Sideloading Audiobooks

davidfor · 11-03-2021, 07:21 AM

Firstly, I am a little surprised at how little mention has been made in this forum of actually playing audiobooks on the Sage and Libra 2. I suppose that just means no one has been buying them before.

I have tried one and it appears to work well. I have to admit I am not planning to use it. And I had more fun connecting to different Bluetooth enabled devices to try the playback. I haven't tried to pair with my earphones. It works well and my wife is looking forward to relieving me of the Sage in the very near future.

I have also been doing some investigation. From the database, looking at the files, a hint elsewhere, and then a

when I had missed the obvious, it appears Audiobooks can be sideloaded as a zip file with the extension "mp3z". I assume the contents have to be MP3s, but, I haven't tried any other format.

So far, I don't see a way to get metadata. The title of the audiobook will be the file name, the author is "Unkown Author" and there is no cover. In the book list, the type is "MP3Z".

The player used for the sideloaded books is different to that for purchased audiobooks. It is purely text and looks like a developers experimental player. But, it works.

So far, I have only tried to "books". One was downloaded from LibriVox. The other was music MP3s that I zipped and renamed. So, it can play music if you want.

The player shows the name of the file inside the mp3z file. Each file is treated as a chapter. The order of playback is the file names.

That's about it at the moment. I don't know how much I'll play with this as I'm not that interested in Audiobooks. But, my wife is, so I'll probably get overruled.

rantanplan · 11-03-2021, 08:55 AM

Do I have to put the .mp3z file to a specific folder? I can see the MP3Z file in my book overview but I cannot get it to open the audiobook player.

davidfor · 11-03-2021, 09:10 AM

No. I just dropped mine in the root directory. But, I have just tried one in a sub-directory. I would keep them out of the .kobo directory.

Did you connect to the audio device before starting? It doesn't do this automatically, or have a button to do it in this player.

rantanplan · 11-03-2021, 09:16 AM

It may not work for me as the audiobook feature is not active in Germany. I was hoping that having an audiobook present would just overwrite the feature flag.

wroane · 11-03-2021, 02:03 PM

This is the one thing holding me back from buying the Sage. My AuraOne is showing the occasional blip so I have been looking around at replacement devices. I want to stay with Kobo, but am looking at the Likebook Mars and a couple of others. I have a lot of audiobooks and want to have an ereader that I can use them on.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

MGlitch · 11-03-2021, 02:06 PM

Perhaps people didn’t fuss with it because Kobo had stated they wouldn’t work.

Claude_C · 11-03-2021, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

.

The other was music MP3s that I zipped and renamed. So, it can play music if you want.

I remember when I had a Sony ereader, many years ago, and that I could play music on it!

xor_ · 11-03-2021, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rantanplan

It may not work for me as the audiobook feature is not active in Germany. I was hoping that having an audiobook present would just overwrite the feature flag.

Works on my German Libra 2. At least the pure mp3 music playing part. Haven't tried audiobooks yet because I don't have any at this point.

koboy · 11-03-2021, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xor_

Works on my German Libra 2. At least the pure mp3 music playing part. Haven't tried audiobooks yet because I don't have any at this point.

this is good news for those who have audiobooks in MP3 format.

best wishes koboy

xor_ · 11-03-2021, 05:53 PM

Quote:

it appears Audiobooks can be sideloaded as a zip file with the extension "mp3z". I assume the contents have to be MP3s, but, I haven't tried any other format.

Ran a few quick checks, and it seems you're right.

m4a files inside .mp3z, the player sees them, but doesn't play them

straight up m4b or m4bz formats don't show up in the library

but an m4b audiobook converted to mp3 and uploaded as mp3z gets played nicely

Quote:

Did you connect to the audio device before starting? It doesn't do this automatically, or have a button to do it in this player.

Exactly. connected smoothly with my bluetooth headphones. But you have to do it before calling up the file.

So, yes, mp3 playback is nice to have. But it's really nothing new. The sweet thing would be progress tracking across reading modes and devices.

davidfor · 11-03-2021, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xor_

m4a files inside .mp3z, the player sees them, but doesn't play them

straight up m4b or m4bz formats don't show up in the library

but an m4b audiobook converted to mp3 and uploaded as mp3z gets played nicely

I've never played with audibooks before. I had to go looking for something before I started. But, the clues I got from the database and elsewhere suggest Kobo's audiobooks were MP3's and I knew there would be a way to sideload them.

Quote:

Exactly. connected smoothly with my bluetooth headphones. But you have to do it before calling up the file.

So, yes, mp3 playback is nice to have. But it's really nothing new. The sweet thing would be progress tracking across reading modes and devices.

Liked purchased ebooks, Kobo is syncing the status of purchased audiobooks to other devices and their apps. They have never synced anything for sideloaded books, so this is expected.

For the record, I think sideloading audiobooks will fit in the same category as sideloading kepubs. It will work, it probably won't be blocked, but, it is probably not going to be officially supported. I would like to think that will change, but, at the moment, I don't think so.

vrf · 11-03-2021, 09:00 PM

Just so you know, I literally ordered a Libra 2 right after reading this thread.
So, I can zip up a folder of MP3s right from Windows Overdrive and dump them in a new Audiobooks folder on the device memory?

