I say "almost free" because as the old adage goes "time is money" and spending a little cash up front can save you a lot of time, at least in the case of converting audiobook CDs to a format that works on an iPod. As for the "free" audiobooks CDs I am talking about the ones you can borrow from your local library. There are other ways to borrow audiobooks on CD, such as Kitabe.com and SimplyAudiobooks.com, services that are similar to Netflix, but for audiobooks, however, they are not entirely free.

A note for the benefit of RIAA lawyers, and those looking to avoid same: These instructions will allow you to copy borrowed audio books from CD to your iPod, so you can listen to books you’ve checked out from the public library. That’s a fair use of the copying capability that is built into iTunes. When you’ve listened to the book, delete it. Keeping the book, or sharing it with others, would be illegal.

You may be asking yourself, "Can't I just import an audiobook CD just like a music CD?" The short answer is yes you could, but iTunes is optimized for importing music CDs and not audiobooks. The audio book CDs will be treated like music tracks and not like chapters in a book. iTunes and iPod treat audiobooks differently from other audio files in these ways:

  • Audiobooks are automatically bookmarked: if you stop an audiobook in the middle and play something else, then go back to the audiobook, it will start playing where you left off — even after resynchronizing your iPod.
  • There’s a special Audiobooks entry in the main menu.
  • You can play audiobooks faster or slower than normal speed.
  • Audiobooks can have chapter stops within them.
  • Audiobooks are automatically skipped during shuffle.

Another advantage is that audiobooks can encoded at a lower bit rate because the spoken voice has a narrower range. Most music files are encoded at 128 kbps or greater. Audio books can be encoded at 32-64 kbps. The six CD set of State of Fear by Michael Crichton was reduced to a 192 MB audiobook file and sounded fine. So, as you see it is beneficial to treat audiobooks differently than audio CDs.

Now when you purchase audiobooks from iTunes or Audible.com you get all of these benefits, but I was talking about almost "free" audiobooks.  

You can import audio CDs without special software, but it is a tedious multi-step process which a couple web sites have painstakingly detailed. See them here and here. However, this takes a lot of time and time is something many us of find in short supply. Sometimes I barely have time to change the CDs in and out of the computer, much less follow 12 additional steps.

Audiobook Builder

Fortunately, there is a simple inexpensive effective software solution. Take a look at Audiobook Builder, a universal Mac OS X application that takes the hassle out of converting audiobook CDs or MP3 files that do not fit the iTunes audiobook format. Just type the title, author and find a cover image from Amazon or Google. Then insert the CDs one by one and let the program import the CDs. Then specify if you want to join or separate the chapter tracks. Then the book is transferred to iTunes ready to be sent to your iPod. 

The software only costs $9.95 for a single license and $14.95 for a family license. It works as advertised. I successfully imported the Michael Chrichton book from CD's. That is over six hours of audio. I also converted A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, a 9 hour audio book that I had downloaded from the web in MP3 format. I could put numerous audio books on my little 2 GB iPod Nano.

So if you like audiobooks, check out the Audiobook Builder. The iPod is a great audiobook reader just as it is a great music player. Auidobooks are a great way to enjoy a book while doing other things, such as driving, walking, doing dishes or other mundane tasks. It really helps to pass the time. I just finished listening to my first full audiobook, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins which I highly recommend. It goes a long way in explaining how America has come to find itself in it's current negative global economic and political circumstances.