Normally when you download free audiobooks they are in the MP3 format, which is not bookmarkable and iTunes treats it as music. To get them into and iTunes Audiobook format is easier than you think.
For the purpose of this guide I will asume your book is spilt into parts, if yours isn’t you can skip to 3.
- First you need to get those files merged together in one file, to do this I use a sound editor. Import your MP3s and add them to a track lining them up in order with no gaps.
- Now export these as a low qualty MP3 file, an audiobook is only spoken word so 64Kbps is more than enough.
- Add your file to iTunes
- Change your Import settings. Go to edit > Preferences > Advanced > Importing and change “Import Using” to “AAC Encoder”, chnage”Settings” to “Custom” and “Stereo Bit Rate” to “64Kbps”. Your setting should look like the image below (click to enlarge)
- Right click the ‘song’ in iTunes and select “Convert Selection to AAC”.
- When this is completed right the new ‘song’ and click “Show in Windows Explorer”
- Rename this file “.m4b” and add it to iTunes again.
Once your done done you can delete all the MP3 version of the book you have.
