iPod (and other Apple devices)

[Heidi]

tubemonkey wrote: "Mara wrote: "Glad to know I am not only one who.has issues with Apple.

My biggest issue with Apple once your iPod is about 2 1/2 yrs old it doesn't want to up date. Well, I can't afford a new iPod..."

Thanks for sharing. I have an android phone and love it so I will look into your idea :)

[Kristie]

tubemonkey wrote: "Mara wrote: "Glad to know I am not only one who.has issues with Apple.

My biggest issue with Apple once your iPod is about 2 1/2 yrs old it doesn't want to up date. Well, I can't afford a new iPod..."

We did something similar for my son. He used my old Samsung Galaxy SII as an iPod touch replacement for music and games (on wifi). Worked just fine, and it extended the "life" of my old phone.

[Lisa]

I have an iphone. I always plug my phone into my computer and download the books from Overdrive, from my library, to my iphone. That way I can listen to them when I want and they won't disappear until I delete them. That's why I don't use the app.

[Robin P]

I agree, I wouldn't want to buy a new iPod either just for books, so I hope mine keeps working (or that I don't run over it with my car like I did with a previous one!) It never updates but I only use it for books and music and they work fine. Do you need updates because you use other apps? Since my iPod is 2 inches across, I'd never use it for games, video, or anything like that! Even though Apple doesn't make the tiny nano any more, I'm pretty sure you can buy them on eBay for $30-50.

I've also never had a problem downloading my books from Audible library to iTunes to iPod (maybe because it's all Apple). As a non-techie person, it's really important to me that everything works seamlessly, which it does.

[Ioana]

I could not find this anywhere, so sorry if it's been asked/answered before.

I downloaded a companion audiobook from Amazon/Audible. How do I transfer it to my ipod? Do I need to first transfer it to iTunes? How? Thanks.

[Heidi]

Ioana wrote: "I could not find this anywhere, so sorry if it's been asked/answered before.

I downloaded a companion audiobook from Amazon/Audible. How do I transfer it to my ipod? Do I need to first transfer it..."

You will need to download the Audible App and download it there first and then move it to itunes

[Heidi]

Robin wrote: "I agree, I wouldn't want to buy a new iPod either just for books, so I hope mine keeps working (or that I don't run over it with my car like I did with a previous one!) It never updates but I only ..."

I just really don't like itunes. I can never find anything I load there and it takes me forever to remember how to covert an audiobook into audiobook format each time since I rarely load books on there. I end up plugging and unplugging my ipod several times because it disappears at the top so I can't figure out what is actually on my ipod. I have used several other players like Windows Media Player and even if I don't remember what I am doing it is always much easier to figure it out than when I am using itunes. Maybe if I only used Audible it would be different but I use Overdrive, Hoopla, Tantor, Downpour, etc.... Also, I just download my Audible books directly onto my device via the App so never really deal with Audible books via my PC.

[Donna]

Ioana wrote: "I could not find this anywhere, so sorry if it's been asked/answered before.

I downloaded a companion audiobook from Amazon/Audible. How do I transfer it to my ipod? Do I need to first transfer it..."

I might be missing the point of the question, but if you have access to wifi, you should just be able to download the book to your iPod directly from the Audible app, bypassing your computer and iTunes. I do that with my iPod Touch 4.

If the Audible App doesn't work on your iPod (maybe because the iPod is older), then you can use your computer to login to your account on audible.com and click the download button; it might download directly into iTunes, but if not, it will end up in the Downloads folder. Then you could copy the book from the Audible Downloads folder into the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder - not sure if every system has this in the same place, but on my Windows PC for example, the full path is:
C:\Users\Donna\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes
Once it's in iTunes, you can sync it to your iPod, and that's where some of the iTunes frustration comes in; you have to select/check it in 2 places - once in your iTunes Books, and then again in the Audiobook list for the device.

[Heidi]

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Oh yes. If she has an ipod touch or ipod with wifi it is much easier to just download the app and then download the audiobook directly onto her ipod. I agree.

[Ioana]

Hmm, I did not think of the wifi option, but I did what Donna suggested and it worked :)

You were right, my ipod is older I could not install the audible app, but the method above was not difficult, either. Thanks.

[Hunchback Jack]

After downloading the file from audible, you can drag it into the open iTunes application, too. It will appear under books, and you can drag it into your iPod from there.

[Heidi]

Ioana wrote: "Hmm, I did not think of the wifi option, but I did what Donna suggested and it worked :)

You were right, my ipod is older I could not install the audible app, but the method above was not difficul..."

Just curious. Do you have an Ipod Touch? Which generation? I was just wondering if you have 4th generation and are not able to get the app. I have the 4th generation and have the app but it has been on there for years so I am probably lucky!

[Donna]

Hunchback wrote: "After downloading the file from audible, you can drag it into the open iTunes application, too. It will appear under books, and you can drag it into your iPod from there."

I didn't know you could do it that way, thanks!

[Ioana]

Heidi (Yup. Still here.) wrote: "Just curious. Do you have an Ipod Touch? Which generation? I was just wondering if you have 4th generation and are not able to get the app. I have the 4th generation and have the app but it has been on there for years so I am probably lucky! "

Yes, it's a 4th generation...could not install the app now, but I managed :)
Since most of my audiobooks come from the library, I never really needed the audible app before...good to know I can still get their books on my ipod, even though it might take a few more clicks.

