1. greydarrah's Avatar
    I'm an audio book (books on tape/cd) fanatic. I got tired of carrying around a pack of cd's and transferring them to my truck/office and sometimes a portable cd player. So I recently started ripping them to mp3 format using Windows Media Player and copying them to my Storm. The weird part is that sometimes, the process goes smooth and when I go to view them from the Storm Media Palyer, they show up under the Album area in a neat and orderly fashion (showing the correct book name and disk numbers). Other times (having ripped them all the same way), they are listed as Unknown Album with date and time stamps. This makes it impossible to figure out which book or which disk is the correct one to select. Under those circumstances, the only way to sort it out is to select menu, explore, navigate to the data card and then you can see them in an expected order. The question here is why do some collections of disk transfer over fine for viewing from the menu, album selection and others have to be seen from the exploring option?

    Thanks,

    Grey
    03-12-09 08:02 PM
  2. jbharman45's Avatar
    Grey,

    There are a couple of things you can do to make this a little easier. First is to concatenate your multiple mp3 files (from ripping the tracks/disks) in 1 or more audiobook files. This is a standard format that the iPod started, but they can be played just fine on the Storm. Try something like the MP3 to iPod Audiobook Converter.

    What this does is group all the files into one or more consolidated files that will bookmark how far you have listened.

    You can then mess with the metadata of just ONE file and make sure it is correct, rather than hundreds like you have to do now. It does take a little bit of time, but it is really worth it. I generally try and keep the individual files to about 100 MB in size. If you try a commercial product, just look for something that converts MP3 to M4a, which is the audio format. There are programs from xilisoft and avs4you that will do this all very quickly, if you are willing to invest a few dollars.

    Good luck! It is very worth the effort.
    03-12-09 08:31 PM
  3. greydarrah's Avatar
    I appreciate the audio converter. I downloaded it and used it on one book, but the bookmarking feature didn't work. I'm guessing that's because it's meant to work in an ipod environment...not on a BB. Outside of the hope that automatic bookmarking would work, I don't see any advantage. The BB Media Player plays mp3's fine. I think the problem I'm seeing is more with how Windows Media Player is ripping the CD's that's causing my problems. Sometimes, you can start ripping the 1st of x number of cd's (all for the same book) and it will create the name of the file folder (usually the authors name), then it creates sub directories for the individual CD's under that folder. But then...for no understandable reason, I'll put the 4th or 5th or x th CD in, and a new directory called Unknown is created with that CD (and usually all the ones that follow) go into. Then, if you copy and paste those folders into the original authors name folder, you'll end up with a book that can only be figured out by going through the Media Players Explore menu option to see. Trying to view/play it from looking at the Album selection just shows a bunch of files that are called Unknown.

    I wish someone could tell me why some books get ripped OK and others are all screwed up.

    Grey
    03-13-09 07:45 PM
  4. sinfuldragon's Avatar
    I use Audiacity to convert everything.

    Not sure if it can do what you want but then again there are lots of tools in this app that are above my pay grade.

    Its free, give it a shot
    Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder
    03-13-09 08:05 PM
  5. greydarrah's Avatar
    I use Audiacity to convert everything.

    Not sure if it can do what you want but then again there are lots of tools in this app that are above my pay grade.

    Its free, give it a shot
    Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder
    Are you putting your book cd's in your computer's player and then using Audiacity to convert them to mp3, then copying those files over to your BB? I don't mean to sound like too big of a bonehead, but if it's working well for you, I just want to replicate the way your doing it.

    Thanks,

    Grey
    03-13-09 08:16 PM
  6. sinfuldragon's Avatar
    not a bonehead question at all (the only one that is, is the one thats not asked right?).

    I've never done a book. i use it to RIP my CDs, then cut them down to make MP3 ringtones or to just RIP and put on my iPod.

    I'm not sure that it will work for your situation. I just know its free and it has all kinds of options, so I thought with some playing around.. maybe it can fill your void.

    If not, there are no "extras" that have to be installed and it removes just as painlessly as it installs.
    03-13-09 08:35 PM
  7. sinfuldragon's Avatar
    03-13-09 08:47 PM
  8. jbharman45's Avatar
    The problem that you are experiencing with the quality of the meta-data that you see with the ripped files is probably a result of the CDDB (online meta-data database) that is often used to auto-fill the info. It was made by regular individuals like you and I and if they weren't careful, it is very spotty.

    I personally usually rip with iTunes, because it uses the iTunes meta-data, but that can be spotty too.
    03-13-09 09:15 PM
  9. jkenney's Avatar
    Is there an app that I can upload to my BB 9530 that will allow me to upload an audio book?
    03-29-09 12:07 AM
  10. greydarrah's Avatar
    Convert the audio book (the cd's) to mp3 using Windows Media Player to Rip to mp3 format (or any other app that converts to mp3), then just use your PC to copy the mp3 files to your BB's sd card (turn ON bb mass storage if it's not already on). Then use the bb media player to listen. There's not really any special "uploading" application that I'm aware of...but I definitely don't know everything.

