Audiobooks? I am missing something

Apple iPhone - Audiobooks? I am missing something

Could someone please list step by step how to manage audiobooks in iTunes for a 3gs.

iPhone iTunes
If an audio file in iTunes is not behaving as a proper audiobook it might be possible to change it's type within iTunes.

Click once on the file. Go to File > Get Info, click on the Options tab in the info window and change the "Media Kind" to what you want it to be. It will then show up in the appropriate Library in the left-hand pane.

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I have done that. It does behave as a book, but it is listed in the music section not the audiobook section. Drives my computer OCD nuts. I call it there, because it doesn't exist in my daily life otherwise. :)

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I have a lot of audiobooks. Normally mp3 is seen as audio-file. The file must be m4b to be an audiobook shown in Books. When it is mp3 you see it in Music.

I have 3 audioboks-makers: the best is Audiobookbuilder. This one you must buy. It can combine more files to one single audiobook and you can add a picture to the file. Then you know what audiobook it is. The software convert the file mp3 to m4b. The send is Audiobook Wizard. This is free. The third is Audiobookbinder. This is also free. They do all the same things.

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Somebody may have mentioned this already -- but you do not have to convert to m4b. Hmmm.....well, let me say that with iPod you don't. For all I know, iPhones may act differently.

For iPods, just import the mp3 files into your iTunes library. Then select all of the files, and hit "get info". Then you can go to "options", and set "media kind" to "audiobook". This sounds a bit complicated, but you can do it to all of the book's files at one time -- and it's a lot simpler than converting to m4b!

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Oh Man this is one great hint I wish I'd known about sooner!

I've imported several ripped-from-CD audiobooks (plus the ripped-from-tape file I got as a gift, along with the tape :-)) & of course they all end up in "music". I never knew I could change that. Now I have & not only do they now appear in my library in the 'books' section, they've got that 30-second-rewind button that I'm so fond of using!

I did have to put the book-name in front of all the track numbers (no matter where the files were) just to keep things easy, but that was just part of the chore of the import. (copy/click-click-paste, click-click-paste, click-click-paste.....)

I've also "relocated" a number of podcasts that for some reason I had to d/l directly as mp3 from their sites.

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This works fine on the iPhone also. In older versions of iTunes these options were not available and you had to convert to m4b so that the device software remembered where you were in the book.

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I have set the media kind to audiobook in iTunes with my ripped audiobooks. It is still seen as music. I have made each book it's own playlist. I have even added the book cover.

Seems I saw once how to make a bookmark in the iPod portion of the iPhone. Can someone refresh my memory?

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Be sure you're not just setting the GENRE to "audiobook". That is an entirely different setting, and it won't get your audio files moved over to the book area. You have to set the MEDIA KIND to "audiobook".