Audiobook chapters (m4b) inherit the primary image from the book

[Junglejim 385]

I was reading this thread..

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/117901-audio-books-are-not-resuming-from-last-position-played/#comment-1248464

Then it occurred to me that the chapter info of a .m4b could look better. I know it can't scan the file for a image frame like video but maybe it could just use the main audiobook image?

It's a bit OCD for sure..

[Neminem 1519]

I would love to see this, as well.

[Cheesegeezer 3104]

On 30/04/2023 at 14:32, jaycedk said:

I would love to see this, as well.

I’ve been thinking about this while developing Audirium… I did do what you requested and it looks really crap to be honest,

so what im gonna do is blur the book cover and put a transparent black overlay and then name the chapters as Chapter 1, chapter 2 etc as those chapter images to display.

Link if anyone interested 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/109753-audirium-standalone-music-app/#comment-1156221

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Cheesegeezer

[Cheesegeezer 3104]

I should write a plugin to process this and it would be available across all clients… but… i want my client to epic hahaha hmmmmm  

[Tremas 199]

Wouldn't this information be better displayed as a list? Why even have an image for this view? The image takes up a large amount of space without being useful.

[Cheesegeezer 3104]

6 minutes ago, Tremas said:

Wouldn't this information be better displayed as a list? Why even have an image for this view? The image takes up a large amount of space without being useful.

Absolutely that would be a better layout and with a duration for the chapter also. 
 

nice one Tremas

[Tremas 199]

I think the images are just there because it was an easy way to expose chapters using the code from the TV/Movie views.

The Audible AP does a good job by displaying chapters as a tab view (similar to the lyrics display toggle in emby):

Hopefully emby audiobooks will get more focus/polish in the future.

For what it's worth, I feel the same about playlists. Displaying them with smallest picture and text with longer character strings makes much more sense - especially when choosing from "Add this to song to playlist."  I should probably submit a feature request for that.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Tremas

[Junglejim 385]

Some great ideas here! Initially I was just thinking along the line's of improving what we already have. But I like these ideas even better.

Yeah lets hope the audiobook library gets some much needed improvement.

[Neminem 1519]

Here is how Audiobookshelf dos it. 
In the web ui.

 

Android app.

[sydlexius 297]

To me a list makes the most sense.  I have quite a few audiobooks, and none of my content has unique images for a given chapter.  Given that Emby historically hadn't had a lot of development towards improving the Audiobook experience, I had made the switch to Audiobookshelf (better metadata sources like Audible, the ability to add a single book to multiple series).  I would much prefer to have everything handled by Emby, and some of the recent developments are compelling.

Edited May 5, 2023 by sydlexius
*had to hadn't had.

[Junglejim 385]

It's a shame no dev has weighed in on this request or have any ideas on where this could go in the future..

I guess audiobooks are low on there list. I'm not holding my breath for any improvements here.

[Chyron 256]

The Emby devs seem to associate audiobooks and podcasts as being the same thing. Since podcasts can potentially have different thumbnails and descriptions for each episode, they have decided to waste UI space giving each audiobook chapter more screen real estate for its own individual artwork, (as well as space for its own description on certain screens).

I have complained about this before several months ago, as well as lobbying for audiobook support in general for years. It would appear the devs aren't actually interested in implementing more than token audiobook support.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Chyron

[Chyron 256]

On 5/4/2023 at 1:08 PM, sydlexius said:

To me a list makes the most sense.  I have quite a few audiobooks, and none of my content has unique images for a given chapter.  Given that Emby historically hadn't had a lot of development towards improving the Audiobook experience, I had made the switch to Audiobookshelf (better metadata sources like Audible, the ability to add a single book to multiple series).  I would much prefer to have everything handled by Emby, and some of the recent developments are compelling.

Also Audiobookshelf uses audiobookcovers.com as an available source for covers. Audiobookcovers.com sources its art from the r/AudiobookCovers subreddit.

So yeah, Audiobookshelf is already light years ahead of Emby as a media server for audiobooks, and it's been in development for less than 2 years.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Chyron

[sydlexius 297]

2 hours ago, Chyron said:

Also Audiobookshelf uses audiobookcovers.com as an available source for covers. Audiobookcovers.com sources its art from the r/AudiobookCovers subreddit.

So yeah, Audiobookshelf is already light years ahead of Emby as a media server for audiobooks, and it's been in development for less than 2 years.

Sorry for venturing off-topic, I think they still have some room for improvement with the cover art picker.  I like that they have an "All" option in the most recent builds, but the previews are tiny.  Anyhow, there are definitely nuggets of good engineering and design that could be the basis for inspiring improvements for Emby.

[Luke 42078]

The main issue with the vertical list is the need to have content underneath that.

[Chyron 256]

On 1/31/2024 at 10:17 PM, Luke said:

The main issue with the vertical list is the need to have content underneath that.

So have the content which is currently underneath that to be collapsible.

Why must there be content underneath the track/chapter list, anyway? Why can't it be in a submenu, or a different tab, or a button with a popup window?

 

Edited April 26, 2024 by Chyron

[Luke 42078]

Well it's only the About section at the bottom, so if users are unable to discover that, it's not the end of the world. So I guess it would be fine vertical.

[unisoft 352]

On 29/04/2023 at 07:00, Junglejim said:

I was reading this thread..

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/117901-audio-books-are-not-resuming-from-last-position-played/#comment-1248464

Then it occurred to me that the chapter info of a .m4b could look better. I know it can't scan the file for a image frame like video but maybe it could just use the main audiobook image?

It's a bit OCD for sure..

What's the point of the same repeating image, especially if a track has lots of chapters? Would look bizarre.

Maybe just clickable number graphics? like 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6 or some sort of drop down (bearing in mind it's use on a TV using 10 foot interface guidelines)...

When the chapter plays, then of course the cover art shown as the main cover art.

Edited May 11, 2024 by unisoft

[unisoft 352]

On 06/07/2023 at 14:41, Chyron said:

The Emby devs seem to associate audiobooks and podcasts as being the same thing. Since podcasts can potentially have different thumbnails and descriptions for each episode, they have decided to waste UI space giving each audiobook chapter more screen real estate for its own individual artwork, (as well as space for its own description on certain screens).

I have complained about this before several months ago, as well as lobbying for audiobook support in general for years. It would appear the devs aren't actually interested in implementing more than token audiobook support.

I'm afraid it is YOU that have not understood. Emby CAN deal with a different embedded image for each track title.

I have an audiobook series for an example comedy guest show "ROOM 101". Each 30 minute episode is a track, and each episode has its own cover art with a picture of the guests on the front of it.

File structure example:

Room 101 > Series 1 > S01E01 Room 101 - Claudia Winkleman.m4b

Room 101 > Series 1 > S01E02 Room 101 - Mark Steel.m4b

Room 101 > Series 1 > S01E03 Room 101 - Hannah Fry.m4b

Emby would display the different cover art for each track (it never used to a while back).

Each has a different description embedded in the description meta tag in the audio track which (should) also be shown.

Some times "Series" gets replaced by "BBC Radio Collection" to group short stories or "Short Story Collection" if not n official series and can't be attributed to a specific show or book.

 

Emby also works for AUTHORS rather than shows with series:

e.g.

Daphne Du Maurier > Jamaica Inn > {individual episodes, or one m4b file with all episodes in it)

Daphne Du Maurier > Rebecca >  {individual episodes, or one m4b file with all episodes in it)

Edited May 11, 2024 by unisoft

[Luke 42078]

Just to confirm, it is being changed to a vertical list. Thanks.