How do you distinguish audio books on your shelves?

[Chrissy]

I've just discovered the joy of audiobooks. I walk a lot and chill out and stare into space, and it's a lot easier for me to do this while listening to audiobooks than reading.

Before I get in too deep, I wanted to see how you all mark your audiobooks on your shelves and what you all recommend?

Thanks
Chrissy Marie

[Shirley]

I have audible.com = aa shelf
then I have audio cassettes
audio cds
feel free to peek at mine :)

[Chrissie]

Look at our names!!!!!

I have shelves called "audio" and "audio-iambik" (for the few I buy from Iambik rather than Audible). I only have audiobooks on my Ipod. You are welcome to look at mine too. I am new to them too. I absolutely love them and Audible, where I buy them.

ETA: I have added the shelf "now listening to". It is exclusive. I have noted that this does not appear on the home screen at GR.

Completed audiobooks are shelved as "audio" and the exclusive shelf "read".

When I want to read a book I will not know whether I will read or listen to it, so I do not have the shelf "to listen to". When I have purchased/borrowed a book or audiobook, but not yet read it, I put it on the shelves "own-unread" (exclusive) and "audio" if it is an audiobook. If I have borrowed a book it is also shelved as "borrowed".

[Chrissy]

Thanks ladies! I will look at your shelves. Is it possible to unmark some of the default shelves (I've been a goodreads member for some time but never really used it)? for example, I have a shelf called Gave up, but all those books are also on "to-read" because I can't uncheck that. I'd love to be able to do "currently-listening" instead of currently reading. Oh well, I'm probably asking for too much.

I just signed up for audible, it seems like a good deal. My library lets me take audiobooks and ebooks out via overdrive. It's pretty great and I sync them to my phone via the android app.

I signed up for audible because I really wanted to get a book that wasn't available from my library. I'm not sure if I will keep with it after the 8 dollars/month trial is up...we'll see

[Tracey]

It took me forever to figure this out: you can edit your bookshelves to however you want them. If you click on "edit" next to your list of shelves, it will take you to a page showing the names and the options to rename or delete, and buttons to click on or off to determine how you want the shelves displayed, and whether you want them numbered. Every book has to be on one Exclusive shelf, and you can make your own - like "Gave Up", so you don't have to call them to-read as well.

Audible just announced a bogo sale for classics, drat them.

[D.G.]

Chrissy - You can mark your 'Gave up' shelf as an exclusive shelf so the books you have there won't show up in the 'to read' shelf.

To mark the shelf as exclusive, click on 'edit' next to My Bookshelves, and then check the 'exclusive' box next to your 'Gave up' shelf.

I have one of those as well but mine is called 'life is too short.' :)

[D.G.]

Oh and regarding your first question, I just have a shelf called 'audiobook'.

[Dee]

I have a to-listen shelf

[Heidi]

I should be better about this since more than 50% of my books are audiobooks but I normally mark the "audiobook edition" of each book and then I have a shelf titled "audiobook you must listen to" for audiobooks I love. I also have a "to listen to" file.

[Kirsten]

I have a shelf called "audiobook" for audiobooks I've listened to already, and have a "to-listen" set as exclusive for audiobooks I have yet to listen to like a to-read shelf...

[CatBookMom]

Great suggestions here! Thanks.

[Chrissy]

thanks so much everyone!

[Taria]

everything on my shelf are audio books, so I just label them by genre

[Grumpus, Hearing aide]

We had a similar discussion on this thread. It was 5 years ago but I think much of the info is still relevant.

[Alice]

I've read many of my books only in print, & some only in audio. I've red most in both print & audio, especially favorite series. I include all audio-reads on my audio shelf. I'm just now going thru my shelves in an attempt to include my audio-reads on my shelf as well as switch to the correct editions of print reads.(forget trying to remember WHEN i read most of them) A grueling endeavor! Most of my audio is from AUDIBLE. The rest are Brilliance or Tantor or BOT CDs.
I too loved the audio Killing Floor. Happy reading.

[Alan]

Chrissy wrote: "...I wanted to see how you all mark your audiobooks on your shelves and what you all recommend? "

I got pretty involved (and may have gone overboard!) with audiobook organization, but here goes:

I burn all of my Audible downloads to MP3 CD. For single novels, I put the CD(s) in a DVD case.

I design a label for the case using drawing and image editing programs called Corel Draw and Corel Photo-Paint. Cover images are downloaded from Audible's website (or wherever I can find them).

The DVD label template I use in Corel Draw is sized to fit inside the plastic sleeve on a DVD case, so it's about 7.5" high X 12" wide - that's the front, back, and spine of a DVD label all on one sheet.

I place the downloaded cover images on the front and back sections of the label template, add lettering to the spine to indicate title and author (though sometimes I can also find images of the title/author text, so I just past the image sideways on the spine rather than type the text myself).

I overlay the back part of the cover template with synopsis text from Audible's description (sometimes I use Amazon or Barnes & Noble synopses, depending on content).

Finally I add: a small line of text on the bottom of the back part of the template, which indicates my Audible order number and date of purchase). Then I overlay the front and back of the template's lower right corners with one of those little "MP3" labels that you see on MP3 audiobook covers.

I then print out the cover on a color laserjet, legal size paper (8-1/2" X 14"), because that's the smallest size that will fit an entire DVD case sleeve insert. I have to do a little trimming to get the insert into the case after that, but when I'm done, voila! - An MP3 Audiobook in a DVD case with cover art, Author/Title labels on the spine.

