Properly Importing a CD Audiobook -- Easy!

One thing that always annoyed me about my IPod, is that it seemed that it only recognized "Audiobooks" that you downloaded, not ones that you already had on CD. Many people are unaware that you can easily transform your CD Audiobook into one that works just like one you bought on-line.

And it's not a lot of work.

KEY POINT: "Media Kind." This is in the "Get Info" box where you right-click on the disk, after import. (It only works for me after import.) It will change info on "multiple items." You want that. This will take your book OUT of your music list, and put it into books. This has many advantages, which are built-in. You can pause your book, listen to music, and come back to your book, where you were. That's important. If it's a straight narrative, "join" the tracks, and that will automatically prevent shuffling, even in the book area. You can only do that before you import.

To set up, you must change your import settings for books. Take a look:

ImportPreferences.jpg

Now, you'll want to change your settings for your book. (Your book may have several discs. You can only "join" a disc at a time. Just shift-click on the tracks, which often have chapter names encoded into the disc, and hit options on the right top of your screen. Then click "join." Done.)

ImportSettings.jpg

If your ears are not picky, just choose "Podcast." Otherwise, go into custom, and do what I did. Sounds real nice. But the files are bigger. So if you have one of those tiny players, pick "Podcast." Otherwise, pump up the file size to taste.

Now, one more thing. AFTER you've imported, you probably won't see your book in "books." Do not panic. Find your book in music, right click on the whole book, and "get info." Choose Media Kind (or if it says "media type" that's the same), and choose AUDIOBOOK. This is the most important thing to do. The rest, you see in the screen shot. Also, choose a nice cover image and paste into the "art" box.

If you check the right boxes, it should play real nice, with no interruptions, shuffles, or any other music-related nonsense. This should work with spoken word recordings that you wish to treat as books. It works best with real Audiobook CDs, but you can make it work with any spoken word collection. You may have to name those tracks. If your tracks don't "name," you should "join" them before naming them, because it'll split into another book. Or it did my most recent one. Only way to fix is to reimport. So watch that. But the new settings make it real easy!

Look:

MediaKind.jpg

Enjoy your listening! Take your IPod to bed with you, and let it read you to sleep. ("Unless you've got something better in mind.")

Oh: remember to change back to your MUSIC settings afterwards! That's a big deal!

rjm (If you want my full name, go to Facebook, where I share it so carefully with over a billion unknown people. LOL!!! -- Oh, it says "Dr." 'cause it asked for my "title" I suppose. I'm a phud.)

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Last edited by rjm on Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

One more thing. If you borrow a CD book from the library, or even from a friend and place it on your IPod in order to listen to/read it, it is illegal to keep the audiobook on any of your computers after you return the borrowed item. By law, you must delete it, or you are committing a crime. (I believe that if you borrow a book by downloading with Amazon Prime, it autodeletes after a month, just like written books. The first one or two you "buy" after signing up are free, due to a special introductory offer by Audible.com, which is an Amazon company. Audible has a plug-in for your ITunes.)

Since this is AUDIO book, it wouldn't matter how old the written version is: the audio version is covered by recent copyright laws. If you don't care about the quality of the reading (and you really should), a Kindle Fire, or an older Kindle (not the Paperwhite), will have a computer-voice read it to you. But it's not the same as a real audiobook. It is helpful for the visually impaired though, and worth the price of a cheaper old Kindle.

Them's the rules. No fooling. If you want information to be free, play by the rules. (Doesn't mean I agree with the rules, but that is the law, until they change it.)

rjm
P.S. -- An extra note about the use of your CD audiobooks on mobile devices: I do not know is how the process works with other book apps for your Android device. I would imagine it recognizes the book format, although DRM issues may require conversion to a different format. {fingers crossed} The "tagging function" that works for your music ought to work for your books as well, but with DRM, I can't be sure. You may have to import the CD Audiobook (that you already own) into a different book application, such as a Google Books app or suchlike. If anyone knows, do post.

Looks complicated, rjm. How I do it: upload my cd-audiobook to i-Tunes and then sync it with my iPod or iPad. Doesn't this work for you?

Mike

Looks complicated, rjm. How I do it: upload my cd-audiobook to i-Tunes and then sync it with my iPod or iPad. Doesn't this work for you?

Mike

It's the same thing, but it gets it out of "music." It's really pretty easy, and will work just like an audible download. You will not be disrupted, and it'll keep your place this way.

You just have to check the appropriate boxes and if you hit "join" on importing, that prevents interruptions and keeps your place. That's the difference. With music, that doesn't mater.

And I have the Lincoln-Douglas debates on 15 CDs to do! It'll be worth it.

And a disc of Elvis interviews will be "a book"!

rjm