Audiobooks discussion
Technical stuff
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"Files" or "File" Pro's and Cons
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Or you could do one folder for each book.I've done nested folders before and it worked well.
Main Book Folder -> Author folder -> Individual book folder -> book files.
And I usually put the book folder name a combo of the series name and number and the title. Something like "Series 1 - Title"
Made it really easy to find stuff.
Melanti wrote: "Or you could do one folder for each book.I've done nested folders before and it worked well.
Main Book Folder -> Author folder -> Individual book folder -> book files.
And I usually put the bo..."
Nesting them down like that is great- and plan on doing much the same...
But I am talking about the actual audio files themselves :) On the Count of Monte Cristo for instance, I think there are 300+ individual files.
At that point, can't you just drag & drop them folder by folder instead of by file? Not sure how your favorite app works, but that should do for transferring files.And if they're organized, and you do decide to go ahead and combine them, you can do it one by one as you want to listen/re-listen instead of trying to do your whole collection at once.
Melanti wrote: "At that point, can't you just drag & drop them folder by folder instead of by file? Not sure how your favorite app works, but that should do for transferring files.And if they're organized, and y..."
Melanti :)
Let me be more descriptive and maybe that will help.
Say I ONLY have 200 Audiobooks, and each audio book is broken up into individual MP3 files. If each book has 100 individual audio files - that would run up to 20,000 individual files.
I am not worried about my audio book player being able to handle all of those files and put them in the right order.
There are a LOT of individual files floating around - even if they are in individual folders.
It would be cleaner and easier for me, if there was one file per book - and with some amount of effort, I can find a way to join all those individual files into one-per-book. I just wanted to know if there were any really positive, or really negative sides to doing so.
Apple formatted books often come in a single file - and I can't argue with how cleanly that looks. I just don't know what the downside is (aside from doing all the work). I mean, the individual files WILL be large if there is one file per book, but not like the size of a movie or anything...
There can be a downside to large files, depending on what devices you use. I have some flash drives that won't accept anything over about 4GB, but audio files aren't usually that big, so I don't think that's a problem. But I'm pretty sure some listening devices don't accept files longer than 12 hours or so. I think this used to be true more than now, but I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons Audible still breaks down it's longer books into 2-3 smaller chunks. But you could still link your files for the long books, just make 2 files instead of only one. Other than that possible problem, I think it sounds way more manageable!
My son's old Sansa freaked out when I tried to play books that were one large file... to the point where I couldn't retrieve it. For what it's worth.
I guess I just don't see the benefit of 1 file vs 100. How often do you look at files anyway? Does whatever app you use show the individual files?As a possible drawback, if the individual files break off at significant points - such as at the end of every chapter or at the end of scenes - if you combine the files, would you still be able to find those chapter breaks/scene changes? If not, do you care about not being able to find them?
I only break up the files that are ridiculously huge. Even then I break them up into 10 hour segments. Smart Audiobook Player seems do work fine with pretty large files though. I've played many 20+ hour files with no issues.
I can see one big file being a problem on the mp3 player I use. Every once in a while I will accidentally hit the button that jumps back or forward a file. That's a pain if there are a few chapters per file. But one big file--it would suck if I were six hours into a 10-hour file and I accidentally skipped to the beginning or end of it. But of course, it would depend on your device. (And yes, I know about the "hold" button. Sometimes I forget or the player glitches.)
If you use an android device I recommend Smart Audiobook Player. It has a history option that can show where you were previously at if something like that ever happens.
Kristie wrote: "My son's old Sansa freaked out when I tried to play books that were one large file... to the point where I couldn't retrieve it. For what it's worth."Ooch- good point! Maybe not an issue with my current players.. but.... there are PLENTY of times when I might only be able to fit a partial book on a smaller player
J. wrote: "If you use an android device I recommend Smart Audiobook Player. It has a history option that can show where you were previously at if something like that ever happens."That's exactly what I use - so . .that does negate the need to have multiple files as a stopping point - but most CD version of audiobooks are still broken up ... I am leaning towards just combining all the files because so many players of today DO remember where you left off easy enough
Mirkat wrote: "I can see one big file being a problem on the mp3 player I use. Every once in a while I will accidentally hit the button that jumps back or forward a file. That's a pain if there are a few chapters..."Another good point - just in cast my audiobook player has a little freakout - multiple files (like a handful but not hundreds) could be of benefit for sure. Thank you!
J. wrote: "I only break up the files that are ridiculously huge. Even then I break them up into 10 hour segments. Smart Audiobook Player seems do work fine with pretty large files though. I've played many 20+..."I like your idea on keeping multiple files- but only in much larger audio lengths of time. Some of the books I have gotten on CD, broke the book up in 3 minute length individual files - which of course leads to huge file count. An hour a file or so sounds like more sense. I have not had problems with "Smart Audiobook Player" at all, but... just in case I am using somewhere else on some other device... maybe
J. wrote: "If you use an android device I recommend Smart Audiobook Player. It has a history option that can show where you were previously at if something like that ever happens."I use an old-school mp3 players that does not allow me to fast-forward or rewind within a track; nor does it have a history option. I have an android phone, but its storage is very skimpy, and I run into space issues if I try to use it for audiobooks.
Mirkat wrote: "J. wrote: "If you use an android device I recommend Smart Audiobook Player. It has a history option that can show where you were previously at if something like that ever happens."I use an old-sc..."
I am ALSO taking my files and adding them to my PLEX server. This would allow me to access my audiobooks online where I have connection to the net - like on my phone. That is the other reason for my housekeeping.
The idea is that I could have all my media on my home computer, but listen when I am in the car without having to actually have the media on my phone at all. It would all just stream from my home computer.
Sounds good if you have unlimited data. :)
Mirkat wrote: "Sounds good if you have unlimited data. :)"Data is not a bad deal with Project Fi. And audiobook/Music streaming isn't a lot of data - not in comparison to my movies or TV shows might be. I only do those when I am within reach of Wi-Fi so it's not a hit on my data plan.
I have been playing around with PLEX and it's having a hard time bookmarking (starting where I left off) my audiobooks. I might have to reformat them.. but as I said, I'm still playing around. I might HAVE to keep the current file structure I have, or I might HAVE to convert them all ... no grey.
My books are a single folder, with each CD as a single track.Book Name - Part 01, etc.
It occurred to me that maybe I should just combine all the files of one book into a single book just so that I can keep the files more organized.
Does anybody have any Pro's or Cons to this thought? File management-wise, it would give me a lot fewer files to keep track of. I would just need to join all the tracks for each of my audiobooks which would be kind of a grind once I figured out how....