iPad Do you recommend iOS 8.4 for audiobooks listeners?

[Bromio]

Hi,

I've read that iOS 8.4 moves audiobooks from Music to iBooks, which is quite logical, but I have some questions:
- I usually read ebooks and listen to its audiobook version at the same time. Will I be able to do that now? I mean, can I open an audiobook and its own ebook simultaneously?
- Can I navigate along the different chapters just like on iOS 8.3?

Thanks!

 

[bball2]

I listen to audiobooks pretty regularly, albeit not at the same time as reading the books - but I'm not a big fan of the recent change. My biggest issue is that it tends to combine all the files under a common album into a single track with chapters inside. So if you have a series like The Wheel of Time with 15 different books and close to 100 chapters inside each title, it just makes a single entry "The Wheel of Time" with hundreds of tracks inside with no separatation based on file name or how it is organized in iTunes. I'm sure there's a way to organize it in iTunes to show it differently, but I definitely liked the previous organization better.

To answer your questions:

- I usually read ebooks and listen to its audiobook version at the same time. Will I be able to do that now? I mean, can I open an audiobook and its own ebook simultaneously?

Not if you read the books in ibooks as well, you can start playing the audiobook but as soon as you go back (or try to do anything else in ibooks), it stops playing. You cannot resume playing by pulling up from the bottom of the screen if you're doing anything else in the app.​

- Can I navigate along the different chapters just like on iOS 8.3?

Yes this won't be an issue.​

 

[Rigby]

I don't read and listen at the same time, but otherwise I think the new app is much better simply because you can access the chapters again (Apple had inexplicably removed chapter access from the music app a few years ago). I also like that it groups/hides multi-part audiobooks into one (if you don't want that, you can give each part a different title in iTunes).

 

[Bromio]

I don't read and listen at the same time, but otherwise I think the new app is much better simply because you can access the chapters again (Apple had inexplicably removed chapter access from the music app a few years ago). I also like that it groups/hides multi-part audiobooks into one (if you don't want that, you can give each part a different title in iTunes).

What do you mean by "you can access the chapters again"? Does the app remind where you stopped listening?

Not if you read the books in ibooks as well, you can start playing the audiobook but as soon as you go back (or try to do anything else in ibooks), it stops playing. You cannot resume playing by pulling up from the bottom of the screen if you're doing anything else in the app.​

Thank you. That sounds terrible. This activity, reading and listening at the same time, is very useful for language learners. I'll stay on iOS 8.3. If they don't change this behavior in future releases, I suppose I'll have to use another ebook reader, but so far I like iBooks the most.

 

[Rigby]

What do you mean by "you can access the chapters again"?

Many audiobooks have chapter stops, which make it much easier to navigate (particularly if it's a long book). In the music app, these chapters were not visible or selectable since, I believe, iOS 7. The only way to navigate was the "scrubber", which made it almost impossible to navigate to a certain playback position with some precision. In the iBook app you can access the chapters again.

 

[Bromio]

Many audiobooks have chapter stops, which make it much easier to navigate (particularly if it's a long book). In the music app, these chapters were not visible or selectable since, I believe, iOS 7. The only way to navigate was the "scrubber", which made it almost impossible to navigate to a certain playback position with some precision. In the iBook app you can access the chapters again.

Thank you. But what is happening now with audiobooks composed of several mp3 files? For example, I bought an audiobook whose contents are split up into 20 or 30 files. Each mp3 file has a name: "Chapter1.mp3", "Chapter1b.mp3"... So far I have imported them into my iTunes library and have picked the Audiobook option. Now I guess this action will make it be transferred to iBooks. Will I be able to select each chapter by its name in this case?

And another question: does iBooks remember at which point I stopped a playing within a chapter?

Thanks!

 

[Rigby]

Thank you. But what is happening now with audiobooks composed of several mp3 files? For example, I bought an audiobook whose contents are split up into 20 or 30 files. Each mp3 file has a name: "Chapter1.mp3", "Chapter1b.mp3"... So far I have imported them into my iTunes library and have picked the Audiobook option. Now I guess this action will make it be transferred to iBooks. Will I be able to select each chapter by its name in this case?

Yes. In previous versions of iOS you'd see every MP3 as a separate track in the Music app. In iOS 8.4 it will appear as one book in the iBook app, but with one chapter per MP3. If you use AAC audio books (.m4b), multiple chapters can be embedded in a single file.

And another question: does iBooks remember at which point I stopped a playing within a chapter?

Yes. With MP3s you may have to set the option "Remember playback position" in "Get Info".

 

[Bromio]

Yes. In previous versions of iOS you'd see every MP3 as a separate track in the Music app. In iOS 8.4 it will appear as one book in the iBook app, but with one chapter per MP3. If you use AAC audio books (.m4b), multiple chapters can be embedded in a single file.
Yes. With MP3s you may have to set the option "Remember playback position" in "Get Info".

Thank you.

As I'm not interested in Apple Music, I've read that many people are experiencing issues in their iPad Air 2's and I don't like the idea of picking another ebook reader app for reading while listening to audiobooks, I'll keep on iOS 8.3. Anyway, I'll see what they offer in future iOS releases.

 

[Rigby]

Yes, if you only use multitrack MP3 audio books, the chapter functionality in iOS 8.4 isn't that important. Personally I use .m4b books, where the books often have several hours with many chapters in a single file. The chapter functionality is essential for that.

 

[Bromio]

Yes, if you only use multitrack MP3 audio books, the chapter functionality in iOS 8.4 isn't that important. Personally I use .m4b books, where the books often have several hours with many chapters in a single file. The chapter functionality is essential for that.

However, even though it seems that this is a huge improvement, you can't see what's the title of each chapter, can't you?

Perhaps iOS 9 solves enhances that.

 

[Rigby]

However, even though it seems that this is a huge improvement, you can't see what's the title of each chapter, can't you?

Yes you can. Of course that requires that the audiobook is properly tagged.

 

[Bromio]

Yes you can. Of course that requires that the audiobook is properly tagged.

Oh I know. It seems that most people are not tagging them.

Thank you.

 

[page3]

I don't like the changes.

1. Syncing via wifi was broken for me until I removed all audiobooks and re-added them within iTunes.

2. There is no way of organising folders within the 'audiobooks' classification.

3. Basic gestures have been added, which in principle is good for navigation when driving, but they are far too basic and non-customisable - for example the skip forward/backward is the wrong way round (for me, I want left to go back).

4. Audiobooks are handled on the Mac in iTunes, not iBooks so it is a bit inconsistent.

I still use LeechTunes which handles everything I need for audiobook playback in the car so Music and iBooks App have now been relegated to a sub-folder and LeechTunes is now elevated to my iPhone 'dock'.