Sideload audiobooks?

[Bob Coxner]

I'm having difficulty moving audiobooks from my Windows Vista PC to my iPad.

I downloaded some free audiobooks from librivox.org They're in MP3 format. I can't seem to find a way to transfer them to my iPad and have them appear in the Audiobooks section.

I can click and drag them into the Music section and they play. I try to click and drag them into the Books section but nothing happens. I can click and drag EPUB format books from my PC to the iPad successfully. I converted a couple of the audiobook files to M4A format but that didn't make any difference.

I've also tried "Add File to Library" while in the Books section of the iPad but that doesn't do the job.

I've read through the user's guide but it seems to assume that your only source for audiobooks is the iTunes store.

At least they work in the Music section but I would really prefer to be able to have them appear properly in the Audiobooks section. Do I need a different format rather than MP3 or M4A? Am I missing something really obvious?

Thanks!

 

[Bob Coxner]

I did some more experimenting and found a workaround. I guess you need an M4B format. I converted the MP3 file to an M4A file and then simply renamed it to M4B. Then I was able to click and drag it to the Books section and it appears correctly in the Audiobooks section.

This works but it's a PITA for books with 40 or 50 chapters. That's a lot of manual converting and renaming. Any suggestions for making this a more reasonable process?

 

[twerppoet]

I'm working on the assumption that you are moving and dragging these around in iTunes on the computer. iTunes makes it's best guess on where they belong based on the file extension, but you can override this.

Select the files you want, right click, and get info. Go to the Options tab. You can change it's Media Kind there. You can do this with multiple files selected. It will ask if you are sure. Just be sure not to make any changes you don't want changed on all those files, or it will.

Edit: Not sure it's called Get Info, on Windows. But it should be something similar if not.

 

[Bob Coxner]

I was able to work things out.

1) Download audiobooks in MP3 format, normally broken into one file per chapter.

2) Use a free Windows program, MergeMP3, to merge the files/chapters into one large file. [ame=http://download.cnet.com/Merge-MP3/3000-2169_4-10410936.html]Merge MP3 - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com[/ame]

3) Click and drag that large file from my PC to the Music section of iTunes.

4) Right click on that file in iTunes and choose "Create AAC version". This will take some time, depending on the size of the file and your PC. The end result will be a file with an M4A extension.

5) Click and drag that M4A file back to your PC.

6) Rename the file to an M4B extension.

7) Click and drag the M4B file to the Books section of iTunes

8) Sync the iPad and the M4B file should show up in the Audiobooks section.

Not an easy process but it worked and the audiobook plays properly.