[Heidi]

Ioana wrote: "Heidi (Yup. Still here.) wrote: "Just curious. Do you have an Ipod Touch? Which generation? I was just wondering if you have 4th generation and are not able to get the app. I have the 4th generatio..."

Wow. Apple really needs to figure out a way to let people download older versions of apps. Thanks for answering :)

[Ioana]

I agree. I looked for older versions, but could not find a way to download an older one .They really want us to buy the newer version...but I'm not ready to spend that kind of money if the old one still works. As I only use it for audiobooks, I'm happy with it :)

[Heidi]

Ioana wrote: "I agree. I looked for older versions, but could not find a way to download an older one .They really want us to buy the newer version...but I'm not ready to spend that kind of money if the old one ..."

I agree. Mine works just fine and I only use mine for audiobooks so I see no reason to buy another one. In fact, I am kind of irritated by the fact that Apple tries to force people to buy new by doing this in the first place. I have not run into this same issue with my Android phone. At most I have not been able to download "new new apps" but can always download existing apps. Either way I am glad I already have the Audible App on my Ipod!

[Hunchback Jack]

Julie, I think there are a few things you can try:
- create a playlist with the separate audiobook tracks, in order, in iTunes, and then copy the playlist to your device.
- edit the info of the audiobook tracks, so that they have the same album name, and set the track number of each track. It should then show up as an album you can play on your device, and the tracks will play in order.
- make sure you don't have shuffle play turned on in your player.

There are also utilities you can get for Windows or Mac that convert multiple MP3 files into a single chaptered m4b file, which iTunes will play. Audiobook Binder is the one I use on Mac; there is one called Chapter and Verse for Windows.

[Leslie]

Julie wrote: "Can anyone explain to me how to do the downloading of audiobooks you borrow from your library , and put them on an ipod ?
I tried it before, and all the FILES from the book showed up in my ITunes ..."

I download library audiobooks directly using the Overdrive app so that I don't go through iTunes at all. That's the easiest way.

When I borrow audiobook CDs (as I just did a few days ago), then I do use iTunes - I do find that they always import as music but it is fairly straightforward to change it to audiobook. It is best to wait until all the CDs are imported before switching I have found (so that you don't have to do it several times). Once all the tracks have been copied to your computer and are in iTunes, go to the "album" & select "get info". Under one of the tabs (Options I believe), there is a place to set an equalizer (which I generally set to "Spoken Word") and a drop-down menu for type of media -- this is where you switch it from "Music" to "Audiobook". I also click on the boxes to select "skip when shuffling" and "remember playback position" which are on this same tab.

Also, Hunchback is correct that you should make sure when importing the files that they all have the same album name -- it is pretty common for the CDs to have different default titles which makes them show up as different "albums". This can be fixed but it is easier to avoid it in the first place! Before importing the CD, check the "CD Info" button on the right. Make sure that the artist and album fields are the same for each CD in the set.

I also check in the "Import CD" button that I am importing using the "MP3 Encoder" so that the files on my computer are compatible with other devices (just in case!). If you want to use a utility to convert to .mb4 such as Hunchback mentioned, then this is important. I think that iTunes default is AAC encoder, which is fine for Apple products but won't work on other devices.

[Hunchback Jack]

Julie, if you run into problems, post here again. I have a similar setup, and have spent way too much time getting audiobooks to play on my iPhone. :)

[Donna]

Like Hunchback mentioned, a program to combine the ripped Mp3 files into an M4b audiobook file makes the process simple (and the resulting M4b is treated like a book in iBooks and apps like Bookmobile and Audible). I've heard there are free utilities available to do this but I've had good luck with one I purchased a few years back, Markable, by Rightword. I think I paid around $25 and it was well worth the money for me. You just feed in the CD's and it loads the book into iTunes - then you just sync your device.

[Shane]

Leslie wrote: "Julie wrote: "Can anyone explain to me how to do the downloading of audiobooks you borrow from your library , and put them on an ipod ?
I tried it before, and all the FILES from the book showed up..."

One additional note on importing CD's into iTunes. you can do CTRL_A to select all the tracks the under the options you can JOIN them into 1 track. This allows each disk to be 1 track in your audiobook. this is helpful because the individual track names are never in order and can even repeat same track names on different disks.

[Hunchback Jack]

Julie, if you're interested in trying the m4b conversion that Donna suggested, the two utilities I mentioned are free.

To generate m4b files that will play correctly on iOS devices, however, you need to adjust the sample rate in the utility to stay within the m4b limit that iOS requires. This is the max audio length for each sample rate:

Sample rate of 8.0 kHz = 74.6 hrs max
Sample rate of 12.0 kHz = 49.7 hrs max
Sample rate of 16.0 kHz = 37.3 hrs max
Sample rate of 22.05 kHz = 27.1 hrs max
Sample rate of 24.0 kHz = 24.9 hrs max
Sample rate of 32.0 kHz = 18.6 hrs max
Sample rate of 44.1 kHz = 13.5 hrs max
Sample rate of 48.0 kHz = 12.4 hrs max

So if you have a 20 hour audiobook, you should set your sample rate to 24000.