[b]THERE IS HUGE PENT UP DEMAND FOR A PROGRAM LIKE ON THE WEB. GOOGLE SEARCH![/b]
I have searched ALL OVER THE WEB for this. Mac has Audiobook Builder, but Windows has no good batch audiobook builder.
The way I do it now:
1) Have a collection of mp3s
2) Merge using Mergemp3 (rawstream mode if the programs throws an error)
3) Import the collection of merged mp3s (if you have more than one audiobooks) into iTunes music using similar Album name (e.g. DonationAlbum)
4) ... i dont do chapter assigning yet.
What I want:
a) I have chapter 1.mp3, chapter 2.mp3, chapter 3.mp3
b)The program merges the mp3 files into one file
c) The program remembers the timing of each assigned chapter, create chapters in the huge mp3/m4a file based on the position for each mp3 file, and names the chapters based on mp3 file name
d) converts mp3 to AAC using m4a container using its own way or launches (easier) iTunes to do the conversion
e) Renames mp3.m4a file to mp3.m4b to enable bookmarking
*) the program can be run as many times as possible to do batches
The only software that is available helps in this regard:
1) MergeMP3 -- works beautifully, but does NOT create audiobooks, nor does it allow saving chapters inside of the file. http://shchuka.com/software/mergemp3/
2) MP3 to iPod/iPhone Audio Book Converter: Theoretically does what I want (minus the chapters), but there are reports on the net [b]that I can personally confirm[/b] that software makes broken m4b files with any player seeking wrong time in m4b to seek to when fast forwarding. essentially, useless, but this is the closest there is and serves as an example: http://www.freeipodsoftware.com/
3) Chapter and Verse -- Does everything I asked for but terrible in implementation; buggy; always tells me the file is not AAC, even though itunes converted it. (such as merging and chapters based on individual mp3 files).
Proof that Mp3 to ipod/iphone converter is broken: http://itunesm4ptomp3.wordpress.com/category/audiobook/
[quote]I have used it successfully – sometimes. The problem is the output file sometimes has the wrong duration encoded in the file which causes various problems, including causing iTunes to crash. I say sometimes, but it is actually more like 75% of the time
Exactly my problem.
Basically, we need a program like MergeMp3 to combine the MP3 files
(allow the user to see the order it's being combined in).Then, the program launches an iTunes module like MP3 to iPod/iPhone Audiobook Converter does (or it can do it on its own, if possible) to convert the MP3 file to AAC (m4a). Then the program renames the file extension to m4b to enable bookmarking.
I realize this is a royal project and a major PITA, but it's worth it!