Yes, I'll delete the files within the checkout window.

Deobulakenyo · 11-03-2021, 10:32 PM

just to clarify:

So if i have 3 music files (mp3), i should put them in one folder, zip the folder, and rename the extension file from zip to mp3z?

and the three music files will be treated as chapters of the zipped file?

davidfor · 11-03-2021, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vrf

Just so you know, I literally ordered a Libra 2 right after reading this thread.
So, I can zip up a folder of MP3s right from Windows Overdrive and dump them in a new Audiobooks folder on the device memory?

Yes, I'll delete the files within the checkout window.

I don't know. It will depend on if there is DRM in those files. My testing was with DRM free MP3s. And, as I fairly explicitly stated, and others have confirmed, putting them in an zip file with an extension of "mp3z" will let the device see the files and play them.

vrf · 11-03-2021, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't know. It will depend on if there is DRM in those files. My testing was with DRM free MP3s. And, as I fairly explicitly stated, and others have confirmed, putting them in an zip file with an extension of "mp3z" will let the device see the files and play them.

No DRM on my library, or maybe it's Overdrive. Yeah, I got the file format thing, I was just wondering if I could keep all the books tucked in a subfolder off of root. That wasn't clear yet.

11-03-2021, 07:21 AM	#1
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Sideloading Audiobooks Firstly, I am a little surprised at how little mention has been made in this forum of actually playing audiobooks on the Sage and Libra 2. I suppose that just means no one has been buying them before. I have tried one and it appears to work well. I have to admit I am not planning to use it. And I had more fun connecting to different Bluetooth enabled devices to try the playback. I haven't tried to pair with my earphones. It works well and my wife is looking forward to relieving me of the Sage in the very near future. I have also been doing some investigation. From the database, looking at the files, a hint elsewhere, and then a when I had missed the obvious, it appears Audiobooks can be sideloaded as a zip file with the extension "mp3z". I assume the contents have to be MP3s, but, I haven't tried any other format. So far, I don't see a way to get metadata. The title of the audiobook will be the file name, the author is "Unkown Author" and there is no cover. In the book list, the type is "MP3Z". The player used for the sideloaded books is different to that for purchased audiobooks. It is purely text and looks like a developers experimental player. But, it works. So far, I have only tried to "books". One was downloaded from LibriVox. The other was music MP3s that I zipped and renamed. So, it can play music if you want. The player shows the name of the file inside the mp3z file. Each file is treated as a chapter. The order of playback is the file names. That's about it at the moment. I don't know how much I'll play with this as I'm not that interested in Audiobooks. But, my wife is, so I'll probably get overruled.

11-03-2021, 09:00 PM	#12
vrf Addict Posts: 218 Karma: 1300000 Join Date: Dec 2004 Device: Oasis 2, Voyage, Paperwhite 2, Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard, iPad Pro	Just so you know, I literally ordered a Libra 2 right after reading this thread. So, I can zip up a folder of MP3s right from Windows Overdrive and dump them in a new Audiobooks folder on the device memory? Yes, I'll delete the files within the checkout window. Last edited by vrf; 11-03-2021 at 09:16 PM.

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11-03-2021, 08:55 AM	#2
rantanplan Guru Posts: 613 Karma: 8589150 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Paperwhite (2021), Boox Note Air 2+, Kobo Clara 2E, Tolino Vision 6	Do I have to put the .mp3z file to a specific folder? I can see the MP3Z file in my book overview but I cannot get it to open the audiobook player.

11-03-2021, 09:10 AM	#3
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	No. I just dropped mine in the root directory. But, I have just tried one in a sub-directory. I would keep them out of the .kobo directory. Did you connect to the audio device before starting? It doesn't do this automatically, or have a button to do it in this player.

11-03-2021, 09:16 AM	#4
rantanplan Guru Posts: 613 Karma: 8589150 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Paperwhite (2021), Boox Note Air 2+, Kobo Clara 2E, Tolino Vision 6	It may not work for me as the audiobook feature is not active in Germany. I was hoping that having an audiobook present would just overwrite the feature flag.

11-03-2021, 02:03 PM	#5
wroane Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: California Device: First 3 Kindles, H2O, Last 3 years Kobo Aura One	This is the one thing holding me back from buying the Sage. My AuraOne is showing the occasional blip so I have been looking around at replacement devices. I want to stay with Kobo, but am looking at the Likebook Mars and a couple of others. I have a lot of audiobooks and want to have an ereader that I can use them on. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

11-03-2021, 02:06 PM	#6
MGlitch Wizard Posts: 2,840 Karma: 22003124 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2	Perhaps people didn’t fuss with it because Kobo had stated they wouldn’t work.

11-03-2021, 10:32 PM	#13
Deobulakenyo Guru Posts: 703 Karma: 2153490 Join Date: Aug 2021 Location: Stupid Philippines Device: Kobo Libra 2, Boyue Likebook P78	just to clarify: So if i have 3 music files (mp3), i should put them in one folder, zip the folder, and rename the extension file from zip to mp3z? and the three music files will be treated as chapters of the zipped file?

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