MacFevre
Copyright ©2006 Wayne Lefevre
How to Make an AudioBook, Part 2
by Wayne Lefevre
Last month we introduced you to Part 1 and converting MP3 files in to CDs.
The next part we’ll be dealing with is
making a CD into one large MP4, and splitting the different files from that
into “chapters”. For the next two demo’s, I’ll be using the book Pompeii by
Robert Harris. One, because I wanted to get screenshots, something I forgot to
do with the Janet Evanovich book, and two, it’s much more manly.
This is the screenshot you get when you put the disc into the drive. You can see what I mean by the many files on a disc. You have no idea where the chapters start and stop. Manufacturers do it this way to get the most audio on the least number of discs.
You’ll also notice the location of the Scripts Scroll next to the Help on the toolbar.
To do this type of rip, you will not need
to rip all the tracks to iTunes, unless of course you want to. First, highlight
all tracks, making sure they are in the correct order. You will start Join
Together like you do any normal application by double clicking on it’s icon. You will be
presented by a screen similar to this one. Go ahead and fill out the name, I
gave it one as Pompeii Disc 1. I also switched the genre to Audiobook (not
necessary, but can be helpful), filling out the track number and year. I gave
this one a track 1 of 5, since this is the first of 5 discs. I left the data
rate at 64 Kbps, stereo and sample rate at 44.1KHz.. Save as a .m4b file and be
sure to check the Use Chapter Tool box. You will also want to Save Work
Files,
if something goes wrong. After that simply press Proceed. If you would like, at
this point you could also name the tracks, but with this conversion, it would
not be much help.
The conversion process
is actually done by QuickTime, and a whole disc takes approximately 15 minutes.
After it is done, the program will chime and ask if you would like to play the
track or a handy button if you would like to donate to Dougs’ Scripts. Now is the
time to say if you’ve never been to Doug’s site, he has more iTunes scripts
that you can imagine. It is a truly fabulous; http://www.dougscripts.com
This is what your final product will look
like. It is the entire first disc, and as you can see, set into “segments”.
While not true chapters, it will still be a bona-fide audiobook, and able to
keep bookmarks. If you had named the separate tracks, it would have shown on
your chapter menu. On your iPod, these will be shown as hash marks.
Our next session will show you how to truly make it shine.
Next month we will discuss how to do chapters. Hope this helps you out, and if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at wlefevre@maccompanion.com/
