As always Ester, thank you for such a detailed and informative answer. It certainly puts me on the right track. :) On Oct 28, 2010, at 4:23 PM, Esther wrote:
> Hi Kimberly, > > Robert's correct that if you're having difficulty getting your mp3 files to > play in order, it's probably because of missing tags. iTunes uses as a > minimal set of tags the song name, artist, and album. If you have no tag > information in your tracks, it will make the song name from the file name. > For example, let's say you imported files from five audiobook CDS with no tag > information onto your PC, and these are now in folders named "My Audiobook" > with subfolders named "Disc 1", "Disc 2", up through "Disc 5", and the > individual tracks in each folder have names like file001.mp3, file002.mp3, > etc. You add these files to iTunes. Because there is no album tag name, all > these tracks get added to an album titled "Unknown Album" under a folder for > "Unknown Artist". If you select "Unknown Album" and the tracks are sorted > they'll be ordered by name, with each of the "file001" tracks from Discs 1, > 2, 3, 4, and 5 appearing first, then the "file002" tracks from these 5 discs, > etc. > > If you add the tracks a folder at a time, starting from disc 1 and proceeding > in order through discs 2, 3, etc., then then if you check the smart playlist > named "Recently Added", which lists all files that were added to your iTunes > library within the last two weeks (excluding subscribed podcasts), in the > order in which they were added, then you might find that these tracks play in > the correct order if you play from the smart playlist. (By that I mean, > select "Recently Added" in the sources table of iTunes, then use VO-Command-T > to jump to the songs table if you have the latest iTunes. Navigate with your > arrow keys to the first track from your audiobook and press return to start > playing. If you then Command-Right arrow to move through the tracks in > sequence, are they playing in the correct order? Press space bar to stop > playing. If so, you can fix the tagging from the "Recently Added" playlist. > In the case I described, you should have a bunch of tracks named "file001" > through some number (e.g., "file025") appearing in succession for each disc > (corresponding to "Disc 1", "Disc 2", up through "Disc 5"). You want to > select these blocks of tracks in order and edit their tag information with > "Get Info" (Command-I). This is actually easier to do as you add tracks a > folder at a time, instead of after the fact, but it's doable if you "Recently > Added" tracks play in the correct order. You want to start positioned at the > first track of Disc 5, for example, then hold down your shift key and press > the down arrow key until you've selected all the tracks of Disc 5. Then, > release the shift key and press Command-I to edit the tracks. You'll be > asked whether you want to edit multiple tracks. You do, so proceed. Select > the Info Tab (with VO-Space), if it isn't already selected by default. Now > fill in the Artist (Author's) name in the first text box. Then VO-Right > arrow to the text box for Album and type in the title of the Audiobook. > VO-Right arrow again on the same line to where you'll hear VoiceOver say > "Disc Number, edit text" and type in "5" or whatever the disc number is. > Then VO-Right arrow again to the text box for "Disc Count, edit text" and > type in "5" for the total number of discs (or if you have 6 or 7 discs in the > audiobook, use the appropriate number). Then VO-Right arrow to the end of > the "OK" button and press it with VO-Space. > > Filling in the Album name and Disc number (1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc.) should fix > your ordering problem if your individual track file names for that disc are > otherwise in order (e.g. file001, file002, file003, etc.). If the audiobook > is sorted in album order, iTunes will know that the tracks for disc 1 should > come before the tracks for disc 2 in the same album, even if your track names > are all the same. You only need to fill in the text boxes for names and > numbers in the Get Info dialog window. The entries before them are check > boxes, which will automatically get filled in if you type anything in the > text boxes. Artist name is not strictly necessary to sort your ordering > problem, but is good practice for helping you search iTunes later. > > Please note that I'm making assumptions about how your audiobook files are > named (or not named). Since I don't use untagged files myself, I'm just > guessing about this, and you might want to proceed with caution and > experiment. > > I'd also recommend that you might want to get a software program like Splasm > Software's Audiobook Builder, on sale for half price today (next 7.5 hours) > at $4.99 at the MacUpdate Promo site: > > http://www.mupromo.com/ > > (This requires negotiating a CAPTCHA to create your account the first time. > You can use the services of Solona at: > http://www.solona.net/ > to handle this one-time need.) > > If you still have a Windows machine, you can use Chapter and Verse: > http://lodensoftware.com/chapter-and-verse/ > > The Blind Side has a podcast on how to use Chapter and Verse: > > http://blind-side.net/node/10 > > These programs combined multiple audiobook parts into a single file. > However, even the Chapter and Verse Windows program uses iTunes to convert > and join, so you still have to sort out your tags. > > HTH. Cheers, > > Esther > > > > > On Oct 27, 2010, Robert Hooper wrote: >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Courtney Curran >> Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 7:37 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: MP3 Books on the iPod Touch and iTunes >> >> Hi, >> While we're on this topic, can you play audiobooks at double speed on the >> Ipod Touch, if so, how? >> Courtney >> >> >> Listen to The Wonderful World of Doo-wop with me, Moopie Curran on Fridays >> at 08:00 UTC on http://www.theglobalvoice.info >> >> On Oct 27, 2010, at 7:33 PM, Kimberly thurman wrote: >> >>> And just how should I edit the tag information? I changed the genre >>> to >> audiobook in two different places under get info. Why do the files then end >> up out of order even when they are numbered files and the numbers are in the >> file names. >>> On Oct 27, 2010, at 4:12 PM, Joshua Loya wrote: >>> >>>> It doesn't have anything to do with the new version of iTunes. Make >>>> sure >> that you have correctly edited the tag information of the files. Sometimes >> it can be a bit tedious, but if you're not going to convert the files to >> .m4b, double checking the tag information is your best bet. >>>> >>>> Hope that helps, >>>> Joshua >>>> On Oct 27, 2010, at 9:21 AM, Kimberly thurman wrote: >>>> >>>>> HI Folks: >>>>> >>>>> We have discussed this here before, but I'm having some issues with it. >> I want to play a folder of MP3 files, which are ripped from CD audiobooks on >> my iPod. I know that I must add the files to my iTunes library. I thin >> find them in iTunes, select them all, and do VO/shift/M and chose get info. >> In there I change the genre to audiobook and then go to the options >> tab and change it to audiobook there as well. I choose not to include while >> shuffling. The book then shows up in the books portion of iTunes, but the >> title became Unknown and the MP3 files were all in the wrong order. >>>>> >>>>> What am I doing wrong here? Does it have something to do with the >>>>> new >> version of iTunes? What are the check boxes for that are now present just >> before the track titles? >>>>> >>>>> TIA for any help here. I really want to play these books on my >>>>> Touch, >> but it is a pain when they are out of order. Audible books work just fine, >> however. >>>>> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > 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. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
