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[olarte]

  In the past with MC in order to have audiobooks remember where I left of, all I had to do was set the file to be a Podcast Genre.

Now with the new Ipod classic, doing this simply creates and MP3 with a podcast Genre but the bookmark is no longer remembered.

Luckily there is a way around this although it's yet another hoop one has to go through. You need to convert the file to an M4a file then rename the extension to M4b.

Someone here pointed out a great encoder to do this called bonkenc encoder.

This is yet another sign that the underlying structure of the database and how the new ipods handle files has changed... enough that it maybe a while before MC is able to support them the way we are used to.

For now, I'll hobble along using MC to manage my real library and only add what I need to the Ipod with Itunes Yuk!

[olarte]

Duh, regarding audio books in Mp3 format, using Itunes (Yuk!) one can simply do Get Info, then remember position. That will make it work the way it used to, without having to convert to an m4b file.

However, the "podcast" genre is not working the way it used to when I was using MC to sync to my old Ipod. 

And in any case, using the true AUdiobook format will allow you to play books slower\faster via the settings menu, and also they will show up under the Audiobooks menu, instead of the music menu so I guess it's cleaner, just a lot more work.

[lalittle]

Duh, regarding audio books in Mp3 format, using Itunes (Yuk!) one can simply do Get Info, then remember position. That will make it work the way it used to, without having to convert to an m4b file.

I'm not clear on what you're saying here.  Are you saying that there is a setting in iTunes called "remember position" that, when activated, will result in mp3 audiobooks being bookmarked after they're synced to the iPod?  Is this setting a toggle?  Why would anybody EVER want audiobooks to not bookmark?  Thanks for clarification on this.

However, the "podcast" genre is not working the way it used to when I was using MC to sync to my old Ipod.

Just to clarify, on my current iPod (5th gen), the iPod automatically bookmarks ANY mp3 that is tagged as the genre "Podcast."  You're saying that this is no longer the case -- i.e. that mp3 Podcasts simply aren't bookmarked on the iPod anymore?  This seems reall odd to me -- I'm wondering if this is a bug in the new units.  Is this possibly an issue with the iTunes implementation, or is there possibly another setting for Podcasts like the one described above for Audiobooks?  I actually went to an Apple store and spoke with one of the "Geniuses" (their official title) about some of these issues (since I was curious about the new "Classic" units), and they had NO idea what I was talking about.

And in any case, using the true AUdiobook format will allow you to play books slower\faster via the settings menu, and also they will show up under the Audiobooks menu, instead of the music menu so I guess it's cleaner, just a lot more work.

I always found the main "Audiobooks" menu on the iPod to be completely useless since it put every book into one big list.  If I instead navigate to Music/Genre/Audiobooks, they are sub-organized by Artist (i.e. Author) and Album (i.e. Book), which makes navigating them MUCH easier in my opinion.  If you have a lot of "periodical" type audiobooks, where there are dozens or even hundreds of episodes, having them all in one big list is a mess.

Thanks for the information,

Larry

[lalittle]

Apple just released a firmware update for the Classic iPods, so you could try that and see if it addresses these issues.  Apparently, Apple no longer posts information on what the updates fix -- they simply say something about "bug fixes."

If you do the update, please let us know if it makes any differences with the bookmarking capabilities.

Thanks,

Larry

PS.  On a related note, my 5th gen iPod does not save bookmarks for mp3 audiobooks.  The only workaround I know of is to tag the books as "Podcast."  Does anyone know if it's possible to get iPod bookmarks for mp3 files when syncing with MC?  Is there some sort of "remember position" setting like the one described in the second post of this thread?

[olarte]

To clarify, yes the old ipod videos all you need to do is change the genre to Podcast.

This does not work with Ipod Classic... you need to use Itunes Get INfo, remember position...

As for Update 1.0.1 I have no idea what it does and cannot fine anything anywhere... about it.

It does NOT fix the Coverflow problem, etc...

[lalittle]

To clarify, yes the old ipod videos all you need to do is change the genre to Podcast.

This does not work with Ipod Classic... you need to use Itunes Get INfo, remember position...

Does anyone know if there is an equivalent option in MC -- perhaps some sort of "Analyze" related option?

As for Update 1.0.1 I have no idea what it does and cannot fine anything anywhere... about it.

It does NOT fix the Coverflow problem, etc...

What coverflow issue are you referring to?  The reports I saw said that it made both scrolling and coverflow work much more smoothly.  Did you try it?

Thanks,

Larry

[olarte]

Does anyone know if there is an equivalent option in MC -- perhaps some sort of "Analyze" related option?

What coverflow issue are you referring to?  The reports I saw said that it made both scrolling and coverflow work much more smoothly.  Did you try it?

Thanks,

Larry

There is no Analyze option that I know of.

As for the coverflow the problem is that it shows multiple covers for compilation albums. such as a soundtrack that has multiple artists (each track may have a different artist).

[olarte]

Using the Podcast Genre now working as expected with MC, it saves book mark until next sync.

[lalittle]

Using the Podcast Genre now working as expected with MC, it saves book mark until next sync.

That's good news, but a feature that worked like iTunes "Get Info > Remember position" feature would be REALLY nice since we could use it in the "audiobooks" genre.  On that note, I think that ANY file in the "Audiobooks" genre should be AUTOMATICALLY bookmarked on the iPod by default, similar to the way any file in the "Podcast" genre is currently automatically bookmarked without having to "set" anything.  If MC could implement this behavior on iPods (i.e. automatically bookmark any file on the iPod under the "audiobooks" genre -- including mp3's), it would actually be a step above the iTunes syncing behavior of having to manually edit files to behave this way.

On a related note, on my 5th gen iPod, my mp3 podcast bookmarks remain even after I do a new sync (assuming, of course, that the files did not have to be re-synced.)

Larry