Wanted - Beta testers for Bookmark Manager Software (Windows)

[david1951]

Any interest in Bookmark Manager Software (Windows)?

I'm currently developing some software to manage audiobook bookmarks on the iPod. It tries to fulfill some of a "wish list" I posted here some months ago.

The software - tentatively called "MarksMan" will:

* connect to your iPod
* list all bookmark-able files currently on the iPod
* for each such file, show the current bookmark time if there is one
* allow you to change the bookmark time to any time you like
* store past bookmarks (saves current marks each time you run it)
* save named bookmarks for a particular file (eg "Chapter 1")
* apply saved bookmarks by changing current bookmark on iPod

Click here to see a screengrab of the prototype:

I'd like to know what interest there might be in such software. At this stage I plan to release it free of charge (but donations kindly accepted).

The software is at Beta stage, and I'd like a few (say 5) volunteers to test it.

There are some caveats for testers - simply as a precaution your iTunesDB file should be backed up first, and you should have a copy of all music & book files on your PC as well as the iPod.

The software is written in Visual Basic.NET, Windows only, I'm afraid, and you'll need the .NET framework installed on your PC (I can tell you where to download this - I think XP users will aready have it).

Any volunteers, please send me a private message.

But I'd also like to hear from others (by replying to this) about their interest in using the software once it is finished. So far I've been deafened by the silence to this post!

 

[Fofer]

This looks cool! If only I sync'ed my iPod to a PC (I'm on a Mac.) Good work though, David.

I'm also curious how to create/edit CHAPTER MARKS on audiobooks, you seem to know the format of these files well... Some books I download from audible.com have built in "indexes" that allow me to jump from one chapter to the next. Any way to recreate these on "homemade" .m4b files? (Also discussed here.)

 

[david1951]

I take it by 'Chapter Marks' you mean the big jumps the iPod will make if you press the centre button and then scroll?

I've always thought that these steps were just even divisions of the file length (for example, one-tenth of the the file). I've never investigated them. If they are logical divisions (such as chapters) then I don't know where the iPod can store the information - there doesn't seem to be anywhere in the iTunesDB record where such information could go. However, there are many mysteries in the latter as yet unrevealed by Apple.

My software would enable you to create something similar -you could created saved bookmarks corresponding to such chapter stops - a keen volunteer might want to do this for popular audio books, perhaps.

 

[david1951]

Sorry, having read the other thread I now understand.

I think the "chapter stops" built into Audible files must be part of the very structure of the file itself. I can't see any way of replicating this in .m4b files.

I would really like to get hold of a non-DRM'd iTunes Store file, if there are such things (note that I want to stay legal!). As yet, Apple haven't deigned to release the iTunes Store in Australia so I'm working totally in the dark with respect to files bought from there.