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iOS 8 & Audiobooks
- Thread starter Larsennet
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There are apps that allow this - audible app does it for things you download from audible. Others let you do it for M4B, but if you want to just get downloads form iTunes, no dice.
See my sig for a petition to bring this feature back.
Can anybody with iOS 8 beta 2 confirm whether or not audiobooks have brought back the chapter features lost in iOS 7?
It's a pain in the ass to have to scrub through an 8h or more audio file to find your place. Doubly bad when you know that there are descriptive 30m chapters in the file that are mysteriously hidden from the interface.
It's a pain in the ass to have to scrub through an 8h or more audio file to find your place. Doubly bad when you know that there are descriptive 30m chapters in the file that are mysteriously hidden from the interface.
iPad
If I remember this issue was only present on iPad?
I really hope it is fixed. It was horrible.
Any beta users able to test it?
Pretty please?
If I remember this issue was only present on iPad?
I really hope it is fixed. It was horrible.
Any beta users able to test it?
Pretty please?
It's the bane of my listening experience on the iPhone (5 & 5S).
I don't listen to music, only audiobooks. Usually fall asleep to them (the only cure for my lifelong insomnia). Which means that I am *constantly* scrubbing backwards to find my place. It takes way longer and is a complete pain in the ass on iOS 7 compared to iOS 6.
Audiobooks on iOS 8 is a mess right now. No chapters and always loosing its place when receiving calls or texts.
This obviously isn't an answer to the OP's question but rather just a note that the Audible app rocks -- chapters, easy scrubbing, bookmarks, sleep timer, etc.
Audible app is obviously for audiobooks purchased from Audible.com but it is feature rich.
Audible app is obviously for audiobooks purchased from Audible.com but it is feature rich.
We've got reports that it hadn't been fixed in Beta 2.
Has anybody tried it in a more recent beta?
Has anybody tried it in a more recent beta?
I am going to strongly recommend you download and purchase "Bookmobile." It is hands-down the best audiobook app out there.
After iOS 7 came out and slapped my audiobook experience upside the head, I tried a few different ones. When Bookmobile first came out, it wasn't great, but the developer issues regular updates. It's now largely bug-free and works exceptionally well. At first, I didn't love the UI but it's really grown on me.
Some highlights:
Viewable/selectable chapters
Supports Audible downloads as well as m4b; I haven't tried an iTunes purchased audiobook
Tap the timestamp to swap between how much time is left in the chapter to how much is left in the book
10 different speeds (you can speed up the audiobook slightly to listen to it faster without it sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks)
Dropbox support (and several other ways to add audiobooks)
Edit audiobooks within the app (titles, authors, etc)
Customizable skip-forward/back buttons (this is a real gem; also, tap to change from skipping back by seconds to skipping by minutes)
I don't know or work for the developer, I just know I seriously can't imagine listening to audiobooks with the native app ever again. I've attached two screenshots.
After iOS 7 came out and slapped my audiobook experience upside the head, I tried a few different ones. When Bookmobile first came out, it wasn't great, but the developer issues regular updates. It's now largely bug-free and works exceptionally well. At first, I didn't love the UI but it's really grown on me.
Some highlights:
Viewable/selectable chapters
Supports Audible downloads as well as m4b; I haven't tried an iTunes purchased audiobook
Tap the timestamp to swap between how much time is left in the chapter to how much is left in the book
10 different speeds (you can speed up the audiobook slightly to listen to it faster without it sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks)
Dropbox support (and several other ways to add audiobooks)
Edit audiobooks within the app (titles, authors, etc)
Customizable skip-forward/back buttons (this is a real gem; also, tap to change from skipping back by seconds to skipping by minutes)
I don't know or work for the developer, I just know I seriously can't imagine listening to audiobooks with the native app ever again. I've attached two screenshots.
Attachments
I find audiobooks indispensable now I've gotten into running; apart from comedy ones that interfere with my breathing when I laugh!
I'd never even considered audiobooks through iTunes, I've always gone through Audible and found it to be great.
I'd never even considered audiobooks through iTunes, I've always gone through Audible and found it to be great.
Been using iOS 8 GM for a couple of days now and I must say I am not impressed. If I switch between music and audiobook, or switch between bluetooth and wired headset, it does not resume the audiobook but rather start the book from the beginning again. And both select chapters and bookmarks is nonexistent.
Audiobooks broken in ios 8
I couldn't get any audiobooks to play after installing ios 8. I made a workaround by changing audiobooks to a playlist.
I couldn't get any audiobooks to play after installing ios 8. I made a workaround by changing audiobooks to a playlist.
I got audiobooks to work wonderfully in IOS8. Here is how
That's it, you will be able to upload and use it with your IOS8 as it meant to be used. Good luck ;-)
- Ideally find audiobook with individual files for chapters (makes it easy to skip from chapter to chapter without bothering with bookmarks).
- If you need to have bookmarks: convert to AAC (you will get .m4a files, rename them to .m4b and search for an application to add bookmarks to M4B files).
- Port audiobook into iTunes (MP3, MP4, ... format mattres little it seems as long as it is consistent, if not consistent convert to AAC version)
- It will most likely import as a music album (or even collection), highlight them all and click get info, confirm that you wish to edit all the items at the same time.
- Make sure Title, author, composer are the same (if it says "Mixed" or grayed out, you can click on the field and edit it)
- For the genre you can specify audiobook, but that does not seem to make any difference
- For the track, leave first field as is (should be a dash) and the second field, specify the total number of tracks (will help sorting). Should look like "- of XX" where XX is the total number of tracks in your audiobook.
- Go to artwork and upload a nice image of the audiobook (search google images for it).
- Most important step!!!: Go to Options and set media kind to audiobook, and make sure that "remember playback position" and "Skip when shuffling" are both selected (you can also set equalizer to spoken word)
- Note that Setting media kind to audiobook will remove some options from details tab, to be able to edit them again, just set media kind to music, make changes and set it back to audiobook.
That's it, you will be able to upload and use it with your IOS8 as it meant to be used. Good luck ;-)
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What Apple is really saying to us here is: "don't buy audiobooks from us". So let's not ever do that mistake again.
I had a few audiobooks bought from Apple with "internal", hidden chapters. I have since iOS 7 stripped them from drm and fixed my own chapters on them.
From here on I just buy audiobooks on CD which usually has lots of tracks which helps when navigating among chapters and parts of the book. I set the books to be treated as usual "music"-media for maximum flexibility.