Sync audiobook position between devices?

[Moooo]

Hello everyone,
I recently discovered audiobooks and now I'm hooked. I really enjoy listening to a book without having to carry it around. I really want to be able to keep listening when I go to the gym, but I sweat a lot and I dropped my current player (a 7 year old creative) a few times - not something I can do with my iPhone.

So I thought I'd buy an iPod nano and use it only for audiobooks in the gym.
My questions are:

1. is there a way to sync my position between the two devices? I want to be able to come back from work, put down my iPhone, pick up my iPod and be able to listen to my book from the same position I left it.

2. is there any cheaper option to do that (Apple or non-Apple)? I feel kinda weird shelling out $120 for an audiobook player I will only use for like 3 hours a week.

Thanks in advance!



BTW: I thought I posted this thread last night but I can't find it now. If I'm double posting, I apologize in advance.

[cjmnews]

Yes. iTunes will handle that for you.

If you use 2 smart playlists to manage the book, you set Remember Playback Position on all the tracks AND you set the tags with the disc or track numbers you can sync between the two devices.

I recommend importing audio books as 1 track per CD. Less files.

Smart Playlist 1: BookTracks
Name is <book album name>, Genre is Spoken & Audio, Live Updating on
Genre can be whatever you use for books, I personally still use Books & Spoken.
This playlist reduces the sync time by keeping the whole book on your devices no matter the state of play.

Smart Playlist 2: Book
Playlist is BookTracks, Plays is 0, Live Updating on
Sort this playlist so the tracks are in order. Depending on your tags, this could be by Disc Number, Track or Album by Artist. Right Click the Playlist name and choose Copy to Play Order.
This playlist is the one you listen to in the Playlist section of your iPod or iPhone. As you finish each track, it falls out of the playlist, remembering which track you are on automatically. The sorting is to get around an iPhone bug with Audiobook smart playlists.

Sync both BookTracks and Book to your iPod and iPhone.

Pick a device and listen. Pause. Sync to iTunes. You can listen in iTunes and it will pick up where you paused. Pause again. Sync second device to iTunes, listen. It will pick up where iTunes was paused.

All you have to remember is which device you used last and sync that one first.