App for building an M4B audiobook file

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ronks
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Post by ronks »

Up to now I've used Chapter & Verse from Loden Software on my Windows 10 system to build an M4B audiobook from a set of M4A files.
The context is, I download them as MP3 chapter files and I use Audacity to convert each of them individually to M4As, then bundle them into a single M4B audiobook with C&V.
But I'm looking for an alternative to Chapter & Verse; it hasn't been updated since 2015, I think the creator no longer exists, and it has some major bugs.
Is there a Windows-based alternative to bundle M4A's into an M4B; or even better, to convert MP3's and bundle them?
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

I can't help you with this, but are you aware that someone makes M4Bs out of the LibriVox projects?

It sometimes takes a while (they have to wait for the cover art to be completed, and then it's done in their own spare time on top of that), but once it's done, there is a link on the catalog page, in the left column in the "links" section, worded "M4B Audiobook". Or if you go to the Archive page for the book, it's titled "LibriVox Apple Audiobook".

If you're working off other MP3s, then hopefully someone will come along with recommendations. I just wanted to be sure you're not doing work you don't need to do. ;)
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ronks
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Post by ronks »

Thanks for the info; but I'm working on downloaded lectures.
Would love to know how the "someone" does it.
Rapunzelina
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Post by Rapunzelina »

In the meantime, see if this wiki article offers any useful information https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php?title=How_To_Make_M4B_Files
ronks
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Post by ronks »

Thanks. I did; it says
> You will need to download both Chapter and Verse and Itunes - both are free. Chapter & Verse uses iTunes for file conversion and merging the files into an audiobook.

:-(

But I will take a closer look at the options; maybe I missed something.
ronks
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Post by ronks »

Success! I found an app called AudiobookConverter at Steam, for five dollars. Just tested it on a series of M4A files and bundled them into an M4B.
Haven't tried going direct from MP3, but the Open dialog box say I can. That would save me the Audacity conversion step.
And I understand it runs on Windows or Apple.
I recommend that the Librivox help page be updated, at least to indicate there are newer alternatives to Chapter & Verse.
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Post by annise »

I use a version of Audiobook converter I have for files with "foreign" accents as Itunes names the files chaptername.m4a and chapter and verse rejects the "foreign accents" in file names. It works well with .mp3 files but has no provision for images - which probably doesn't matter for you. Does the version you have allow images ?

Anne
ronks
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Post by ronks »

I'm not sure I understand the question. Version 6.0.0 which I downloaded today and seems to be the most recent, allows me to set a jpg image as "Album art".

But I have just discovered I can't seem to name chapters, which is disappointing. The FAQ says

> Q: Can I do advanced customisation of chapter naming?
A: Yes, you can. Open file C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\AudioBookConverter-[VERSION]\AudioBookConverter-[VERSION].properties find field chapter_format edit template following documentation here https://github.com/antlr/stringtemplate4/blob/master/doc/index.md.

- but I don't find that file (or understand the github documentation cited).
Maybe I should use Chapter & Verse for that. :-|
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Post by annise »

My version is ancient - I found a newer one just now but they wanted me to switch my default search and pdf and I'm not interested. Chapter and verse handles german and French accents but not any others and of course not Arabic or Asian or Russian or Hebrew etc.
Does where you got it have strings attached ?

Anne
ronks
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Post by ronks »

> Does where you got it have strings attached?

No visible ones that I have found. :-)
The desktop link points to
steam://rungameid/1529240
which is odd, but not an obvious problem for me.

I downloaded it from Steam for $4.99 US.
As I say, I can't find how to rename chapters, but otherwise it looks good; and much faster than C&V.
ronks
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Post by ronks »

Just tested C & V to add chapter names on an existing M4B audiobook I created with AudioBookConverter.
It works, and remedies the auto-naming ("Chapter 001", ...) of ABC. :-)
A little tedious for a large book, but it uses each app for what it does best.
annise
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Post by annise »

Yes - that is what I do. It is a bit of a pain because I usually do them as a batch and I have to remember to do the "foreign letters" ones separately. I didn't notice that I could get chapter names in with the image so I'll look next time - that would be handy.

Anne
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Post by NicoleJLeBoeuf »

This seems like a good thread to add info to and ask a question...

1. QUESTION: When I make m4bs for myself (not related to Librivox, but I'm getting pretty handy at this and should probably offer my services!), I sometimes run into this problem with Chapter & Verse: I'll tell it to add all my chapters, which are m4A files (because it doesn't accept anything else), and sometimes after appearing to process all of them, it will turn out only to have added the first file. Or it will add all the files but the last. Or it will randomly add the first three files, and then stop! I have no idea why. It seems perfectly random, has nothing to do with length or special characters, or whether Autobuild is On or Off. All the files are m4A files that were created in the exact same way (either by importing MP3s into Audacity and converting them to M4A, or by splitting an Audacity file into multiple M4A exports).

Has anyone else had this issue with Chapter & Verse? Any idea what is causing it to barf on files of seemingly identical quality?

2. INFO: Because of this issue, I'll generally build first with AudiobookConverter, then import the resulting M4B into Chapter & Verse for chapter-split and metadata tweaking. I wanted to volunteer some info about ABC:

* I've downloaded it and updated it from its GitHub page, not from Steam, because that's where the latest version is:
https://github.com/yermak/AudioBookConverter/releases/tag/version_6.2.10 (Nov 2023)

The latest version on Steam still seems to be 6.1.2 (Oct 2022). I should probably buy it anyway just because I can't see another vector for paying the author. GitHub doesn't seem to have a donation button that I can see.

In the discussion upthread, difficulty customizing chapter names was mentioned. Version 6.2.10 does give this functionality, though it's a little unintuitive: on PC, I right-click on the chapter then choose Edit. (Although generally I just let it import chapter names from the metadata, since I've already customized that via the Audacity split or the MP3tag program.

Anyways, I hope the info in #2 is helpful, and I hope someone has insight as to my issue in #1! Thanks!
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ronks
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Post by ronks »

C & V was apparently last updated in 2012; for my purposes its time has passed and I use Audiobook Converter, downloaded from Steam.
I see it's about 3 years old, but it does what I need with fewer annoying quirks (that will never be corrected) than C&V.
I should review if the newer version from GitHub has features or fixes worth updating for, but I don't think I will ever use old C&V again. I'm able to modify the metadata as much as I need, though I can't say I've explored every item.
NicoleJLeBoeuf
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Post by NicoleJLeBoeuf »

Sigh. Yes, I know Chapter & Verse is old and no longer maintained. But it has some lovely features still - I really love the ability to import/export chapter splits as a CSV, for instance, and the on-board media player, and the ability to import files without sorting so as to maintain my preferred sorting from the Windows folder.

Looking at the AudiobookConverter GitHub, I'm seeing quite a few upgrades since the version that's on steam. You may find it worth your while. (Annoyingly, though, everytime I open ABC, it asks me if I want to download the latest version, and if I accept its invitation, it points me to the Steam purchase page. Ah well.)
Nicole J. LeBoeuf. It rhymes with "I write stuff."
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