Chyron 221 Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 (edited) After some small discussion on Plex's forums about (not) having a proper metadata agent for audiobooks, I have decided that I now purpose to eventually have added all of the audiobooks in my library to Musicbrainz. I just now added Caroline Alexander's translation of the Iliad. Granted, my audiobook library is only 300+ titles, but if we're going to have a legit source for audiobook metadata, Musicbrainz seems as good a place as any. The only downside is that it's dependent on the community to update it. So I'm updating it. Edited February 12, 2019 by chyron8472 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilgamesh_48 942 Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 To me it seems that all discussion of audiobooks is pretty much meaningless as long as the simple functionality of fast forward, rewind and resume do not work. All the metadata in the world will not fix the current dysfunctional state the audiobooks are in. In particular if you cannot resume a book from playlists or any other access method then it is pretty much a falsehood to even make a claim that there is any measure of audiobook support. It should always be functionality first and then pretty pictures. In the case of audiobooks, at this time, Emby has no real functionality. I do not understand what is so hard about allowing a functional resume for mp3 files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chyron 221 Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 It should always be functionality first and then pretty pictures. In the case of audiobooks, at this time, Emby has no real functionality. I do not understand what is so hard about allowing a functional resume for mp3 files. I agree. I'm just doing my part to get things, that I have some control over, configured for when it does actually work. Both Emby and Plex are guilty of not putting very much effort into audiobook support. At least creating a library type for audiobooks that functions like the music type does is a step in the right direction. So here's hoping there is more improvement on the horizon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilgamesh_48 942 Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I agree. I'm just doing my part to get things, that I have some control over, configured for when it does actually work. Both Emby and Plex are guilty of not putting very much effort into audiobook support. At least creating a library type for audiobooks that functions like the music type does is a step in the right direction. So here's hoping there is more improvement on the horizon. Plex, at least, has a functional resume for audiobooks. However they are too stupid to realize that a book played at 90% is usually no place close to complete. Emby has a setting allowing the "complete" mark to be set at 99-100% which make more sense for audiobooks. But, of course, the fact that resume is totally nonfunctional in Emby kind of makes that setting about as worthless as the teats on a boar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tang! 3 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 I've been waiting for this library type for quite some time - and feel it's release is a partial victory. I hope the momentum for development has not been completely spent, a month or two will tell us if it's been put back on the back burner. It STARTED strong though.The thing that became most apparent is that this new type was just slightly altered from Music type. The next step is to consider just how differently Audiobooks are filed and consumed, and start to change things. Like someone else mentioned - there is never EVER going to be a "random" file play .. unless it's part of a party game for the literate folk out there. If they say they are sorting by folder, then .. they should probably do that. It's lovely to think that every audiobook user tweaks their files metadata that way I do, or better yet, the way that Chyron8472 does, but the reality is that few users have a clue "how that information gets there". For those of us that DO add and modify the metadata, it's important to note that I only have "disk number" listed on not 5% of my individual files. I just having used it since I switched over from AudioCD's to MP3's - and even back then I rarely used it. All files have to have file names. All files have a folder/directory structure. We should start with the basics and then work towards the bliss that perfectly tagged files can bring. It would be fantastic for it to handle the metadata, but it has to handle the file and folder names and file types correctly first because those are thing things that already exist as a surety. I'll keep an eye out in hopes there is further development in this library type. God knows i'd love to see it finished off an making a bit more sense. It IS a SMALL niche of the media player market, but it would be SO nice to be able to stream my audiobooks as easy as it is to stream my movies or TV shows. It's so much less bandwidth, and the availability of my audio library anywhere would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 36991 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully we'll be able to make another round of improvements soon. Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilgamesh_48 942 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully we'll be able to make another round of improvements soon. Thanks. @@Luke I just want to restate that I believe that before you do any refining or improvement to audiobook metadata handling you should actually make audiobook playback (with resume, fast forward and rewind) work correctly. I have not been able to get any audio file, no matter if it is in an Audio book or music library, to actually resume on any device I have tried. The Fire TV is the one I would prefer for audiobooks but my Rokus and my Shield have also shown a total lack of the ability to resume even though the percentage to consider for resuming exists in the library setup. This is a basic lack of functionality and all the pretty pictures and other metadata is totally meaningless if you cannot at least resume books. Remember that audiobooks a very long and it is very unlikely that anyone would listen to one straight through on any one device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 36991 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Yes that is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chyron 221 Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 (edited) I have various custom cover art images in my audioobook library, and I asked the Musicbrainz forum whether I could somehow upload them and share them with the community. They said Musicbrainz strives for accuracy, and so is supposed to be used to record official release information. So no. But then they suggested I should use fanart.tv or theaudiodb.com. ... From what I understand, fanart.tv is pretty stickler about images not being pixelly or small. And a lot of official audiobook covers aren't terribly high quality images. So I'm hoping there aren't too many roadblocks to uploading custom audiobook covers somewhere if they're originally sourced from 500px images. Edited February 19, 2019 by chyron8472 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chyron 221 Posted February 20, 2019 Author Share Posted February 20, 2019 (edited) a lot of official audiobook covers aren't terribly high quality images. So I'm hoping there aren't too many roadblocks to uploading custom audiobook covers I have now discovered that if iTunes has a listing for an audiobook found on Audible, 1) the cover art on iTunes very commonly does not have the yellow ribbon that Audible puts on their covers, and 2) iTunes' covers are frequently 2400x2400. What you do is: Google an audiobook on iTunes, and right click the cover image to view just it. eg. https://is2-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music19/v4/e6/de/9a/e6de9a62-b6bc-860b-df6b-a66e0cbe5f3e/source/170x170bb.jpg Then, change the filename in the url to 2400x2400 or greater. eg. https://is2-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music19/v4/e6/de/9a/e6de9a62-b6bc-860b-df6b-a66e0cbe5f3e/source/9999x9999bb.jpg The cover image loads to its maximum resolution, which commonly seems to be 2400x2400. And it doesn't have that stupid yellow ribbon. Edited February 20, 2019 by chyron8472 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton 94 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Do you guys have any audiobook functionality since the update to 4.0 using the audio book library? After the update I noticed a new audio book library option, think i used books before, and now I can't see any files. The covers are there but the files themselves aren't even visible anymore. I at least used to be able to play an audiobook, now I don't have anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Have you changed your library to Audiobook type or is it still books? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton 94 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Have you changed your library to Audiobook type or is it still books? i removed the book library and re added as the audiobook type. I see play all, shuffle etc options but no files to play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 As Audiobook is the same as Music (it will be changed at some point in the future but was changed a couple of time in the previous beta cycle) - the file structure and metadata tags need to be like you would set up a Music library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton 94 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 When I changed the library over to audiobook type I figured this might be the case so I tested with 2 authors. For example my folder structure for those is Audiobooks/Andy Weir/The Martian/audio file, same set up as I have for music. I just discovered authors and audiobooks are in MusicBrainz which is great but there's no identify feature in the new audiobook library, thought I could manually identify them. I can see the author, then the audiobook, but then no files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) no files? as in empty page? not the above obviously by the sound of it Edited February 26, 2019 by PenkethBoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton 94 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Yep. For every audiobook the page that should have the file(s) to play is empty. When I had the library set up as books, all files were accessible regardless of file structure. Under the new audiobook library format, no files are accessible. I have a few structures for testing: author/audiobook/files (which I imagine would be the best option), author name-audiobook title/files (if I only have one book by that author), and a nested structure for series, author name-series title/book 1 (etc)/files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) what format are the audio files in? mine are all mp3 Edited February 26, 2019 by PenkethBoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 some are just single files in a directory as i combined all the chapters as one mp3 file - which works fine as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton 94 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) Same. Mine are also mp3, I've also got a mix of combined files and chapter files. Your screenshot looks great, mine's a little lacking Also, I'm on server 4.0.2.0 Edited February 26, 2019 by Jack Burton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 I'm on 4.1.0.10 - but i dont think that matters If you do full refresh on HP4 - then look in the logs (assume you have debug logs on) do you see HP4 listed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton 94 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 image processor is the only harry potter stuff listed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 hmm what OS as you running Emby on? As some linux installs were having problems with Skia (image processor) in recent builds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chyron 221 Posted February 26, 2019 Author Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) For the record, Other > General Discussion is more for discussion rather than support. I think if you were looking for support from the devs, you should create a post in the relevant subforum rather than talking about it in Other. Edited February 26, 2019 by chyron8472 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton 94 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 For the record, Other > General Discussion is more for discussion rather than support. I think if you were looking for support from the devs, you should create a post in the relevant subforum rather than talking about it in Other. Good call, didn't realize it was in general. I'll start a separate post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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