[haertig]

I tried yet another iOS app, named "Book Mower" (weird name, and yes, the icon has a lawn mower blade in it!) It seems pretty good. It's a nice audiobook player, and it has a good feature for moving audiobooks to your iOS device - you can switch on an internal webserver in it. Then you go to your normal desktop computer, where you have the source audiobook, and connect to the "website" hosted by the Book Mower app on your iPhone. You then upload the audiobook via that website interface, and yeah!, then it's there on the iPhone and playable by the Book Mower app. I still have no idea what directory the audiobook files went into, but the Book Mower app knows and can play them. Plus, I do not need to convert my audiobooks from a "series of mp3 files" into a single m4b file. Book Mower will handle the audiobook in either format.

So with this newly found app, my quest has come to an end. It allows easy playback of audiobooks, and allows an easy way to get them onto the iPhone without needing iTunes, DropBox, a physical cable connection, etc.

Some day, a genius needs to invent an app that runs on Linux, Windows, Mac's, Android, and iOS that will play audiobooks, and sync all your bookmarks and current position between all devices (syncs to some server that you personally run, not a 3rd party cloud that tries to tie you in to their ecosystem). I won't be holding my breath for that programming breakthrough though!

p.s. - I think this ordeal/learning experience has indeed convinced me that I am an Android person, not an iOS person. Just like I'm a Linux person and not a Windows person. I like control!