Comments on: Survey: Do You Burn Audiobook MP3 Files to CD?

By: Angella

Angella — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:02:37 +0000

Oops, I meant to say “much shorter than it would take to listen to them on CD.” My Sansa goes everywhere with me.

By: Angella

Angella — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:01:08 +0000

I check them out from the library in CD form, burn them onto my computer & then upload them my mp3 player. The only times I *ever* listen to them in CD format are a) very long road trips when said mp3 might lose batteries (and/or said listener might get pulled over for wearing headphones) and b) when the book is appropriate for the entire traveling audience (pretty rare & applicable mostly to classics).

I delete the books from computer when I’m done listening to them (I think of it as “checking out” anyway, since it takes me 2-3 days to listen a single audiobook on my MP3 player, much longer than it would take to listen to them on CD).

Still waiting for the audiobook producers to catch up with us MP3 listeners…

By: Clive

Clive — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:43:26 +0000

I do backup files I only own on mp3 to cd. It is mostly a result of having had to many drive crashes and to much data in mp3 format. It’s really easy to fill memory with audio books. I do not typically reverse convert to CD format but maintain the mp3 extension.

By: Charlie Close

Charlie Close — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:15:40 +0000

Scott -

I don’t use CDs for audiobooks anymore unless absolutely necessary. I would prefer to use multi-hour audio files and download them to my iPod. The Audible.com approach works well for me.

Thanks for asking.

Charlie Close

By: David Watry

David Watry — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:13:40 +0000

I burn my mp3s to a CD to listen to them in my car at the 96kbps bit rate (anything below that bit rate sounds tinny, but 64kbps can work - 32kbps sounds like old-time radio). Most audio books can be burned to a single CD that way and still maintain a good audio sound (I rip music mp3s at 192kbps). I agree, breaking the 75 min track is best if broken down to at least a (aprox) 10 minute track. I do use my ipod for mp3s too, but I don’t usually use it for listening to audio books because I also like to use it for music. Going back and trying to find the right track on the ipod isn’t easy. Plus if you put it in shuffle mode, you may get some music then some random audio book track. If I put an audio book on my ipod, I have to set it up so it only has the one audio book on it. My commute home everyday is long enough that I can easily listen to my mp3 CDs in my car for audio books and never loose my place, and leave my ipod for music.

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:09:17 +0000

I think M. Lerch has a point there. I used to burn mp3 discs that would play in a portable CD player. I never burned in audio format, too many discs to handle. I finally broke down and bought an mp3 player - much more convenient.

By: Mike Lerch

Mike Lerch — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:02:07 +0000

The question is somewhat ambiguous. I think you’re asking if people burn the audio from the .mp3 file onto a standard audio CD that will play in regular CD players. I haven’t done that in some time, but what I *have* done is burned the mp3 files onto a CD-ROM. Many CD players now will play MP3 files directly, which allows you to put 700MB of MP3 files on one disc. I do the latter more often than the former.

With that said, I see some folks are asking for one giant file with chapter marks. I’d definitely like to see it go the other way and have one small file per chapter. A couple of the mp3 players in my family don’t have bookmarking capabilities, so if you have a big file (even a 75 minute one), you have to hold the fast forward button until you get to the spot you left off. So I actually prefer a pile of mp3 files that are split on chapter breaks. Another advantage is that if you have a really ancient mp3 player like a 128 MB or 256 MB one, you can still use it with the small files.

By: Rick Soldo

Rick Soldo — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:02:24 +0000

I only store them and listen to them digitally. I’d prefer one big file with chapter segments for the iPod.

When I imported to iTunes, I had to add the metadata to get it working right. I’d appreciate it if that could be done in advance.

Thanks for your great work Scott!

By: Jayne Roceo

Jayne Roceo — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:09:12 +0000

Aloha,, Regarding mp3 which I read on Saturday. I think we might disagree on this, but I still appreciate your comment on Survey: Do You Burn Audiobook MP3 Files to CD?.

By: Henry Vogel

Henry Vogel — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:10:21 +0000

I use an MP3 player exclusively for my audio book listening. I like having the option to burn CDs if needed but rarely do it. Truth to tell, not having the option to purchase an audio book in digital format is generally a deal breaker for me. Digital audio books are less expensive to buy and are available to me instantly via download.