctly and ended up in the Audiobooks section. Note this is on the Windows version, since my Audiobooks live there.

Basically it seems like the file must be an M4B and of genre Audiobook when it is improted to the library. You can change the genre afterwards it seems....

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Not Consistant

OK, I've just updated my PowerBook to iTunes 7, and I'm really confused. After iTunes has updated the library, I now have random tracks from an audiobook that I ripped/renamed tracks appearing in the Audiobooks library. When I Apple-I it, it thinks that it is a protected audio aac file.

Just to add to the confusion, when I copied an audiobook from one of my other Macs that doesn't show up in the right place, and imported it, it now does.

Something's not right.

IscariotJ said:

Just to add to the confusion, when I copied an audiobook from one of my other Macs that doesn't show up in the right place, and imported it, it now does.

Something's not right.

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My guess is that the files that were left out had some trace of "non-Audiobookness" to them in the iTunes library, so they were left out. When you re-imported it, it figured it out. This highlights the importance of removing the M4A track entirely from the library before you import the M4B.

FWIW, my experiment above was invalid. I think the main change that occurred when I changed Books & Spoken to Audiobooks is that I killed the tags entirely so iTunes didn't detect that I had an unprotected version in the library already...

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Fixed!

OK, I did a bit of searching for this, and ended up on Doug's AppleScript site. There is an explanation of bookmarking, on there. On Win32, it is as simple as renaming the file to m4b. On a real OS ( , the file type has to be modified as well, as balamw mentioned.

I downloaded the new version of "make bookmarkable", rather than play with a hexeditor. Howeer, there seems to be a problem with it, if your file is already m4b. I've modified the script, and it now changes the file type, and re-imports the selected file into the correct place.

IscariotJ said:

I've modified the script, and it now changes the file type, and re-imports the selected file into the correct place.

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Good news that you were able to fix it. I hope you submitted your changes back to Doug so others can benefit from them.

FWIW, even on Windows rename to .M4B never worked for me.

EDIT: I created a new guide that includes most of the info that works for me. Please help me keep the guide accurate.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Create_your_own_Audiobooks

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balamw said:

Good news that you were able to fix it. I hope you submitted your changes back to Doug so others can benefit from them.

FWIW, even on Windows rename to .M4B never worked for me.

EDIT: I created a new guide that includes most of the info that works for me. Please help me keep the guide accurate.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Create_your_own_Audiobooks

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I mailed Doug the change after I tested it again on another set of audiobooks.

Thanks for your help, balamw.

I tried moving a CD Audiobook to the Audiobook section a couple months ago, and it's time for me to do it again. I was successful in getting the files in the Audiobook section and appearing on my nano as an Audiobook, but when I tried to play the file, the screen would lag and would require several button presses for the screen to catch up.

For this second try I followed the Mac Guide and downloaded the recommended Doug Script. It was successful in placing the file in the Audiobook section, but I am having the same screen problem. I select the file and it starts playing, but is stuck on track selection menu.

Is anyone else having this problem and is there any way to fix this?