You can get m4b-audiobooks just by Google, on torrents or buy on disks.
Recently, by the way, iMobilka (http://www.imobilco.ru) began to sell them. Profitable this business, sell air.

Creating audiobooks with chapters for iPod (add bookmarks in m4a / m4b files)

Usually audiobooks are a large number of mp3-files, it is not very convenient to listen to them (you have to memorize the place of a stop). Therefore, it is more convenient to recode the entire book into one file. And it is even more convenient if there are special marks in the resulting book that allow you to move from one chapter to another, to rewind within only one chapter.

In this guide I will try to describe:

How to transcode a bunch of mp3 into one m4b and add chapters to it according to the source files, as well as manually add chapters of fixed / arbitrary length to the finished m4b.

The duration of the received book (each file) should not exceed 13 hours and 37 minutes

Method 1
Using SSA_Gen

System requirements: Windows XP / Vista; Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0; iTunes; Quicktime 7x.
Additional programs (all programs are free): Foobar2000 (for transcoding); Slideshow Assembler and SSA_Gen (for adding chapters)
Mirror:http://narod.yandex.ru/100.xhtml?karalmeta...oft/SSA_Gen.rar

A. Recoding to m4b

1. Run Foobar2000 and drag the folder with the audio book into it (it is recommended to check the correct order)
2. Select all files in the list (Ctrl-A), select Convert in the context menu.>Convert to Single File

3. In the Converter Setup dialog that appears, in the Encoding Preset list, select mp4 (Nero). And press the next button (...)
4. Select the mode and bitrate. If you do not have NeroDigitalAudioEncoder, you can download it right there (when you first start you will need to specify where it is located).

5. Press Ok twice, the answer to the question about Transcode is Yes. Specify where to save the file.
6. We are waiting for the completion of coding. As a result, we obtain the Image.mp4 file.
7. Check that the file normally opens in QuickTime. If it does not open (it will not be possible to add chapters):
Encode the file again with a different bit rate. OR Use mp4box utility, for example, mp4box -add Image.mp4 Image2.mp4 or mp4box -add Image.mp4 -ipod Image2.mp4
8. If you do not need chapters - go to part "C".

B. Adding chapters
To add chapters, we will use the Slideshow Assembler program (hereinafter SSA). Since this program has no window interface, I had to write an additional program (SSA_Gen). The mechanism of their work is the following: with the help of SSA_Gen a list of chapters is created and stored in a .pod file. Further this file is transferred to SSA.
Run SSA_Gen. You can create a list based on the source file, add a ready list of chapters (from a text file or from the clipboard) or create chapters of fixed length.

B1.The finished list should have the following format: for each chapter - a separate line of the type Length_ of chapter_in_seconds: title_ of chapter, for example, 323: Gl_1_03_01. The title of the chapter, you can use letters, numbers and some characters (Russian letters are supported).

B2.Creating a list of chapters in accordance with the source files

1. In SSA_Gen, click From files ....
2. Add files to the list (you can add several times):

Add files
Scan folder: all files (mp3, mp4, m4a, m4b) from the specified folder will be added to the list. With a large number of files, scanning may take a long time, wait for completion.
Drag files and folders into the list from Windows Explorer: files (mp3, mp4, m4a, m4b) will be added, folders will be scanned
3. Check the order. You can sort by clicking in the table header.
4. Unnecessary files can be deleted from the list, for this you need to select them and press Delete on the keyboard. You can delete all files using the Clear button.
5. The Update field No. button allows you to rename the list (after sorting and deleting).
6. The File and Title fields can be edited.
7. 8. In the drop-down list below, select which field to use as chapter titles (Title, File, Number).
Attention! In the selected column, all fields must be non-empty!
Press the Ok button.

B3.Creating chapters of fixed length (useful if the length of the source files is too long or if the source files are not preserved).
1. In SSA_Gen, click Create.
2. Select the duration (in minutes) and the number of chapters.

3. Check that all chapters are inside the book.

B4.Change the list.

1. Changing the title of the chapter: select the desired chapter, in the field under the list enter a new name, apply the changes.