    Grey
    03-29-09 01:40 PM
  11. joegstein's Avatar
    I got no problems getting the MP3 or M4a (or ACC or other) files using AVS4YOU and getting them to play. Why doesn't bookmarks work?? It always wants to restart the book.
    04-06-09 11:16 AM
  12. Roadrunner3429's Avatar
    I have used itunes...put the disc in, select all tracks, join them and edit the name, artist, and disc info.

    If you have media joiner (pc), you can combine entire book to one .mp3...

    I take it a step further and convert through itunes to .m4a. To make it bookmarkable, change the extension to .m4b.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    04-06-09 11:34 AM
  13. rickt1152's Avatar
    The audio books I get from my library are not Ipod compatible and I therefore play them through their dedicated software and record them via Total Recorder into MP3 files. Obviously, if you can get them into an MP3 file in some other manner, that works as well. I just used the software that I already had. Only problem with this method is if the book is 16 hours long, it takes 16 hours to play and record it. I can however, start the process and don't need to monitor it until its done. I then use TR to split the files into one hour segments.

    On to the issue of bookmarking the files, I have found that Pod Trapper is an excellent way to listen to the audio books. It will retain your place and unlike the media player, makes it easy to move forward or backward by small movements while listening.

    My process here is to create a folder on my SD card with all the files from the book in that folder. Pod Trapper will allow you to navigate the file structure on your card (or internal memory) and select the folder and then individual files. The only issue with using Pod Trapper is that it won't advance from one track to the next automatically. So basically, once every hour I have to push a couple of buttons to get the next track to start. Pod Trapper has a 30 day trial and is $10.00 to buy.
    04-06-09 11:36 AM
  14. joegstein's Avatar
    I tried to get pod trapper but always get an error
    HTTP Error 503: Service Unavailable
    in description service is busy or maintenence
    I have got this 2 days but I can browse other sites
    04-06-09 07:30 PM
  15. joegstein's Avatar
    It was my error - I downloaded Pod Trapper and it loaded and ran. I have played with it some and occasionally run into problems probably due to my error or the interface is a little picky. But Pod Trapper looks terrific and does bookmarks. Also Mr. Watkins has been very prompt and kind in answering my plaintive email.
    04-07-09 11:22 AM
  16. Roadrunner3429's Avatar
    The audio books I get from my library are not Ipod compatible and I therefore play them through their dedicated software and record them via Total Recorder into MP3 files. Obviously, if you can get them into an MP3 file in some other manner, that works as well. I just used the software that I already had. Only problem with this method is if the book is 16 hours long, it takes 16 hours to play and record it. I can however, start the process and don't need to monitor it until its done. I then use TR to split the files into one hour segments.

    On to the issue of bookmarking the files, I have found that Pod Trapper is an excellent way to listen to the audio books. It will retain your place and unlike the media player, makes it easy to move forward or backward by small movements while listening.

    My process here is to create a folder on my SD card with all the files from the book in that folder. Pod Trapper will allow you to navigate the file structure on your card (or internal memory) and select the folder and then individual files. The only issue with using Pod Trapper is that it won't advance from one track to the next automatically. So basically, once every hour I have to push a couple of buttons to get the next track to start. Pod Trapper has a 30 day trial and is $10.00 to buy.

    wow...it only needs to take 2-5 minutes per 60 minute disc...you can use itunes to make them either be individual chapters or have an entire book.

    Before i found out about bookmarked files, i just looked down at the time and remembered...
    04-07-09 12:09 PM
  17. kiwiduck's Avatar
    We've read through this thread and found it informative and confusing. We'd really like to find an easy way to get audio books or itunes audio books onto the Storm. Anyone found additional information lately?
    07-08-09 09:22 AM
  18. Nellibly's Avatar
    I use All Music Converter to convert Audible books to MP3s. That's the easy part. Sadly, I can't find a player that works well with the Storm 2. PodTrapper looked very promising, offering bookmarks. But when I tried it, weird things kept happening. First, the buttons are very small and not very responsive on the touch screen. I started a book, set a bookmark and closed the program. When I opened again to resume listening, the time bar showed where I left off, but the book started from the beginning. No matter what button I pressed, it always returned to the beginning. I suspect, this program might work better with a trackball. I then tried xMobioloa player, which had similar problems. It was the buttons again. Then I found something call Simple Book Player. Again, the buttons just don't work. It's probably a Storm compatibility issue. Finally, I stumbled across a program called Audio Book Player by Brochpirate on the CodeProject web site. I know nothing about code, so I have no idea how to make this work. I can not find the actual program anywhere. No idea whether it would work on Blackberries. In despair, I emailed Audible.com and am told that there is no ETA for a Storm upgrade. They promised to email about a month out. So, I'm carrying two devices. If anyone has found something that works for the Storm 2, please let me know. Don't even get me started on eReader. They've been promising a full-featured version for Blackberry for at least a year, and nothing yet. Sigh.
    11-18-09 10:34 AM
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