Audiobooks menu - sometimes does not show my Audible audiobooks

[jonlienipod]

I have a G4. I also subscribed to Audible.

In the main menu, I select Audiobooks from the list of menu items. The screen that appears next is blank. This does not happen all the time. Sometimes, I will see my Audible audiobook.

To consistenly see my Audible content, I need to navigate using either Genre, Playlist, or Artist to the audiobook. But this can be a pain because I have a vast collection of music. I would rather be able to see it when I navigate directly from the Audiobooks menu item.

Any ideas why I am not consistently seeing my Audible content (or any of my .MB4 files) when I navigate to Audiobooks?

Thanks
Jonathan

[robert]

Suggest you try the following two things:
Create a smartlist for audiobooks
1. Click on iPod icon in iTunes, choose file and Create a smart playlist of Genre = Audiobooks, possibly adding play count is 0 as a condition. Create a similar playlist for whatever genre you have created or put m4b files in. Name the Playlist something like "Audiobooks not listened to" by keying into playlist. If you place a + in front of the name, it will force the playlist to the top of your playlists.
Modify your iPod Main Menu
2. Turn on iPod
3. Scroll wheel to "Settings" and click center wheel
4. Scroll wheel to "Main Menu" and click center wheel
5. Scroll down the list, clicking center wheel on each item listed to add or remove it from your main opening menu. That is, click "on" Playlists so that it will be on the main menu and when you open iPod. Scroll to and click to turn off any main menu items you do not wish on your main menu.

You may want to skip the smart playlist above and, in the process described in 5, click "Genre" on so that you can go from genre in the main menu to Audiobooks.

Then Playlists or Genre will be near the top of your Main Menu and clicking on it will then show the AudioBook Playlist or Genre near the top. OR, do both and click both Genre and Playlist on with step 5 process.

Happy listening!

[Gromit]

I think the playlist is a great idea, but I'm still curious as to why audiobooks disappear from the 'audiobooks' menu entry on a 4G iPod.

[iListen]

I have the same problem with my G4 40gb iPod and have been lurking this thread since you started it, hoping to see an answer to this odd behavior in my iPod. I suppose I need to de-lurk and offer some information.

On my iPod, the AudioBooks topic off the Main Menu is sometimes blank but when I look under the Music heading on the Main Menu I find an "Audiobooks" heading listing all of my Audible books. I never created that heading and don't know where it came from. If I open the Music/Audiobooks folder, then go back to the main menu and from there back down to the Audiobooks folder off the main: voi la! the audio books have reappeared.

I have a lot of Audible books and not many songs, so it's easy for me to run this drill. I don't have any "home-made" audio books either: they are all commercial aa files. I'm using Windows XP Home edition and the latest iTunes download. I uninstalled Audible Manager when I switched to the iPod for my book reader and I've installed the iTunes patch from Audible.

The iPod stores bookmarks for me now that I've learned to exit the book, then move up the menus to the Main menu before shutting the silly thing off--and of course, I now lock the menu unless I'm actually using it. So even without operator error problems persist.

[Anachronism]

I also have the same problem with my homemade .m4b files. Sometimes if I go to 'playlists' then go back to to the main menu and pick 'audio books' they reappear

I like to us the audiobooks menu option because it only plays one file at a time, I leave random turned on so if i select an audio book by playlist or genere it jumps to a random chapter after it finishes the one I am listening to.