2. Skip chapters. Example: a book consists of several real chapters, and in an audiobook each chapter is cut into several files. If, as a result, you want to get a division by real chapters, then you need: for each chapter, uncheck all files except the first one.

B5.Book selection.
Click the top Select button and specify the converted file (Image.mp4). Enter the temporary name (correct in paragraph "C"), the author and the album (does not work).
Click the second Select button and select a cover (.jpg). In the field next to it should appear its size and file name.

B6.Saving the list of chapters (including selected chapters).
Click the Save to TXT button to save the list of marked chapters in a file (Image.mp4.txt).

B7.Preview the result.
This function allows you to check the position of labels in the final file, for example, to make sure that the labels correspond to real chapters.

1. Click the Create CUE button.
2. Add the created file (Image.mp4.cue) to Foobar and run the check
3rd With an unsatisfactory result:
If there are few chapters, you can edit the duration manually (Save to TXT, edit, Open TXT)
Use the function "Increase / decrease the duration of all chapters" 1.

B8.Increase / decrease the duration of all chapters.
This feature is useful if the beginnings of all chapters are shifted, with the shift increasing for each subsequent chapter.
This function should be used for source files. The size of the shift is determined experimentally.

1. Enter a shift in the field next to the Apply button (100 = 1 second). This number will be added (deducted if negative) to the duration of each chapter.
2. Check the result with a preview.

B9.Sending to SSA.

1. After creating a list, selecting a file and entering a name, click Create POD or Open in SSA to create a .pod file (Image.mp4.pod). In the first case, you will need to drag the .pod file to the SSA.exe shortcut.
2. Wait for completion. The converted file should appear in the same folder as the original.


C. Adding to iTunes

1. If you got a file with the extension .m4a or .mp4, then just rename it to .m4b
2. Add the file to your iTunes library (for example, by dragging and dropping into the program window).
3. In the context menu, select Information, fill in the Name, Artist, Album, insert the cover.
4. Sync
If everything is done correctly, these results should be like this:


Method 2
We use the program iPod Audio Book Converter (free).

Also need Nero Encoder and Slideshow Assembler

The program has a fairly clear interface.

1) Add book files (Add button), check the sequence.
2) Select the number of output files and the method of division in the Output file options (one, the specified number, the specified duration, the specified size).
3) Select the method of division into chapters in Chapter names for every (by File and / or by duration).
4) Select the naming method for chapters in the Chapter naming convertion field (for example, chapter names from ID3 tags). You can also set titles for chapters manually.
5) Select the output codec (Nero) and bitrate.
6) Set (check) the author, title, etc. fields, specify the cover.
7) Press the Run button and wait for the end.
8) Add to iTunes

The iPodABC program has one very significant flaw (there are also minor flaws): the encoding is very long.
When encoding mp3>The m4b program does the following:
1) encodes every mp3 file in wav
2) encodes each wav to mp4
3) combines 20 mp4 files into one (for example, if there are 50 files, the program will first combine 20, 20 and 10 files into three files, and only then 3 files into one). If the number of chapters is a multiple of 20 (20, 40, 60, etc.), the program will write about the error almost at the very end.
4) add chapters via SSA
At the same time, the program works in one stream, and if the computer has several processors (cores), one core deals with encoding, and the second fully loads iPodABC (apparently, with a useless wait cycle for encoding completion).

Therefore, another method: coding through Foobar2000

We encode files to mp4 in the same way as described in clause A. Transcoding to m4b is higher in method 1, but instead of Convert to Single File, choose Convert to ....
When using Foobar, the encoding time will be 2, 4 or 8 times less !!!
After encoding, add the mp4 files to iPodABC and follow the instructions described above. Unfortunately, this method does not allow to avoid a long merging of files into one. Therefore, if for you
For coding, you can use other programs, such as iTunes.

Method 3
We use the program MarkAble version 2x

The program costs $ 18. It does everything by itself)))))

Screenshots to all this disgrace are attached

Post has been editeddirectorgeneral - 13.04.15, 10:21