Audio Books downloads don't show up in iTunes
 

Hi!! I'm just having a bit of trounle with audio books. Everything else goes directly into iTunes EXCEPT for the audio books. I've tried dragging them from the shared folder to iTunes. That didn't work. Can anyone please help????

Have you perhaps considered the fact that iTunes may not support audio books? What format are they? .mp3?

they are in mp3 format
 

i was able to download 1 audio book into itunes before this happened. and the book that i'm trying to put on itunes is in mp3 format. any advice?

Have you tried playing it on another player (like Quictime) just to see if it works? I don't even know how an audio book works. Does it have chapters and stuff or does it go straight thru?

audio book on itunes
 

I haveb't played it on quicktime. It's an mp3 and plays straight thru on limewire media. I've only played it on that. Any ideas?

Go to the Shared folder (remember, not the one in the Library, but in the Home directory on the Finder, eh?) and select one of those files, press Cmd-I (the Cmd key is the one with the Apple in case you don't know) and click 'Open with'. Choose the right application (iTunes) from there and see if double-clicking will do the job.
Otherwise, go to iTunes and press Cmd-O. Try adding the file like that.

Yes, Audio books are just like any mp3 file / song, they act exactly the same.

And this same problem also vexes me. Mac OS.10.2.8 / Limewire 4.2.6 ( I have 4.3.3 beta but it won't mount in disk utility).

- iTunes (under Limewire prefs) is checked - and applied

- Many many other mp3 files have downloaded and played, and imported to iTunes. large and small.

- I have changed the file name (not the ext.) to reduce the amount of characters, still no change.

- I have manually "dragged & dropped" the file from "shared" directly over the iTunes library. Nothing.

- I have attempted to open /add file from iTunes side (version 4.7.1.), still nothing.

- file never said it was corrupt. File downloaded and verified. File icon is not blank. It looks like any other file.

- I've read pages and pages of threads in many forums, and the problem doesn't look to be addressed fully (case in point the response to this old thread). I assume this is another kink yet to be ironed out in future Limewire products. I don't have Limewire Pro, however I fail to see how that would help. If so, please explain.

I'm still open to suggestion, if anyone has ideas. Thanks in advance.

Futhermore, (I wanted to "edit" but I will need to register, which I'll do momentarily) I have downloaded other audiobook / song mp3 files after the other files didn't add to iTunes library. The others worked.

In short, it seems I get 7 or 8 out of every 10 files I download. So, it's not a matter of just getting any files to iTunes, but rather those specific troublesome files to iTunes.

I suspect the files in question, in some way unknown, are corrupt (though they show no signs to that effect).

Well I guess I'll just start over.

I was hoping for a way to save the "completed files" that are in my shared folder. Perhaps some way to convert, or still be able to transfer them to iTunes. It took a long time to get these files and I'm not ready to trash them just yet.

I will search for the files and download them again. Perhaps downloading twice will do something. I'll just check the dialog box to rewrite it. I admit, I do have a lot of files like this (completed but never went to iTunes). Dozens of hours of mp3 files.

(I just hope the data that isn't working for me - being shared - is also not working for others). If I can't get them to work I might have to tag them as "incomplete" to warn others using my shared folder.

I'll post my results.

First, LW Pro would indeed not affect anything on thr problem at hand AFAIK.

Next, have you tried playing said troublesome files on another player (Quicktime, anything?)?

Yes, I did try Quicktime (6.5.2)

It doesn't even recognize the file. Saying it is "a file Quicktime doesn't understand". This leads me to believe the file itself is problematic. Though I find it odd that nobody else has said anything about this (a file that loads fine, verifies, and yet doesn't play). Well there were a few other threads, but no concrete answers as far as I could see.

So far I haven't been able to find the exact troublesome files. But when I do I'll try to download them again. Too bad some of these files are over 300 MB.

A long experiment.

Do you suggest other mp3 players that have helped in other problems?
Thanks for your response, I appreciate it.

No sweat.

My latest guess points me to the file having a bad extension. It has happened to me once or twice before: a .wmv file wouldn't play because it actually wasn't .wmv. I tried a couple of extensions (I don't even clearly know why I did this) and BAM! The file played a-ok.

