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iPhone 4S won't sync audio books.

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MissyW

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2011
2
0
I've spent the better part of a week on this issue. I've spoken to 4 different Geniuses and 2 AppleCare techs, I've had my hard drive on my Mac replaced by one genius who swore that was the problem and had my brand new 4S replaced by another who swore THAT was the problem. And a week of hell trying to reload stuff to my computer and phone and the audio books still don't sync. I've tried everything I've tried syncing one tab at a time - just music, then books, then photos, because not only will the audio books not sync, but iTunes stops responding every other attempt. I swear each successive attempt at syncing is getting less scientific and more superstitious - maybe if the phone is on the left of the computer and not the right, upside down, recently rebooted, reboot both computer and phone and then connect........it's insane. I've updated my old 3GS and my sons iPod touch to the new iOS and they still sync perfectly, so it's not the OS, it's something with the phone.

So big deal you can't listen to audiobooks, but I own hundreds of them and I listen on my commute, I'm out of ideas of what to try and the Geniuses have no friggin clue either. (I just downloaded the Steve Jobs Autobiography and haven't gotten to listen to IT either.)

Am I the only one having this issue? And more importantly what is the solution?????
 
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steve knight

steve knight

macrumors 68030
Jan 28, 2009
2,735
7,180
apple audiobooks on ones you made? if they are ones you made check and make sure they are still audiobooks. When I reimport mine sometimes they start showing up as music and I have to change them back to audiobooks. I make a smart playlist that has the books I want and i Have plays at 0. that way the tracks are removed as I listen to them. cant remember if it is needed but under music I have that smart playlist checked and in books all the way to the bottom I have selected audiobooks check and that playlist.
 
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jdkaye

macrumors newbie
Nov 6, 2011
1
0
audiobooks -syncing

If you have spent that much time at I'm sure you would have seen this by now -- I totally missed it for several weeks but I wasn't looking that hard and even after looking hard for quite a few minutes (but not days) I missed it. So forgive me if I'm offering up something that you've already looked for...
But there's a tab for "books," right? And you click on that and then at the top of the page it now says "Sync Books." And that should sync your audiobooks, right?
Wrong: that only syncs printed books. To sync audiobooks, look further down on the *Same Page.* "Sync Audiobooks." It's on the same tab as sync books, but further down the page.

Somehow I missed it here and was briefly frustrated, which is how I found your question. But it is there, at least on my system. Sorry again if this is obvious and not applicable to you-- it wasn't obvious to me.
 
R

Rob3E

macrumors newbie
Nov 10, 2011
1
0
1st Gen iPad with the same problem. To add to the lack of clarity, I have been able to add some audible content.
First I noticed that nothing was syncing, audible or otherwise. I decided that one file was gumming up the works, and by the process of elimination, I targeted my audible files. One I redownloaded and added into iTunes after deleting the original. Then it loaded to the iPad. Then the next book I tried worked. And then the next file choked. Replacing the file did nothing. And the file causes all other syncing to be canceled. Annoying.
Apple discussions forums had some users reporting success by deauthorizing and reauthorizing their audible account in iTunes. I can't do that. I'm getting an error message saying I don't have permission, and I get no option to over ride.
I can do it from the admin account, but it seems to have no affect on my user account.
 
C

csteelooper

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2011
27
2
My iPhone 4S syncs them just fine, and I can listen to them, too. But… Whenever I go to the Usage section in Settings whith LARGE audiobooks on the 4S, Settings will crash. I own the whole Harry Potter collection twice (once by Jin Dale and once by Stephen Fry) and I have just singled these books out as being the cause for this behaviour. I just can't see WHY they should be. If I don't sync them at all, but do sync ALL of my other media (including a 3.1GB HD Video) all is fine. I can even sync audiobooks and have no problem at all, except when I sync THESE audiobooks.
And again, the problem ISN'T with listening to them in any way, shape or form. I only have the very strange problem that Settings>Usage isn't accessible. It wouldn't have been a problem if I could just ask the app to load the data, i.e. if it wouldn't load the data automatically. But now if I want to go to Settings>Usage>Mobile Usage the Settings app still crashes when it figures it cannot load the usage data correctly...
 
B

BjMullins

macrumors newbie
Nov 12, 2011
1
0
I had the same problem

Like you I have hundreds of audiobooks and was very frustrated when my new iPhone 4s wouldn't sync them. I had "sync all audiobooks" checked in iTunes, but since I have more books than will fit on my iPhone,iTunes wouldn't sync any thing at all. Once I checked "sync only selected audiobooks" they synchronized just fine.

I hope this solves your problem. It sure relieved my frustration.
 
LapsangSouchong

LapsangSouchong

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2010
1,349
0
the burrows
I'm also having this issue on my iPhone 4s. I can keep the 9 audible books I have, and can sync NON-audible books easily. However, if I want a specific audible book, I have to unselect sync all, and specifically select THAT book.
Weird.
 
D

DRCNY

macrumors newbie
Dec 1, 2011
1
0
audio books not syncing

I've also spent more hours troubleshooting than any person should this week trying to solve this problem, not with an iphone, but with my iPad2, Nano, and iPod touch. I've just figured a few things out thanks to jdkaye. Up until the update in October, I had always put my audiobooks in a playlist as I did my music and it worked fine. After I updated iTunes (two updates ago) a few things seem to work differently (with audio file playlists as well). I kept trying to sync my audio books via the usual playlists as I had done before but that is no longer possible after this upgrade. I have to go to the audiobook section of my ipod to find them. I'm sure many of you have done it this way all along but I never have and never had a problem. The Genius bar nor Itunes techs could figure this out by the way.

