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iOS 5 Music.app on iPad doesn't support Audiobook chapters

xristy

xristy

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 31, 2007
50
8
The "new" Music.app on iOS 5 on iPad does not support viewing of Audiobook (.m4b / .aa) chapters and their titles. Nor does it provide for direct selection of chapters. This is a loss of functionality compared with the iPod.app on iOD 4.3 on iPad. The prior app provided a means of viewing the chapters and their titles and the direct selection of a desired chapter.

The current Music.app does provide for the user to tap the fast forward / backward buttons to skip to chapter marks but there is no display of the chapter title for a selection so there;s no useful way to know where one is in the Audiobook. Further, Audiobooks frequently contain 10s of chapters in a segment (usually limited to around 100 MB / segment (track if you prefer) by Audible).

The iPhone (and I presume iPod Touch) version of the Music.app retains the chapter viewing and selection functionality from previous iOS 4.3. Only the iPad version of the app has lost the functionality.

Without viewing of chapters and their titles and direct selection of chapters, Audiobooks in the Music.app are basically unusable.
 
Ipod

I agree the music app on the iPad is a step back. I can not longer speed up my podcast, even worse they are playing at 1/2 speed.
 
The icon looks crappy too. I would most likely hack it back to the iPod icon and name if I ever decide to update. Email Tom Sizzle. I wonder if he responds to emails like SJ did. :)
 
dcrichmond said:
I agree the music app on the iPad is a step back.
Click to expand...

Definitely.

Where's the "go back 30 seconds" facility gone? I use this a lot as I only listen to podcasts on my iPad. It's still there in iOS5 on the iPhone too, confusingly.

Why can't I view my podcasts in a vertical list like before? Cover view looks nice but is less practical.

Why can't I edit what's in the menu at the bottom of the music player app? I have to press more, then podcasts to get what I want.

Silly little things that would be so simple to change, yet I'm not hopeful it'll happen.
 
Issue may be specific to iPad 2. Did iPad 1 previously have the feature of variable speed for audiobooks?
 
Also, where has the ability gone that allows you to directly get more of the same podcast, previously under your existing ones? Again, it's still there on the iPhone.

My word, there really is quite a bit wrong with the iPad music app.
 
dcrichmond said:
I agree the music app on the iPad is a step back. I can not longer speed up my podcast, even worse they are playing at 1/2 speed.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried this but I thought I remember reading this issue in a different forum....supposedly you hold down the play button, then you'll get a popup or something that'll allow you to choose different play speeds.
 
dcrichmond said:
Are you using an iPad? Podcast works on phones -not on iPads
Click to expand...

What the heck are you talking about? Of course podcasts (and audiobooks, and everything else) work on iPads.

I also noticed that lyrics have been removed from the Music app. Once again on iPad only. Since this is how most podcasts deliver their show notes, those are also now not available on iPad.

I really hope these are all oversights/bugs. I can't see any reason why any iDevice should have less audio functionality than any other. Especially the iPad. It has the most capability, so if anything it should be the one that has functions the other, smaller devices don't.
 
shiatis said:
I really hope these are all oversights/bugs. I can't see any reason why any iDevice should have less audio functionality than any other. Especially the iPad. It has the most capability, so if anything it should be the one that has functions the other, smaller devices don't.
Click to expand...


Totally agree! I'm baffled by the omissions and surprised there isn't more people bemoaning its faults.

5.1 please!
 
iPad 1 audiobook playback speed

I can confirm the playback speed for M4b audiobook files used to play fine on all speeds and all previous iOS but it's now stuck on 1/2 on my iPad 1.

I'm also surprised that there aren't more people bitching bat this and how apple have taken helpful and completely practical options away!! V poor!
 
I've also noticed and been annoyed by the removal of the podcast/audio book features. I went ahead and filled out apple's feedback form about this issue. I'm not quite sure why the iPad is treated differently. I also don't like the fact that we can't get the weather and stoks widgets in the iPad notification center.
 
shiatis said:
Of course podcasts (and audiobooks, and everything else) work on iPads.
Click to expand...

Audiobooks have a bug playing at half speed. I don't believe that problem is happening with podcasts, but there are a bunch of features missing with podcast playback.
 
motohooligan said:
I've also noticed and been annoyed by the removal of the podcast/audio book features. I went ahead and filled out apple's feedback form about this issue. I'm not quite sure why the iPad is treated differently. I also don't like the fact that we can't get the weather and stoks widgets in the iPad notification center.
Click to expand...

has anybody found an app that allows playing audiobooks/podcasts with all the features of the old ipod app?

the music player on the ipad just sucks and apple seems to not have corrected this or did I miss anything?

btw: since iOS 5 the audiobook playback on the iPhone also has bugs. I play them at 2x. when I get a call and hang up then they still show 2x but play at 1/2 speed. takes a few clicks to go back to 2x.

seems with OS5 apple has decided we are all dumbed down enough so that we don't listen to anything but britney spears anymore:mad:
 
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