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How to play audiobook or m4b files in Songbird
Hi
This is how I got my .m4b files (audiobooks from iTunes) to play in Songbird.
Firstly I asked here: http://getsatisfaction.com/songbird/t... but that didn't work so this is what I did.
For this to work your Songbird needs to be able to play m4p files - my Songbird will only play these once I reinstalled iTunes. A real shame, but for now it's necessary.
Then you need simply to change the file type of your audiobooks from .m4b to .m4p. They will then play with no problems.
I'm not too sure about an easier way to do this so I did it in command prompt.
If you want to know specifically how to do that drop me a line and I'll tell you, but the essence of this is:
all you need to do is change the file type and your once protected audiobooks will now play in Songbird.
I've done this with all my .m4b files and they appear to work now - I haven't checked them all the way through, but they all start at least.
I suppose you could try changing the file type to something even more compatible like .m4a, but I don't know much about file types so am not sure if this is valid or not.
If you don't know how to do this in command prompt just reply to this and I'll post up how to do it - it's very easy.
Hope this is of some use to all of you who want to listen to audiobooks on something other than iTunes.
This is how I got my .m4b files (audiobooks from iTunes) to play in Songbird.
Firstly I asked here: http://getsatisfaction.com/songbird/t... but that didn't work so this is what I did.
For this to work your Songbird needs to be able to play m4p files - my Songbird will only play these once I reinstalled iTunes. A real shame, but for now it's necessary.
Then you need simply to change the file type of your audiobooks from .m4b to .m4p. They will then play with no problems.
I'm not too sure about an easier way to do this so I did it in command prompt.
If you want to know specifically how to do that drop me a line and I'll tell you, but the essence of this is:
all you need to do is change the file type and your once protected audiobooks will now play in Songbird.
I've done this with all my .m4b files and they appear to work now - I haven't checked them all the way through, but they all start at least.
I suppose you could try changing the file type to something even more compatible like .m4a, but I don't know much about file types so am not sure if this is valid or not.
If you don't know how to do this in command prompt just reply to this and I'll post up how to do it - it's very easy.
Hope this is of some use to all of you who want to listen to audiobooks on something other than iTunes.
I’m glad I worked it out
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Inappropriate?Good work :D
Actually, the difference between m4a and m4p is that the m4p are the protected itunes store ones. So if your audiobooks are protected with itunes DRM, .m4p is correct.
It might be worth posting a suggestion to the songbird bugzilla to treat m4b files the same as M4p files (instead of ignoring them).
Link to bugzilla:
http://bugzilla.songbirdnest.com/ente...
Be sure to check the posting guidelines first though:
http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/Develope...
And tell them that renaming the files works, and link back here.
Or someone else can do it for you if you want ;) -
Inappropriate?Hi Andrew thanks for the reply - I'll put up a post in the bugzilla, it may just take a while for me to get 'round to doing it....
A further point to this fix of mine is that by changing the file type the audiobooks lose their ability to automatically restart from where you last left them - for me not an issue but for some this may be a problem. But better than not being able to listen to them at all...
CHAMP
