Audiobook suggestion needed: speakers/languages

[aVe2000 13]

Hello community,

i am looking for reorganizing my audiobook library in emby. Actually, emby is good for it. But in some cases i am not sure how to deal with it. Here is an example:

I have a book, say "Schlummfiborum". Its written by Angela Mergel. So, this is a very famous book, its translated in different languages and also read by different narrators in the same language.

Here is an example:

Audiobooks

Title	Author	Narrator	language
Schlummfiborum	Angela Mergel	Jost Laube	german
Schlummfiborum	Angela Mergel	Schnibbel Schnapp	german
Schlummfiborum	Angela Mergel	Keith Thackaberry	english

How to deal with this? Right now in my file system its organized like this:

---Audiobooks

---------Angela Mergel

------------------------german

------------------------------Jost Laube

--------------------------------------Schlummfiborum

------------------------------Schlummfiborum

------------------------english

------------------------------Schlummfiborum

Side effect is: the author in the books tab in emby is "german", "Jost Laube" and "english".

How do i treat the narrator? Tagging as album artist ? How do i organize it in the file system?

I can reorganize all audiobooks in the filesystem, i can reedit the files with mp3tag (e.g. adding language flag TLAN in mp3tags). All options are open to solve this.

Thank you in advance.

Edited October 23, 2024 by aVe2000
added little explanation

[Luke 42078]

HI, the file system can be just about anything you want. For tagging, albumartist should correspond to the author. There is currently no narrator concept in Emby, but you can follow along with this feature request:

 

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

I do not see any reason to use Emby for audiobooks. In most cases Emby does great for media even music but it seems to me that AudioBooks were an after thought added only for making some people shut up about wanting them. 

There are numerous much better implementations of audiobook playback than Emby offers. I use MediaMonkey but I have seen several others that do the job quite well. I also flat do not understand the desire to use audiobooks on TVs. I use an independent system for audiobooks that has no contact with Emby. I do not know if an independent system would be best for others but i know it is best for me. 

I wish Emby would drop audiobook support from their system but others seem to find value in Emby supporting AudioBooks so Emby will continue their support for them but it just seems that audiobooks is one media type that Emby would easily be able to do without. 

[Luke 42078]

23 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

I do not see any reason to use Emby for audiobooks. In most cases Emby does great for media even music but it seems to me that AudioBooks were an after thought added only for making some people shut up about wanting them. 

There are numerous much better implementations of audiobook playback than Emby offers. I use MediaMonkey but I have seen several others that do the job quite well. I also flat do not understand the desire to use audiobooks on TVs. I use an independent system for audiobooks that has no contact with Emby. I do not know if an independent system would be best for others but i know it is best for me. 

I wish Emby would drop audiobook support from their system but others seem to find value in Emby supporting AudioBooks so Emby will continue their support for them but it just seems that audiobooks is one media type that Emby would easily be able to do without. 

Hi, audiobooks in Emby are fully featured and are not an afterthought. Thanks !

[sanjaydevani 4]

I’ve tried organizing audiobooks on platforms like Plex and Emby before, and while they’re great for managing movies or music, I found audiobooks slightly tricky to handle there, too. It’s manageable with some tweaks, like tagging authors as album artists, but it doesn’t feel as smooth compared to platforms explicitly designed for audiobooks and ebooks.

For audiobooks that require good narration and engaging delivery, I’ve enjoyed experiencing stories like The Lottery - by Shirley Jackson. It’s gripping and works better on a dedicated app where the narrative style stands out.

Edited February 1, 2025 by sanjaydevani