Splasm Software Discussions

After spending the day re-ripping and re-building with ABB 1.1, the new audiobooks still don't play correctly on my ipod, although they do appear to be working in QT now.

When there is exactly 5 seconds remaining, the book stops playing and the audiobook menu is displayed. This happens with both single and multi-part books. I've tested 5 books, all cut off early.

Thankfully, I saved the project files this time.

System info: ABB 1.1, OSX 10.5.7, QT 7.6 (1290), iTunes 8.1.1 (10), iPod Touch 2G with 2.2.1 firmware

After four solid days of experimenting, I've finally found a work-around for this problem.

If I use ABB (version 1.0.11 or 1.1) to import cds, the resulting book (or part) cuts off about 5 seconds before the end of the file. Out of dozens of re-rips and builds of various books, not one played to the end on my iPod and at least 75% failed in quicktime.

I gave up on ABB and decided to go back to Apple's cumbersome command line chapter tool. I imported the cds (joining tracks into chapters) with iTunes using Apple lossless (so I don't have to rip the confounded things ever again).

Then, I decided to give ABB 1.1 one last try. I imported the tracks using the Add iTunes button, organized my chapters and art, set my build options, and hit build. To my astonishment, every book works perfectly.

The new version of ABB is brilliant, love the new features, thanks team Splasm!

As good as the final word is it doesn't sound like the issue is truly resolved. I wonder if something is preventing QuickTime from properly importing CD content on your particular Mac, as the process it uses is somewhat different than what iTunes does. Typically, QuickTime imports just fine but things can get dicey when a disc isn't more or less pristine. If you see this issue crop up again, and the resulting file doesn't play properly in QuickTime Player, we'd like to get a copy of your Audiobook Builder Project document file, which you can send via iChat file transfer to us at screen name 'splasmsoftware', as well as a System Profiler report, which you can create by launching /Applications/Utilities/System Profiler.app and selecting Save from the File menu. Getting that report as soon as possible after you notice the issue is critical because it will contain the last few pages of your console.log and system.log - where any errors that QuickTime does not report to Audiobook Builder may be logged. Thanks!

_________________
Keith Gugliotto
Primordial Sea Captain
Splasm Software
https://www.splasm.com

Hi Keith, thanks for the help! I agree, this work around doesn't address the underlying problem. I may have uncovered the culprit though.

Today, I uninstalled the free Flip4Mac WMV plug-in (because I never use it). Then I rebuilt one of the problem books, so I could send you the log files. And guess what? It plays correctly, even on the ipod. Further testing tonight, but I may have it fixed. No other changes to my system, aside from nightly maintenance scripts/cache purging.

As for the discs, I tried nine different audiobooks. They were all brand new and just opened. If I grab the individual tracks from inside the ABB project, they play correctly...well at least I know they do for two of the books, since that's how I ended up listening to them on the ipod.

I upgraded to ABB 1.1.1 today as well. The freezes that were occurring with the Finish screen have disappeared. You guys rock! How does one become a Primordial Sea Captain anyway?