Apple Moves Audiobooks into iBooks App, Adds Chapter Select in iOS 8.4 Beta

[MacRumors]

Earlier today, Apple seeded the first iOS 8.4 beta, which includes a revamped Music app, to developers. MacRumors forum user pazimi has found that Apple has also made changes to how it handles audiobooks in the new beta, moving playback from the Music app to the iBooks app.

Audiobooks in iBooks in iOS 8.4 beta.​

Currently, in iOS 8.3, a users' audiobook library is divorced from their ebook library, forcing users to use two different apps to access their entire digital book library. The new update consolidates all books in Apple's iBooks app and also fixes another longstanding issue with audiobooks on iOS. Since iOS 7, audiobook listeners have been unable to view chapter titles or even select them. However, pazimi points out that while chapters are now selectable in iOS 8.4, they do not list the actual chapter titles, as they're listed as "track numbers".

Finally, Apple has added a new fast forward and fast rewind feature, allowing users to easily scrub through an audiobook chapter. Users simply have to drag the book cover art to the left or right and hold to jump back or move forward further within the audiobook.

Update: iOS 8.4 also adds a standalone Audiobooks app to the CarPlay interface.

Article Link: Apple Moves Audiobooks into iBooks App, Adds Chapter Select in iOS 8.4 Beta

 

[garylapointe]

App store app.

Now if we could get an App Store app and get the apps out of iTunes.

I wouldn't mind getting iTunes U out of there too....

Gary

 

[MVallee]

Yes! Glad they fixed the chapters issue. I was going to ask about it earlier when I saw they revamped the music app.

 

[The Doctor11]

That's where it should have been in the first place. Glad it's fixed now.

 

[Saturnine]

MacRumors could have credited the first person to bring this up in the other thread.

They chose not to.

 

[roland.g]

My wife loves Audiobooks but still likes to read when she can. In 2014 Amazon who owns Audible.com came out with the killer pairing, WhisperSync. You can buy the Kindle version and send it to your iOS Kindle app, and then add the Audiobook as an add-on. It is really slick. You can switch back and forth from reading to listening and it always knows where you are. This is a game changer. Also, the combo price for the kindle version with the whispersync add-on is usually less than Amazon's or iTunes Audible price anyway. So even if you never intend to read the ebook, you can save money buying the combo. Obviously not all titles include the whispersync, but a lot of new stuff does. Until Apple does this, (and that would be if Amazon doesn't lock them out or patent them out), there is almost no reason to go with Audiobooks through iTunes/iBooks.

 

[arn]

MacRumors could have credited the first person to bring this up in the other thread.

They chose not to.

Garry - we did. pazimi posted it before you did. He/she also submitted it via the tips@macrumors.com email, which also gave us a heads up on it.

arn

 

[thekeyring]

Hopefully this points to the 'clearing up' of iOS which a lot of users feel is necessary.

One of my friends moaned to me yesterday: 'what with this new app for Apple watch that I can't delete?!'

While they're merging apps, I'm sure Notes, Reminders and Voice Memos could be one app.

Edit: no, the last three apps should be separate. As someone mentioned, too few apps can lead to bloated software like iTunes.

 

[Robert.Walter]

I assume this only applies to audiobooks purchased via iTunes.

Does any body know if it applies to audiobooks borrowed from the library?

 

[Jeaz]

Hopefully this means audiobooks are covered by iCloud now. Oddly the last remnant that you can't easily redownload.

Something like WhisperSync would be an awesome addition.

 

[IscariotJ]

I assume this only applies to audiobooks purchased via iTunes.

Does any body know if it applies to audiobooks borrowed from the library?

Be interested in knowing this, too. Currently, once non-iBooks eBooks have been migrated from iTunes, there isn't a method of syncing them to devices ( there is a fix for this, though ). I would hazard a guess the same is now true for all audiobooks.

 

[macpeach55]

Be interested in knowing this, too. Currently, once non-iBooks eBooks have been migrated from iTunes, there isn't a method of syncing them to devices ( there is a fix for this, though ). I would hazard a guess the same is now true for all audiobooks.

That is bad - feels like a move by Apple to make you buy your books from them

 

[Icaras]

Awesome, glad to see Apple cleaning up it's stores. This makes so much more sense now.

