How to Import Audiobooks into ITunes

Audiobooks are, as the name implies, audio versions of a book. Digital copies of audio books are quickly replacing CD and tape copies of audio books. iTunes is a digital music and multimedia program made by Apple. In addition to being useful for organizing your digital music and movies, iTunes can also be used to organize and listen to audio books.

Importing audio books into iTunes is a relatively easy process. Organizing the chapters into their proper order so you can listen to the audio book as it was meant to be heard is a crucial step as well. We'll go over how to import the files first, and then look at how to label and organize the audio book files.

Importing into iTunes.

Open iTunes on your PC or Mac. Click on the word "File" in the top section of iTunes and look for a menu option titled "Add to Library." Click on this option. A new folder window will open. Browse through until you find your audiobook(s) that you want to import into iTunes. You can select an entire folder or one folder containing all the chapters of one particular book.

Mac users can also highlight the folders and simply drag them over the right hand section of the iTunes window to import the files.

After a few minutes all of the files will appear in the right hand section of iTunes.

Labeling and organizing audiobooks in iTunes.

Click on the first file of the audiobook imported files list. Press and hold down the "Shift" key while doing so. While you continue to hold this key down, press the down arrow on your keyboard repeatedly until all of the files (chapters) for the first audiobook are selected. At the last file of the first audiobook, click your left mouse button once. You will see all the files from the first to last file highlighted.

Go back into the "File" menu on iTunes and click on "Get Info." This will bring up a menu of settings you can apply to the highlighted files. Click on the "Options" tab in the settings menu that appears. Make sure the media type is selected as "audiobook." Next to "Remember position" the option of "Yes" should be indicated.

Next you'll want to properly label the audiobook audio files. Click on the "Info" tab and fill out relevant information you want to include on the filenames for easy access. Under "album name" put the name of the book and under "artist name" put the name of the author.

Save the settings. Click on "Audiobooks" in the long left hand side menu in iTunes. This should be in the upper left hand area. You will see a list of your newly renamed audiobook files to the right hand side.

Right click on each file individually starting with the first file of the audiobook. Click "Get Info" and under the "Name" section enter "Chapter 01" and repeat this process for each track going in order changing the chapter number by one number higher each time. Chapters 1 through 9 must have a zero before the primary number such as Chapter 01 and Chapter 09.

When you are finished the audiobook will not only be in the proper track order which allows you to play the chapters in order, but the audiobook will be labeled and easy to find.

Reference: http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-3669_7-10000057-1.html?s=0&o=10000057&tag=mncol;page