Hi,
I have no idea what is wrong.I loaded an mp3 audiobook to the audiobook folder in my clip+. Audiobook shows in the files displayed on the computer but not on the menu of the clip. The only reference to audiobook is in settings where you can change a couple of options. I have tried to update the firmware but I get a not available message . I tried the manual way but again no good My present firmware is 1.01.05p I run Windows 7 . Any help would be appreciated
First of all, are you navigating to Music->Audiobooks to look for it? If you have the Clip+, have you tried navigating the folder view through Music->Folders? If it shows up on the computer, it should show there, too.
These might answer the most basic reasons you wouldn’t find them, let us know!
Are the audiobook files tagged properly? If not, use a tag aditing program to fix the tags. The files are probably listed on your player under the audioboook submenu as unknown due to missing tags.
Many thanks for the swift reply. I kept looking for audiobooks in the root menu but could not find it I found it under music audiobooks This is fine except I will have to make sure this is set up for my wife who has visual problems and navigating small menus is almost impossible have got a book up and running and starting where it left off so it looks good.
Any problems I will certainly post here
Many thanks
I forgot to add they are listed as unknown how do I tag them please? I use a CD to MP3 programme to convert the discs
For many rippers, they will have an option to download the tags for music files from an Internet database, as part of the ripping process. I don’t know if that typically will apply for audiobooks.
Otherwise, many rippers will have data fields you can edit when you rip, to add the tags in. Or you could use Windows Explorer or, better and easier, a tag editor such as MP3Tag or The Godfather (both Internet freeware) to edit the tags.
Also, a few other things to note:
– At the bottom of the Clip+'s Music list, there is an option Folders, to navigate by folders and file names, just like on your computer. Your book’s files will be listed there under the folder and file names–no need for tags to navigate there.
– If you store your book files in the player’s Audiobooks folder (a good idea, for organization), even if you haven’t tagged your audiobooks, the player will display the folder and file names when you navigate by the internal database (that is, not by the Folder view) and generally will use the folder and file names on the display when the files are playing. It will do likewise when the book’s files are stored elsewhere but the files’ Genre tag field is set to Audiobook.
These are easy ways to avoid having to enter in tag information, if you would like to avoid that.
Thank everyone once more. I was a bit reloctant to try tagging as some times there is 15 cd’s to a book each with about 20 tracks. I will try using the folder method but I will have to rip a couple of books first. . The Sansa clip+ user manual has about four lines dedicated to audiobooks which basically state " yes we do audiobooks load your books to audiobooks and get started" If only it were that simple. I have an MP3 where it is that simple but the battery life is poor so I thought I would try the clip. My wife is pleased with the sound and I am sure she will eventually master the controls. I will let you know in a few days how I get on
G’day from Australia and thanks
I think that using folder view, and/or storing your audiobook folders (each of which uses the audiobook name) in the Clip+'s Audiobooks folder, in which case the Clip+'s database will use and show the folder and file names, will be pretty successful and simple for you. You have to store the audiobooks somewhere on the Clip+, so why not the Audiobooks folder, keeping things organized and letting the Clip+'s database use the folder and file names?
As to editing the tags, personally, I find that adding the tags in as part of the ripping process is the least painful method and just adds a minute or two to the ripping process. Although, of course, it all adds up, especially with multi-disc audiobooks.
In the end, I think it’s just a matter of getting a system down that works for you. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
I’m a real newbie at this, so I beg your indulgence. But how does one get an audio book to begin with?
Do you have to get the book on CD, copy it to your PC, then transfer that to your Clip+? Seems like a lot of work.
Are audio books available preloaded on mini-smart cards?
Thanks for your help . . .
You have the process right, for getting audiobooks on CD onto your Clip+ (or any digital audio player), except that you need to “rip” the CD–use a piece of software called a “ripper” to convert and transfer to your computer the CD audio files in a format that digital audio players recognize (most–or all?– don’t recognize the CD audio format).
The process actually goes quickly, depending on the speed of your computer. But it adds up, especially with multi-volume CD sets such as audiobooks. And adding in/editing the tags adds to that. But on the other hand, with multi-CD audiobooks, the amount of time spent ripping the book still is low given the many hours of listening from the multi-CDs.
Rippers are easily found on the Internet, for free. I use one called CDex. Like any software, they may seem a bit intimidating at first, but it’s really just a matter of setting things up once and getting the process down, like making an omelet. Windows Media Player also includes a ripper (best advice: be sure to understand and set the settings; don’t just use the defaults, which may use settings, such as copy protection, you don’t want).
You also can get audiobooks already in MP3 form (or other form that digital audio players recognize), simplifying the process greatly. In that case, you just transfer your audiobook files to your player.
There are sources online for free audiobooks, all set to go. Podiobooks.com offers new serialized books–they are sent to you electronically, chapter by chapter as new chapters some out. It’s kind of like the old days of radio or serialized movies! You also can download completed books all at once. The books tend to be new works from new authors–don’t expect the latest Suzie Orman book there … But many of the books have been highly regarded.
You also can join various fee-based audiobooks clubs. Audible.com and eMusic.com each have audiobooks (that being Audible’s business) and monthly subscription fees, for a set number of downloads per month. Nicely, they both also have free trials.
I hope this helps round out your understanding.
You have the process right, for getting audiobooks on CD onto your Clip+ (or any digital audio player), except that you need to “rip” the CD–use a piece of software called a “ripper” to convert and transfer to your computer the CD audio files in a format that digital audio players recognize (most–or all?– don’t recognize the CD audio format).
The process actually goes quickly, depending on the speed of your computer. But it adds up, especially with multi-volume CD sets such as audiobooks. And adding in/editing the tags adds to that. But on the other hand, with multi-CD audiobooks, the amount of time spent ripping the book still is low given the many hours of listening from the multi-CDs.