Anywho, try VLC or Mplayer (www.videolan.org/vlc/ and http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/news.html respectively). Each should be capable to play the file.
I also figure that the file might have chapters in it, and that's why it's not playable by iTunes. The fact that LW player plays it straght through is because (if I'm right about the chapters thing) that player doesn't have a Chapter select feature (that I know of :p)

Well I gave VLC a try and it didn't work on the suspect files.

But you could see it was thinking hard about it. When VLC tried to open the file the entire computer went into a drag. Normal operations that should have taken mere seconds took minutes to come around. And I kept getting the spinning rainbow ball of death.

So bad it was that each time I had to tried to open it with VLC I ended up rebooting.

I also downloaded the file again (499 MB). And again....it didn't work. Then I saw he file again but offered by someone else (it didn't have a "complete" check mark indicating I had previously downloaded it). But that didn't work either. I downloaded it, verified it, but again.....can't open it.

At this point I'm sure it is the file. However, I just wish there was a way Limewire could identify the problem - instead of me spending hours working on a file that (according to Limewire) is just fine.

In short, I can't tell the good files from bad files anymore. It is now rolling the dice each time download. Ah well. It's all free.

Thanks for your help. And if you, or anyone else, has other keen ideas I'm all ears. I'l hold on to the files - maybe there will be a cure in the future.

I have about 10 or more files like this that do not work in my shared folder.

Hmmm......now that I think about it. Perhaps I should take them out of that folder and not spread them around. BUT, if that were the case why isn't it happening to others?

Am I the only one to struggle with this?

What about Mplayer? Anything that doesn't work on VLC will do on Mplayer for me

Adding Spoken Word Content to Your Libary
 

Jet Black, I got this from the i-Tunes help menu. Most of it will be irrelevant in terms of talking about the store and the websites but it could be that some of the files you have downloaded originally came from a similar site and has parameters / rules in them which prevents you from playing them in the apps you have tried to far. It could be a player specific to where the original files came from. Such is the nature of sharing files on p2p.

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You can add spoken word content, such as audio books, recorded radio broadcasts, or spoken magazines or newspapers to your iTunes library. You can purchase spoken word content from the iTunes Music Store.

1.Click Music Store in the Source list.

2.Click Audio Books, then browse to find the spoken word content you're interested in.

You can also type the name of a book or author in the search field in the top-right corner of the iTunes window, then press Return to see the search results.

Spoken word files you buy from the Music Store end in ".m4b."

You can also purchase spoken word content from the Audible website. Audible spoken word files end in ".aa" and may have different rules about downloading and use. For more information, visit www.audible.com.

You can add Audible spoken word files to your iPod if the files were downloaded from a maximum of two different Audible accounts. You can't drag an Audible file from a third Audible account to your iPod. For more information about transferring or listening to music or spoken word files on your iPod, search iPod Help.

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Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

I tried the different extensions. Still no go. And again, it turned my computer into a slug. You can see it is "trying" to do something. Just what I don't know.....and the file never comes over. Once I left it to think all night. Nothing had changed come morning.

Macplay I'll have to get and try out. So there is still hope. Meanwhile I'm holding the files (and MANY others that failed to open - though successfully downloaded to the Shared folder)

More later after Macplay.

UPDATE:

Well I couldn't get Macplay for OSx. I downloaded it only to discover it was for classic. No thanks. Haha!

However, I do have GREAT NEWS! As I was looking for other MP3 players (as suggested by GefallenenEngel), I found utilities for splitting MP3 files. I took a chance and figured whatever code is keeping iTunes from bringing the file over might be taken out....if the file is split up into parts. In other words, if the file is corrupt in some kinda way I would find out if I split it up - and see if the trouble is just one part, or the whole.

I downloaded Xmp3split (version 1.0) for OSX.

I used it as is, I didn't go into the preference folder and check what length of file I wanted split, so it did it for me. 136 files of 7 minute chunks. The original file was 499.5 MB, so it was a lot.

SUCCESS!

I can now play the file that iTunes couldn't open. I selected them and sent them over to iTunes with ease. I guess now that I have all the files in iTunes I should join them back into one. But currently I'm just happy to have this right now. More on the post progress later.

I have several files that iTunes never picked up. I'll see if splitting and joining them back into MP3 files will help do the trick. Perhaps others will pick up on this trick.

Thanks for the help, and inspiration. Glad there is peer-to-peer support on these forums.