First, a note on responsibility. The most likely source for CD audiobooks is probably your local library or a service like http://www.booksfree.com/.  In either case, these audiobooks are provided free or at low cost for personal use. Format shifting the audiobook to MP3 to load it onto your ipod is perfectly legitimate.  But be responsible and do the right thing. Don't turn around and put those MP3s on BitTorrent or another file sharing service.

Introduction

Ripping audiobook CDs differs from ripping regular CDs in a few important ways, all of which are addressed in this tutorial.

• Spoken word audiobooks do not need the same high quality encoding that ordinary MP3s do.  Using a lower bit-rate means smaller files that save space without sacrificing quality.
• Since the iPod has a feature to remember the last position in a track, separating each disc into tracks is not necessary.  By combining tracks, you have fewer files to manage for each audiobook.  This keeps the iTunes user interface uncluttered.  Some audiobooks have 99 tracks per disc, resulting in hunderds of files if you don't combine tracks before ripping!
• Many audiobook discs are not included in the CD database, or are not named consistently.  The simple naming approached described here keeps your files consistent.
• There are several file settings specific to audiobooks (like remembering position in a track, and avoiding audiobook tracks during shuffle) that can improve your listening experience.  This tutorial shows you how to enable those features.

The instructions and screenshots for this tutorial were taken with iTunes version 10.1.1.4 for Windows, but should be applicable to other versions. This tutorial assumes that you have already installed iTunes. If you haven't, you can download the installer here.

Overview

• Starting iTunes
• One-time Setup
• Use iTunes to Rip Audiobooks
• Restoring One-time Settings for Music Ripping

Starting iTunes

1. Go to the start menu.
2. Type "itunes" into the search box.
3. You will see “iTunes” in the search results and you can click on it. iTunes should start.

One-time Setup

The following steps only have to be executed one time, and only if they have been changed since the last time they were set (e.g. if someone was using iTunes to rip music CDs).

1. In the menu, go to Edit > Preferences. (see Figure 1). Select these options:
   1. When you insert a CD: Show CD (Figure 1-A)
   2. Automatically retrieve CD track names: Unchecked (Figure 1-B)

   
   Figure 1: iTunes preferences

2. Click on the Import Settings button (Figure 1-C). This will open the Import Settings dialog (Figure 2).
3. In Import Settings, set these values:
   1. Import using: MP3 Encoder (Figure 2-A)
   2. Settings: Custom (Figure 2-B) This will cause the MP3 Encoder settings box to appear (Figure 3).

   
   Figure 2: iTunes import settings

4. In MP3 Encoder settings, configure these settings:
   1. Stereo Rate: 96 kbps.
   2. Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding: Unchecked
   3. Sample Rate: Auto
   4. Channels: Mono
   5. Stereo Mode: (can’t be changed)
   6. Smart Encoding Adjustments: Checked
   7. Filter Freq below 10 Hz: Checked

   Figure 3: iTunes MP3 Encoder Settings

5. Click OK to finish the MP3 Encoder dialog.
6. Click OK to finish the Import Settings
7. Click OK again to exit the iTunes preferences dialog box. Now you’re ready to proceed with ripping an Audiobook CD.

Ripping an Audiobook CD

By following these steps, you will have an MP3 version of the audiobook with one MP3 file per CD. By setting the track properties to "Remember position", if you are listening to a track and come back to it later, you'll be in the same place you were before.

1. Insert the first CD. After a few moments, iTunes will recognize it and display the un-named tracks (Track 01, Track 02, etc).
2. From the menu, choose Edit > Select All. You should see all the tracks highlighted in blue as Figure 4. The number of songs may vary.

   Figure 4: iTunes - select all tracks

3. In the menu, choose Advanced > Join CD Tracks. Now you should see all the CD tracks connected by a line as in Figure 5.
4. Now click the Import CD button (Figure 4-A). You should see a progress indicator showing that the CD is being ripped. When the CD is done, iTunes will usually play a notification sound, and the check mark next to Track 01 will turn green.
5. Click the small arrow next to the “Audio CD” item in the left bar (Figure 4-B) or just eject the CD manually.
6. Repeat Steps 1-5 for each CD in the audiobook. Make sure you rip the CDs in order.

   Figure 5: iTunes - tracks joined

7. Once you are done ripping, click on Music under Library in the left column (Figure 4-C). This will show the music that is on your computer (Figure 6).
8. Click the column header labeled Date Added (Figure 6-A) to sort the music library by date. If you do not see the Date Added header, right click any of the other headers and choose Date Added from the popup list to add the header.
9. You should see the CDs you just ripped at the top of the list (Figure 6-B). Note that they are in REVERSE order because the newest file is at the top of the list, and the newest file is the last CD you ripped.

   Figure 6: iTunes media library

10. Starting with the last Audio CD, click on each one and hit F2 to rename the track. Name it with the title of the book, followed by the track number. Be sure to use leading 0’s (“01” instead of “1”). Tip: you can save effort by selecting and copying the book title after you type it in the first track name. Then you can just paste it into each track name after your press F2 and type the numbers on the end.
11. Repeat step 9 for each track.
12. After you are done putting in the track names, select all the tracks for that CD by clicking the first track, then holding the SHIFT key and clicking the last track.
13. Right click and choose Get Info from the context menu. This will show the Multiple Item Information dialog (Figure 7).
14. In the Info tab, set the following values:
    1. Artist: {Author} (Figure 7-A)
    2. Album: {Book title} (Figure 7-B)
    3. Genre: always set to “Books and Spoken” (Figure 7-C)

    Figure 7: Multiple Item Edit dialog - Info tab

15. In the Options tab, set the following values:
    1. Volume Adjustment: +100% (Figure 8-A)
    2. Remember Position: (Figure 8-B)
    3. Skip when Shuffling: Yes (Figure 8-C)
16. Click OK (Figure 8-D). Now your audiobook is ready to be transferred to an iPod playlist. If you want to access the MP3's in another program, you will find them in the iTunes folder in your My Music drive.

    Figure 8: Multiple Item Edit dialog - Options tab

Restoring One-Time Settings for Music Ripping

Follow these steps to return your iTunes settings to those used for importing regular music CDs.  If you follow these steps, you'll need to complete the One-Time Setup above before you'll be ready to rip audiobooks again.

1. In the menu, go to Edit > Preferences. (see Figure 9). Select these options:
   1. When you insert a CD: Show CD (Figure 1-A)
   2. Automatically retrieve CD track names: Checked (Figure 1-B)

   
   Figure 9: iTunes preferences

2. Click on the Import Settings button (Figure 1-C). This will open the Import Settings dialog (Figure 2).
3. In Import Settings, set these values:
   1. Import using: MP3 Encoder , see Figure 10-A
   2. Settings: Higher Quality (192 kbps), see Figure 10-B
   3. Use Error Correction when reading Audio CDs: Uncheck, see Figure 10-c

   
   Figure 10: iTunes import settings

4. Click OK to finish the Import Settings
5. Click OK again to exit the iTunes preferences dialog box. Now your settings have been restored.

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