Rippers are easily found on the Internet, for free. I use one called CDex. Like any software, they may seem a bit intimidating at first, but it’s really just a matter of setting things up once and getting the process down, like making an omelet. Windows Media Player also includes a ripper (best advice: be sure to understand and set the settings; don’t just use the defaults, which may use settings, such as copy protection, you don’t want).
You also can get audiobooks already in MP3 form (or other form that digital audio players recognize), simplifying the process greatly. In that case, you just transfer your audiobook files to your player.
There are sources online for free audiobooks already in MP3 format, all set to go. Podiobooks.com offers new serialized books–they are sent to you electronically, chapter by chapter as new chapters come out. It’s kind of like the old days of radio or serialized movies! You also can download completed books all at once. The books tend to be new works from new authors–don’t expect the latest Suzie Orman book there … But many of the books have been highly regarded.
You also can join various fee-based audiobooks clubs, to download audiobooks in a format ready for your digital audio player. Audible.com and eMusic.com each have audiobooks (that being Audible’s business) and monthly subscription fees, for a set number of downloads per month. Nicely, they both also have free trials.
And then Amazon.com (and others, I assume), sell individual audiobooks for download and play on your digital audio player. I don’t know, however, if anyone sells audiobooks preloaded onto a microSD card, for use in your audio player. It may be that the cost of the cards has been too much until recently to make that attractive. But I could see that changing in the future–although the ability simply to download may overtake that option.
And lest I forget–many libraries allow you to download and check-out audiobooks, already in digital audio player form. Overdrive is one of the library systems, and works on the Clips.
I hope this helps round out your understanding.
Loaded a book went to folders as advised. Works brilliantly I even managed to update the firmware thanks to the tip about the bin file being the only one required, I was trying to load the entire download. Makes me wonder who writes computer instructions - not you good people- I mean the so called experts. Or am I the only person in the world who does not know that when you download an update you only add one small part?
Great to hear! And you are far from the only one …
Did you put the audiobook into the Clip’s Audiobooks folder and also try accessing the book in the old-fashioned way, through the Clip’s mdatabase option? That should work as well for you.
Just a quick note regarding updates to the firmware. The Sansa firmware versions can be considered “portable”, or “standalone” depending upon how you look at it. Firmware upgrades are not cumulative, meaning that you don’t need to add them in sequence like a Windows Update.
Each revision is a complete bin ary file containing all updates and functionalities. You can swap between a current version or a previous version as you wish.
Now, about that audiobook question. Audiobooks are currently available in one of two main venues, on CD, or via download. It’s pretty amazing just how many CDs it can require to publish an unabridged edition, isn’t it! This is because the audiobook is published for playback in a conventional CD player, using Red Book standard CD audio (cda) PCM sampled at 44.1 kHz, just like a music CD.
When the Compact Disc was envisioned, getting 70 minutes or so was a hurdle. It was really nice to be able to listen to classical music in one CD, packaged in one “jewel box”. Pop music releases were much easier to fit in that single format, as an album is shorter than one would find in the classical music venue.
Times have changed, haven’t they? Today, it’s safe to say that the mass market is downloads of MP3, AAC, or WMA format online. The venerable CD format could use some “catching up”. One can encode those files on the CD in MP3 format, allowing several hours, at the very least, on that common CD. The problem is that portable CD players don’t all play this format.
As an audiobook publisher, I would look seriously into the more portable MP3 possibility, but the problem of media rights and protection against piracy rears its ugly head. This is why library books are available through the NetLibrary and Overdrive formats as secure WMA files (requiring the Sansa to be connected in MTP mode for the transfer, with licenses). Having the files in MP3 / WMA format makes loading your Sansa (or any portable digital player) much easier.
Audible has bypassed this problem by offering a great selection in .aa or .aax formats, with convenient chapter breaks. I’ve gotten spoiled with Audible, as I love listening to books, and I hate abridged versions.
If you are transferring from an audiobook CD, you must “rip” the CD into a digital (compressed) format for your Sansa. When doing this, you will run into the Big Problem: the commercial CD tag libraries that Windows Media Player and other rippers use are geared towards music releases, and not audiobooks.
One can end up with a gaggle of files that will not display correctly or won’t play in the correct order, a problem easily corrected by editing the ID3 tags embedded in each audio file.
To do this, prior to transferring the CD to your Sansa, use an ID3 tag editing utility like MP3Tag. It appears complicated the first time you use it, but the Auto Numbering Wizard is very powerful, correcting the track numbers for you in one pass. It’s very important, listening to a murder mystery, that after listening to Chapter 1, the player doesn’t zip to Chapter 14, and whodunnit is revealed!
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
Wow, Milkerman, not for nothing do you carry the label SanDisk Guru.
More than enough info to get me started, & thx for the tip re: libraries. I’m a big user of libraries.
Thanks.
Cool! Checking out via the library really is a great option for audiobooks, where you likely will not be listening to the book again (and then can use the money that you would have spent to buy the audiobook for a pizza!).
For free audio books, try your public library. It is surprising the number of libraries out there that offer this service. All you need is a library card
@prinyerscove wrote:
For free audio books, try your public library. It is surprising the number of libraries out there that offer this service. All you need is a library card
Shhhh . . . music CD’s too. 
prinyerscove wrote:
For free audio books, try your public library. It is surprising the number of libraries out there that offer this service. All you need is a library card
Sssshhhh . . . don’t tell anybody, but they have music CD’s & DVD’s too.
| Legal | Terms of Use | Privacy Statement | Forum Terms of Service |
|
| © Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Western Digital Technologies, Inc. is the seller of record and licensee in the Americas of SanDisk® products. |