 

[Futurix]

While they're merging apps, I'm sure Notes, Reminders and Voice Memos could be one app.

Why? What's the point?

 

[bpcookson]

I assume this only applies to audiobooks purchased via iTunes.

Does any body know if it applies to audiobooks borrowed from the library?

How do you get such borrowed books on your phone? If it's via a library's app, it's definitely going to continue living in that app. If you're borrowing physical audiobooks from the library and ripping them into iTunes to listen via your phone, then you need to tag them as audiobooks. If you're doing something else I'd be interested to know about it.

Here's how to tell iTunes that a recently ripped audiobook isn't music:
Once they're ripped into your library, likely along with all your music, highlight all the tracks and open the "Get Info" window. Go to the "Options" tab and change "media kind" to Audiobook.

Maybe you already knew how to distinguish audiobooks in your iTunes library, but I only discovered it recently and figured I'd share for all. I imagine doing this will support the shift into iBooks with 8.4.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I don't think Audible includes chapter titles, either... I feel like they just give track numbers.

 

[dugbug]

Next app: videos. Oh please fix the videos app

 

[Vundu]

How do you get such borrowed books on your phone? If it's via a library's app, it's definitely going to continue living in that app. If you're borrowing physical audiobooks from the library and ripping them into iTunes to listen via your phone, then you need to tag them as audiobooks. If you're doing something else I'd be interested to know about it.

Here's how to tell iTunes that a recently ripped audiobook isn't music:
Once they're ripped into your library, likely along with all your music, highlight all the tracks and open the "Get Info" window. Go to the "Options" tab and change "media kind" to Audiobook.

Maybe you already knew how to distinguish audiobooks in your iTunes library, but I only discovered it recently and figured I'd share for all. I imagine doing this will support the shift into iBooks with 8.4.

To make them like a true iTunes audiobook you can create AAC version then change the file extensions from M4A to M4B.

 

[jamesdmc]

Audiobook Builder. Been using it for a while now. Works great for me.

 

[coolfactor]

Countdown to when the app is just called "Books"... 3, 2, 1...

 

[Douglas B]

Next app: videos. Oh please fix the videos app

Totally. I can't believe that in 8.2 and 8.3 - even the public releases - that TV shows are no longer grouped by show. Everything is grouped by season number. And this right when they set it up so episodes automatically play on after the other. 4x10 of one show plays immediately after 4x10 of another show.

 

[69650]

Nice move, they're better together. Now they should:

1. Move music videos to the Music app.

2. Seperate the Video app into 2 seperate apps for Movies/Films and TV Shows.

3. Make it easier to store your content in seperate iTunes libraries for each app.

4. Move Newsstand out of the App Store and make it a seperate app like Music with its own store and radically update the Newsstand UI.

5. Ditch the iTunes store altogether - so you buy content through the Music app, Films app, iBooks app, etc instead.

6. Replicate these changes on the Mac/PC version of iTunes.

 

[thekeyring]

Why? What's the point?

Less icons, less clutter, more minimal.

 

[BJWanlund]

Three concerns this brings up for me:

1) Are we FINALLY getting iTunes in the Cloud for Audiobooks that we bought through iTunes??? That would actively make me buy more iTunes audiobooks, even though they still use Audible for some weird reason. iTunes in the Cloud has given us practically everything else (save for iPod games but that isn't that important), but Audiobooks has been a strange and unseemly omission for the entire time that iTunes in the Cloud has existed. Same for iTunes Match.

2) The one major thing I use Audiobook Builder for is to turn MP3s of broadcasts of an Internet radio show that I enjoy as well as concert downloads into audiobooks so I don't get it all mixed up when I hit shuffle all songs. I'll continue to use it, but I would love to be able to do some editing of the chapter markers once I get it into iTunes or whatever. That's something that hasn't happened yet, but maybe once iBooks supports audiobooks that'll be happening, who knows.

3) Will this mean a bigger focus on books in general? And can I sync up chapters of audiobooks and ebooks? And will there be a similar discount for audiobooks a la WhisperSync? That would be interesting to see.

 

[entropi]

...and users stuck on 7.1.2 will not get any updated iBooks app or any chapters in audiobooks bought from iTunes?