If you expect SanDisk to fix any of this, don’t hold your breath. Their pace has been glacial and they do not seem to actually listen to customers. The phone techs make all the right noises, but I’ve not seen much in the way of positive results so far. Disconnect somewhere between the “ears” and product management.
The BIG CLUE is in Tapeworm’s response. If there is so much discussion about how to “FIX” audiobook and other files, you would think that by now product management would have gotten the hint and fixed the problem. I guess they are firmly convinced that ALL files will be downloaded from sources with perfectly conforming tags in place. Yeah, right. The simple solution would be the folder and file view option that so many have asked for, only to be ignored or made fun of!
Don’t give up. You are close to getting it to do what it should.
It is not as hard as it sounds.
First step would be to get rational filenames that can be moved into a single directory and sort in correct chapter or track order. Try “Chapter (01).mp3”, etc or maybe it should be “Track (01).mp3” etc. This is easier than it sounds. You should be able to suggest the filename format when you are ripping the files and the program should number the files sequentially. Some of the steps below will not be necessary.
Since you already have the files and may not have access to the disks any longer, I will include all necessary steps.
First, make a copy of your ripped files and directories in a temp or work directory and work on the copies only. In case something goes wrong you won’t have to rerip the disks.
Assuming that the files are already shown in Windoz Explorer in the correct order, select all of the files in the first directory. Now right click on the first file in the list and select “Rename”. Type in the new name as “Chapter (1).mp3” or “Track (1).mp3”. Windows will rename all the selected files sequentially starting with the number you give in parentheses.
Now go to the second directory and rename the files in it starting with the first file in this directory as the next in sequence for your book. For example “Chapter (15).mp3” Or "Track (15).mp3.
Repeat the process for each directory/disk continuing with sequentially numbered names through the entire book.
If you used “Chapter (1).mp3”, etc or “Track (1).mp3”, etc you will only need to individually change numbers (1) through (9) to (01) to (09) respectively. This is so the names will sort properly on the player and not end up sorted as 1, 11, 12, …2, 21, 22, … etc. If there are more than 99 tracks this gets messier. You would need to use 3 digit numbers with leading zeros. Unfortunately, the Windoz sequential rename will not insert leading zeros.
The quick way to do this: Click on the first file. Pause. The file is now selected. Now click it again. Pause. The filename is now opened for edit with the whole name selected. Click on the space between the “(” and the “1”. The edit cursor is now sitting where you need to add the zero. Type in the zero, then hit enter. Filename corrected. Step and repeat 8 more times. If you don’t pause long enough between clicks, the file will simply open in your default music player program.
If the second directory starts over at (1) as in “disk 02 track (1).mp3” you will need to renumber 1 - 9 as 01 - 09 in each directory. That is why it is preferable to use the actual chapter numbers or simply number the tracks sequentially rather than keeping the disk & track organization.
If necessary, repeat the number edit process for as many directories/disks as you have in your audiobook.
Pretty quick and no broken fingers so far if you chose the correct name/numbering scheme as suggested.
Now copy or move all of the files into a single directory.
In Windoz Explorer select all of the files in your book. Now right click on the selected list and select “mp3tag” from the menu.
You are now looking at the mp3tag window with your book’s files in it.
Select all of the files in your book in the right pane of the mp3tag window.
In the pane on the left, edit the album name = book title, artist=author, genre=Audiobook (type in Audiobook since it is not in the mp3tag pulldown list for this field). Select “keep” for the track name and track number fields. Add any other info that applies to the entire book such as year published in the appropriate fields. Click the Save button above the edit pane. The information will now be applied to all of the tracks. If the ID3 tags are missing, this may take a few minutes while tags are inserted into the files.
This is another point where I would make a copy of the files in a NEW work directory to preserve what you’ve done so far in case things go fubar!
If track names are not present or do not have a format that will sort into the correct order, use the tool button that copies filename to tag. As I recall there is a default template that copies the entire filename (minus the .mp3) into the track name field. You may want to build a template to pick out only part of the filename. There are examples and the window shows you what the result will be before you commit to the change.
This is yet another point where I would make a copy of the files in a NEW work directory to preserve what you’ve done so far in case things go fubar. Disk space is cheap and will be recovered when you are done!!
From here there may be a simple solution which is to delete all the existing track numbers by selecting “blank” with all other fields set to “keep”. If I remember correctly from my experimentation, if the track number fields are all blank, then the player sorts the “album” (your book title) by filename. Job done!
If this doesn’t work, then one choice is to individually edit each track number. If you go back to the work directory from before you deleted the track numbers, the first disk may have usable track numbers. Be sure to use leading zeros and click Save after each change before moving to the next file. If some files have just the track number and some have something like n/39, the player will do unpredictable things with track order so be sure that the numbering is consistant.
OR
Assuming you have used either chapter numbers or sequential track numbers and used a space between words and number groups, you can try automating the track numbering by using the button that copies filename to tag. You will have to build a template to pick the number out of the filename. There are examples and the window shows you what the result will be before you commit to the change.
Oh, yeah! Must remember to clean up. After you are happy with your new files & tags, move them into your “real” music library directory and delete the temporary working directories and files.
Sounds like a lot, but once you get the hang of the steps, it goes quickly and no broken fingers.
From a cold start I figured out the mp3tag program and fixed a dozen books (some unabridged books with tracks every minute or two) in about an hour. Then I spent about 10 minutes going back and adding a few refinements like published date and numbers in book titles so it’s easy to read an author’s works in sequence. For example “1 Harry Potter and the…”
You MUST be consistant with authors’ names and other fields in the tags. Otherwise you will end up with books listed under different authors (artists on the player) such as J.K.Rowling, J. K. Rowling, J.K. Rowling, and JK Rowling. Or chapters scattered as if they are different books, even if by the same author. That’s why you want all the files processed at the same time when changing the fields that should be identical.
Good luck.
Message Edited by fbtjr1947 on 11-13-2008 06:49 AM
Message Edited by fbtjr1947 on 11-13-2008 07:04 AM
Message Edited by fbtjr1947 on 11-13-2008 07:05 AM
