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 Post subject: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:15 pm 
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Hi,
I am new to this app, just opened it for the first time. I was reading the help file for it but got a little confused. I am editing some recordings in Amadeus Pro and they are in MP3 format. The help file describes importing from CDs but I am assuming I can also import these files when I have finished editing them, right?

Another question is if the MP3 format the best to use, as I can export from Amadeus Pro with other choices.

Thanks for any help. I know these are really basic questions, but I have to start somewhere. :D


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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:11 am 
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Hi there!

You can drag most audio files - whatever you can open in QuickTime Player - right into the list of Chapters. Try to use a format that gives you the best quality before you add to Audiobook Builder. The data will likely be converted when it's added to your final audiobook file, introducing a slight decrease in quality, so garbage in will definitely equal garbage out.

It looks like Audiobook Builder's built-in help covers adding audio files in a section called "Add audio data" just above the section named "Import CDs". Looking over that section, we don't mention particular formats so we'll have to add in a note about that. We also don't seem to go over how you'll want to add audio data in the highest quality you can, so there's another adjustment we'll make. We'll get on it!

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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:40 pm 
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Thanks for that guidance. I tried a couple of audiobook makings — one as files, the other as chapters. I them imported the output files into iTunes, connected my iPad to the computer, and downloaded the audiobooks. However, they do not show up in iTunes on my iPad or any place else on the pad that I have looked. It is like they are invisible. So I must not be doing it right.

— Richard


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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:11 pm 
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Could you take a look in the Books application on your iPad? That's where Apple stashes audiobooks these days.

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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:35 pm 
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Thanks. I just looked there and found it, but it does not open when I tap it. Just the cover showing. If I tap the other audiobooks they open and give the option of playing so there must be something not right with the file.


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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:20 am 
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It sounds like you’re seeing a QuickLook issue that can occur when a file contains a chapter artwork video track. The issue doesn’t signal something is wrong with the files themselves, but rather a playback error on the part of Apple's QuickLook feature—your file will still play great in a true media player app, like QuickTime, Books, or Music Also, we first reported the issue with QuickLook processing audiobook files with chapter artwork video tracks to Apple back in 2013, when it only happened with PNG video tracks and we switched to JPEG, but it later “spread" to JPEG video tracks, as well. Our bug report, sadly, and like most, has not been responded to.

If you mainly use QuickLook for listening, the best way to avoid chapter artwork video track being added—and, therefore, work-around the issue—is to forego using any Cover art or chapter art images in projects.

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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Fri Jul 17, 2020 11:45 am 
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I recreated the audiobook without any cover art. The cover was, before, a png or jpeg (I forget which) and not a video. Anyway, it seemed to work and now opens on the iPad in the Book app.
I also am able to open the audiobook in Quicktime on my iMac.

I do not know what Quicklook is but must be the issue. So am I correct, then, that I should not put any image cover on the audiobook in the future?

Also, the output I have created, will it work for someone with a PC? I am hoping to sell this evenutally.

Thanks,
— Richard


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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Fri Jul 17, 2020 12:21 pm 
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That's good news that rebuilding helped out there.

QuickLook is the feature on the Mac the lets users preview certain files, without needing to open said files. If you wish to use QuickLook to preview your audiobooks, then that's correct that you'll want to avoid adding Cover or Chapter art to future audiobook projects. For distribution, though, you'll probably want to have Cover art included, at least.

Audiobooks created with Audiobook Builder can indeed be played by PC users, and those users shouldn't see the same issue previewing your files because QuickLook is only on the Mac. The same issue also won't occur for many Mac users with older versions of Mac OS X installed.

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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Fri Jul 17, 2020 12:24 pm 
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If I have the finished project on a site that sells it, then I can't really have art work can I? As I have no idea who would buy it or download. If it won't work for some Mac users then that would be a problem.


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 Post subject: Re: Help a beginner
PostPosted: Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:08 pm 
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It's all up to you. If you don't want to run the risk of Mac users encountering the QuickLook preview issue, though, you would indeed want to leave the artwork off.

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