Wow, Ester. This is all great information and a big help. :) Thanks so much, Christina On May 19, 2010, at 11:32 AM, Esther wrote:
> Hi Christina, > > If you want to keep your audio book tracks separate, just play them from a > playlist. You can create a playlist for your tracks by selecting them in the > songs table (Command-A), and then using Command-Shift-N to create a new > playlist from your selection. For audio books with many tracks, a better > option is to create a smart playlist with Command-Option-N, and apply two > rules: "Album is <Name of Audio Book>" and "Play Count is 0", so that only > tracks you have not listened to remain on the playlist. Regular playlists > are specified by selecting tracks: you can add to playlists by copying track > selections from the songs table (Command-C) and pasting them onto the > playlist in the sources table (Command-V). Or you can avoid navigating to the > source table by using the contextual menu (VO-Shift-M) after selecting tracks > in the songs table, pressing "A" to go to "Add to Playlist", right arrow to > the submenu and then either arrow down or press the first few letters of the > playlist name to select your playlist, then press return. Smart playlists > are specified using rules, and by default will "Live Update", which is why > the "play count is 0" rule will remove tracks you've listened to. So do the > following: > 1. Command-Option-N to create a smart playlist > 2. VO-Right arrow to the rules section and interact (VO-Shift-Down Arrow). > 3. Create your first rule, "Album is <Book Name>". Press (VO-Space) the pop > up button, then press "A" and Return to change this from "Artist" to "Album". > VO-Right to the next pop up, press "i" and return to set this to "is", then > VO-Right to the text field and type your book title (album name). You only > need to type enough to uniquely match the title and iTunes will complete the > name -- just VO-Left and VO-Right again to hear the field announced. > 4. VO-Right to the "Add" button and press (VO-Space) to add a second rule, > "Play Count is 0". Press (VO-Space) the pop up button, then press "P" and > Return to change this to "Play Count". The remaining fields will be set to > "is 0" by default -- you can VO-left to the start of the rule and VO-Right to > review the rule. > 5. Stop interacting (VO-Shift-Up Arrow). You can VO-Right arrow through the > rest of the dialog window and note the options to limit the playlist by > length, time, size, or number of tracks. Also note that "Live Updating" is > checked. > 6. Press (VO-Space) the "OK" button to save the changes, and type in a name > for your smart playlist. > > Now, if you play your audiobook from your smart playlist (e.g., select it in > the sources table, and press return), as you finish listening to tracks, > their play count will increment from 0 to 1, and they'll roll off the top of > your playlist. Your position in each track is kept, because you checked > "Remember playback position" on the options tab when you made iTunes > re-classify this as an audiobook (previous post). Your current track is > kept, because the smart playlist rule with live updating removes tracks > you've already listened to from the playlist. > > There's an annoying bug that appeared in iTunes 9 that contents of smart > playlists don't transfer correctly to your iPod or iPhone when live updating > is checked. If you want to play your audio book on an iPad, iPod Nano, iPod > Touch, or iPhone, you'll either need to use a regular playlist or uncheck the > live updating checkbox on the smart playlist before you sync it, and play > from that. Your tracks won't roll off the playlist as they finish, though, > until this bug is fixed. When you want to re-listen to an audiobook, select > the tracks again in your songs table, and use the context menu (VO-Shift-M). > Press "r e" to choose "Reset Play Counts" and return. Your play counts will > be reset to 0, and you can reuse the smart playlist. Another way to do this: > if you only listen to one audio book at a time, create a regular playlist > from your selection and name it something like "Current Book". Then make > your first smart playlist rule "Playlist is Current Book" instead of "Album > is <Book Title>". Whenever you listen to a new book, make the regular > playlist named "Current Book" and reuse your smart playlist. > > The third-party solutions I listed are aimed at joining tracks, so that your > book is typically stored in just one or two files in your iTunes library, but > they also create chapter markers so you can still navigate to individual > chapters within each file. Support for chapter markers is a feature of AAC > format files in iTunes, so these programs let you join individual tracks that > you've already ripped, or else directly from the CD, but they also convert > the tracks to AAC format if you start with MP3 files. That's fine if you play > the resulting tracks in iTunes or on an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, but if you > want to use a different MP3 player, or burn the book to an MP3 CD, you'll > want to rip your book the way you've done it, and use a smart playlist. The > chapterized audiobooks behave like Audiobooks purchased from iTunes or from > Audible.com: you can use Command-Shift-Right Arrow and Command-Shift-Left > Arrow to navigate within the tracks by chapter. You can also find a Chapters > menu on the iTunes menu bar (VO-M, then either press "c h", or left arrow > twice to the "Chapters" menu) and arrow down to select any of the listed > chapters. > > Incidentally, all the playlist shortcuts (Command-N to create a new blank > playlist, Command-Shift-N to create a new playlist from selection, and > Command-Option-N to create a new smart playlist) can be also be found under > the File menu of the iTunes menu bar. > > HTH. Cheers, > > Esther > > On 18 May 2010, Christina wrote: > >> Thanks that seemed to do the trick. :) I appreciate the time you took to >> help me. I was not in the options tab but in the info tab and that's why it >> wasn't working. :) I prefer to keep the tracks for the chapters so at this >> time I don't plan to join all the tracks into one. I am glad to know of >> this option as this may be an option I need in the future. Will these other >> third programs give you the option of keeping the book separated into tracks >> or will it join them all into one track? >> >> Thanks, >> Christina >> On May 17, 2010, at 10:35 AM, Esther wrote: >> >>> Hi Christina, >>>> You wrote: >>>> >>>>> I cannot get an audio book to show up in my books of my itunes library. >>>>> I ripped a CD that came with a book and it's an audiobook of the book. >>>>> itunes categorized it as music and therefore shows up in my music folder. >>>>> I have tried selecting all of the tracks at once and then going into >>>>> info and selecting it as a audiobook but it won't show up in my books >>>>> folder. >>> >>> It sounds as though you're almost there. Make sure that when you do Get >>> Info (Command-I) that you use the Options tab to change the Media Kind pop >>> up to Audiobook -- changing the genre on the Info tab won't help here. >>> I'll paste in the instructions. >>> >>>> 1. Select the files of the audiobook in the Songs table. >>>> 2. Press Command-I to open the Get Info dialog box. >>>> 3. Select the Options tab. >>>> 4. Change the media kind to Audiobook. >>>> 5. Check the option for "Remember playback position" >>>> 6. Check the option for "Skip when shuffling" >>>> >>>> You can select and process multiple files at once. Changing the media >>>> kind from "Music" to "Audiobook" will make the files show up under >>>> Audiobooks instead of Music, but it will not keep track of your last >>>> played position. So if you start listening to your Audiobook again, >>>> you will start at the beginning. Checking the option to "Remember >>>> playback position" turns on bookmarking behavior so that your play >>>> resumes where you left off. Incidentally, if you sync audiobooks, and >>>> listen to the same tracks alternately between iTunes on your computer >>>> and on your iPhone or iPod, the bookmarked position will advance to >>>> the furthest point on either, so you can seamlessly continue your >>>> listening regardless of whether you are using your iPhone or iTunes on >>>> your computer. Checking "Skip when shuffling" will keep audiobooks >>>> out of any "shuffle play" playlist options so you don't hear a chapter >>>> from a book in the middle of a song list. >>> >>> A few other suggestions: as Matthew and Philippe have suggested, there are >>> programs for joining tracks and easily importing CDs as audiobooks. I'll >>> give you the links. >>> • Audio Bookbinder >>> http://bluezbox.com/audiobookbinder.html >>> • Audiobook Maker >>> http://audiobookmaker.sourceforge.net/ >>> Both of those are freeware. Another package that is popular is Splasm's >>> Audiobook Builder ($9.95): >>> http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ipod_itunes/audiobookbuilder.html >>> >>> If you import tracks yourself from CD using iTunes, you can join all the >>> tracks on the CD into a single track at the time of importing. To join >>> tracks, when the disc is inserted and selected in the sources table, >>> navigate to songs table (e.g, stop interacting with the sources table and >>> VO-Right Arrow or tab to the songs table, or just use VO-J to immediately >>> jump to the songs table without having to stop interacting). Select all >>> tracks with Command-A, then join the tracks by navigating to the iTunes >>> menu bar (VO-M), then press "A" to go to the "Advanced" menu, arrow down >>> and press "J" to go to the "Join Tracks" option and press return. Now when >>> you import your CD it will do this as a single file. You can select any of >>> these joined tracks and make them show up as audiobooks using the >>> instructions given above. >>> >>> HTH. Cheers, >>> >>> Esther >>> >>> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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