I place the finished DVD case in my audiobook bookcase, sorted by subject. In each subject ("Science Fiction", for example) the audiobooks are arranged alphabetically by author. That takes care of finding titles in a hurry! It basically looks like an audiobook store.

I use a great database manager for my books called BookCAT. BookCAT automatically catalogs an Audible audiobook using the ISBN number, and downloads Audible's cover art to add to the record. I add a second image, the cover label I designed for the DVD. That completes the whole process of labeling audiobooks for the shelves, and keeping track of what I have in a database.

For an audiobook that generates more than 2 MP3 CDs, or a long series like Destroyermen, by Taylor Anderson, I just use fatter DVD cases (sometimes called "wallet cases") and wider label templates. If it's a multi-novel series, I add titles for all of the novels to the back, along with the Audible purchase info.

I told you I went overboard! It's actually part of the same library management process I use to keep track of my DVD/BluRay collection, all with templates I design and print with Corel Draw. It's cool, expensive, time-consuming, and keeps me out of bars!

Happy Listening,
Alan Mintaka

[Tomerobber]

Gee Alan, can you come and organize my stuff as well?? (LOL) That's an impressive method of organization!

[Alan]

Tomerobber wrote: "Gee Alan, can you come and organize my stuff as well?? (LOL) That's an impressive method of organization!"

One thing kind of led to another when I first started cataloging my book collection. That BookCAT database manager I use actually inspired most of it because of the way the program collects and organizes information and images.

Are recommendations for commercial products like BookCAT OK in this forum? I'm just a user, not an employee or sales guy (good grief, Fredrik lives in Norway - nice place to visit maybe, but not my pick of climates and/or daylight hours. No offense, Fredrik!)

Well, here it is, a recommendation for the best book cataloging program. BookCAT accepts data by manual entry of book information, or by ISBN and LCCN. The ISBN and LCCN numbers are used to automatically download all the book information (plus cover images) from various places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Library of Congress, and other international libraries. It can read ISBN lists too, saving you a ton of data entry work.

If this recommendation is in violation of forum rules, my apologies to the moderators, and feel free to delete this message.

BookCAT - Book Collector Database

Happy reading,
Alan Mintaka

[John, Moderator]

Al -- no problem at all!

[Tomerobber]

I see this is for Windows OS . . . out of luck here . . . I have Macs.

[Alan]

Tomerobber wrote: "I see this is for Windows OS . . . out of luck here . . . I have Macs."

Argh. I remember that now about BookCAT and Fredrik's other cataloging programs. At this time he's developing in Delphi for Windows OS.

In that case, here is an outfit that has developed a similar suite of programs for MAC platforms, "Collectorz".

In fact I use the Windows version of the Collectorz Comic Books Collector to catalog my rare comics because the Collectorz proprietary database has info and cover images for old comics (with cover images) that can't be found in most of the online repositories like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other public access libraries.

The Collectorz Book Collector program has some automatic data entry features like those of BookCAT, but like the Comics Collector obtains much of the data from proprietary databases. I originally went with BookCAT over Book Collector because BookCAT's import function had better support for importing subtitles (short stores, articles, etc), and more options for customization (user-defined fields, reports, etc). Other than doing that comparison, I don't have experience with extensive use of Collectorz Book Collector. If it's anything like the Comics Collector, it's a solid program.

I think they have a free trial download which you could use to figure out whether or not it does most of the things you need it to. Here's a link to the Book Collector for MAC platforms:

Collectorz - Book Collector for MAC OS X

Hope this info is useful!

(John - another apology: sorry I abused the privilege almost immediately. I wasn't expecting a MAC OS question about cataloging programs. Collectorz was handy, the flesh was weak, and the Red Sox, the Red Sox....)

Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story

[Chrissie]

Is there a way of getting the book I am "listening to now" visible on the home page? There one only sees "currently reading"? I want both "currently reading" and "listening to now" visible on the home page and on my profile. I have stopped using "listening to now" because of this! Is this fixable?

Thanks!

Also on your friends list one sees ONLY that which one is "currently reading"! "Listening to now" should be seen there too! Don't you think?!

[Kim]

Chrissie wrote: "Is there a way of getting the book I am "listening to now" visible on the home page? There one only sees "currently reading"? I want both "currently reading" and "listening to now" visible on the h..."

As far as I know, Chrissie, that can't be done. It's part of the GR set-up to show "currently reading" on the home page. I get around that by making my "currently listening to" shelf non-exclusive. I then put any books I'm listening to on my "currently reading" shelf as well.

[Chris]

Can't you select that shelf to be featured? I'm using the app now so I can't check for myself, but when you go to edit your shelves aren't you able to feature the currently-listening-to shelf?Then it would show up on your profile in between your basic info and what you're currently reading.

[Sara ♥]

I have a "to-listen-to" shelf, which I use until I'm "currently-reading" an audiobook, then afterward, I have an "audiobook" shelf to keep track of books I've listened to.

[Chrissie]

Kim,that is what I will do! Thanks.

Sara, until I have purchased a book or audio I do not know which format I will choose; I have all of these on my to-read or wish-list sheves. It is good to hear how other do this.

Chrissy, that perhaps works on the profile page but neither on the home page or the friends list showing what each friend is reading or listening to.

Thanks.

[Sara ♥]

That's a good point. I several books on my to-read list that I will probably end up listening to, rather than read. I switch them to "to-listen-to" once I've confirmed that I can get them from the library on audio.

[Maureen]

Very interesting conversation - thanks all!

[Tomerobber]

Thanks Alan . . I'll check it out. :-)