As of a few minutes ago, I finally have my audiobooks back in the pod and working however the playlist with my main books doesn't show up anymore in the sync section of playlists (in the audio section). I just wish with these updates iTunes does, they would tell you what has changed. I've spent more time this year troubleshooting Apple stuff it's crazy. Who are those happy people in the commercials! It's NEVER like that round here, I mean never!
 
D

dashtekahe

macrumors member
Jun 15, 2011
50
7
jdkaye said:
If you have spent that much time at I'm sure you would have seen this by now -- I totally missed it for several weeks but I wasn't looking that hard and even after looking hard for quite a few minutes (but not days) I missed it. So forgive me if I'm offering up something that you've already looked for...
But there's a tab for "books," right? And you click on that and then at the top of the page it now says "Sync Books." And that should sync your audiobooks, right?
Wrong: that only syncs printed books. To sync audiobooks, look further down on the *Same Page.* "Sync Audiobooks." It's on the same tab as sync books, but further down the page.

Somehow I missed it here and was briefly frustrated, which is how I found your question. But it is there, at least on my system. Sorry again if this is obvious and not applicable to you-- it wasn't obvious to me.
Click to expand...

wow, really thanks.
I tried several times and couldn't sync my audiobooks.I never saw the other option until you mentioned it.Thanks
 
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blippino

macrumors newbie
Dec 2, 2008
1
0
Was having problems syncing audiobooks....

but I finally figured out something that worked for me.

I went to the books section in iTunes, SELECTED everything (ctrl+A), right-clicked in the highlighted area and selected UNCHECK SELECTION and then right clicked in the highlighted area again and selected CHECK SELECTION.

Then I went back to trying to syncing audiobooks and it worked!:D
 
rogersmj

rogersmj

macrumors 68020
Sep 10, 2006
2,161
1
Indianapolis, IN
Sorry to drag this post back up but I'm having the same problem. I've tried everything above and my iPhone still acts like audiobooks don't exist. Specifically for me these are Audible audiobook files.

They sync to my old, old hard-drive iPod just fine. But no amount of deauthorizing, reauthorizing, unchecking of audio books, rechecking of audiobooks, or anything I can come up with will work. The iPhone simply will not take them.

My relevant settings (right now...they've been played with a lot):
- On "Books" tab of the iPhone in iTunes, "Sync Audiobooks" is checked
- Also on "Books" tab, "All audiobooks" is selected (most of the time I just want a couple, but I flipped it to this for troubleshooting)
- On "Summary" tab, "Sync only checked songs and videos" (yes, the audiobooks I want are checked)

I don't know when this stopped working, but I believe it was sometime in the last 6 months. I don't listen to audiobooks much on my iPhone, but I've been travelling more lately and really want them.
 
D

DawnM

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2012
28
0
I am in the same boat.

I have spent a lot of time and can't get the dang thing to load!

Dawn

rogersmj said:
Sorry to drag this post back up but I'm having the same problem. I've tried everything above and my iPhone still acts like audiobooks don't exist. Specifically for me these are Audible audiobook files.

They sync to my old, old hard-drive iPod just fine. But no amount of deauthorizing, reauthorizing, unchecking of audio books, rechecking of audiobooks, or anything I can come up with will work. The iPhone simply will not take them.

My relevant settings (right now...they've been played with a lot):
- On "Books" tab of the iPhone in iTunes, "Sync Audiobooks" is checked
- Also on "Books" tab, "All audiobooks" is selected (most of the time I just want a couple, but I flipped it to this for troubleshooting)
- On "Summary" tab, "Sync only checked songs and videos" (yes, the audiobooks I want are checked)

I don't know when this stopped working, but I believe it was sometime in the last 6 months. I don't listen to audiobooks much on my iPhone, but I've been travelling more lately and really want them.
Click to expand...
 
T

Thrasson090

macrumors newbie
Aug 22, 2012
1
0
iPhone 4S won't sync audio books.

ok. so if you haven't found it yet... HERE it is.
iPhone 4S - sync your stuff however.

on your iPhone after you have sync'd

- select music icon.

- select MORE (with the ... over top of it)

- THERE you will find a list of,

AUDIOBOOKS
COMPILATIONS
COMPOSERS GENRES
iTUNES U
PODCASTS

press the Audiobooks or if you feel you need to keep being lost, ignore it.

Welcome.
Love you all.
Keep it lucid.
 
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B

BajaBoggs

macrumors newbie
Mar 31, 2010
6
0
same issue now with ios6

I was FINE, all my audiobooks were syncing find, and after I upgraded to ios6, NO MORE AUDIOBOOKS. What the hell is the deal? iphone 4s, imac with mountain lion. everything up to date. yes i know how to use itunes and the audiobook section under books. YES, I know how to find my audiobooks on the phone under music and more. NO my audiobooks aren't there. I've tried to sync the 113 books i have, as well as only selected ones. NO neither of these methods works
 
A

alyssa6271

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2012
1
0
same issues

audio books is not even an option, and i have checked the box to sync it. i rented books from my library on OverDrive app and downloaded to PC then transferred to iPhone. it's supposed to be on a playlist. the title shows up but none of the files. i have spend 6.5 hours on this today. it is ridiculous. i have a tablet and it wouldn't transfer to that either. i usually use the iPhone but not having any luck with this book. it's very frustrating when you do everything and it still doesn't work! Apple needs to fix this problem ASAP!
 
J

jdmman1964

macrumors newbie
Feb 16, 2013
1
0
iPhone 4S won't sync audio books

Thrasson090, thanks.. I kept looking for the part I downloaded to my PC then synced to my iphone to show up under (or within) my Audible app on my iphone, well it wont and I get it now... It shows up just as you said.. Thanks
 
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