MusicBee chapter support (m4a, m4b, ect.)

[holer]

Hello,

I have been using MusicBee for year and never had any issues (that I couldn't readily fix). That is, until I tried getting MusicBee to recognize chapters enbedded in m4a metadata.

There are three things I'd like to accomplish:

1) When playing a track with chapters (or bookmarks) then display the current chapter name in the 'Track Details' panel.

2) Being able to skip to next chapter. Preferably by using a hotkey.

3) Display each chapter as a separate song in the Library.

All the above features are supported by a range of other music players (that in many other ways are inferior to MB) . In more detail I'm downloading EDM Livesets for offline use. As there is no reason to play an mp4-file (video) everytime I listen to a song I've written a Python script to convert the mp4 files to m4a. I've also added functionality for the script to download tracklists and convert these to chapters, which then are added to the metadata of the final m4a file.

The chapters of the m4a file is recognized in VLC, iTunes, and AIMP, but sadly not in MusicBee. Any suggestions on how to approach this problem is appreciated!

Thanks!

[Steven]

MB doesnt have m4a chapter support but if you send me a link to a ZIP of one of the files i will have a look at this for v3.1

[holer]

Lovely! Thanks for the quick reply. I have uploaded two files:

The first zip-file (https://www.dropbox.com/s/sn7jvvu9k44y1hb/MusicBeeChapters-AudioOnly.zip?dl=0) contains only the audio and a text document with the metadata.

The second zip-file (https://www.dropbox.com/s/0jrtvrrttmdxpfl/MusicBeeChapters.zip?dl=0) contains everything needed to create the audio file. This includes the original mp4-file, converters, and the Python script used (However, MP4Box needs to be installed in order to actually use the script).

Further I'd like to request that when playing an m4a-file with chapters then the chapter time-stamps should be shown on the player control 'timebar' (the bar the displays how much of a song has been played). This automatically happens when playing the file in VLC.

[Steven]

i will have a look at the chapter support probably in a months time

[Steven]

this is now done for v3.1 but i dont expect to make v3.1 available for a few weeks.
The way MB implements chapters (the functionality already exists for MPC files and cuesheets) is the single physical file gets split into multiple virtual files, each corresponding to chapter or cuesheet track. That way the virtual files can be shuffled or specific chapters added to a playlist like any normal file. So when a chapter plays you see the duration for the chapter only.
Having said all that, i may enhance the handling for MPC and M4A chapters so it loads as a single file and the chapter only shows the text and suration in the player panel when each chapter is active.

[wishingstar]

Hello Steven,

I use MusicBee mainly for audiobooks, and I just downloaded the newest version (3.1.6466). How do I turn on this feature, since it doesn't seem to be on by default?

Also, I remember reading somewhere on this forum that 3.1 will have the option to display time for audiobooks is Hours:Min:Sec instead of just Min:Sec, is that also implemented in 3.1?

Thanks!

[Steven]

it only works with downloaded files. You might need to rescan files downloaded before v3.1. Right click/ Send To/ Rescan files

if its still not working, can you zip one of the files and PM me a link

[wishingstar]

Thank you for the quick response Steven

Here's what I did so far:

1- Cleared the audiobooks from MusicBee
2- Added one m4b audiobook from a local drive
Result: No Change, file shows up as a single track (no chapters) and time shows up in min:sec
3- I uninstalled MusicBee completely, then deleted MusicBee folder under C:\AppData\Roaming and C:\Program Files (x86)
4- Reinstalled MusicBee 3.1
5- Added same m4b audiobook again.
Result: for some reason, this was added to the music tab, and I wasn't able to drag+drop, perhaps due to loss of my preferences.
Time shows up in hr:min:sec (yay!  )
Still shows up as a single track (no chapters) 
6- Just to check, I dropped the same m4b file into Chapter and Verse to make sure it does have chapters, C&V showed 72 chapters in the audiobook. If there's a preference in MusicBee that makes chapters show up, I can't find it.

-WS

[Steven]

if its still not working, can you zip one of the files and PM me a link

[Steven]

Thanks for sending the file. I have no issues with MB showing chapters for that file.
In case this is just misunderstanding of what MB does, MB doesnt split the file into chapters in the Playing Tracks panel - the chapters are only displayed in the player controls panel as the playback progresses

[wishingstar]

Ah! That's my bad then I expected to see a chapter list in the main window and/or playlist. The chapters do show up above the player controls.

[hedgehog90]

I'm currently using Musicbee 3.2.6735 and I have lots of issues importing m4b.
If I ctrl+drag an audiobook m4b into an audiobooks tab, it doesn't copy over, even though I have auto-reorganize enabled for audiobooks on that harddrive. Also it doesn't divide it into chapters, it just shows one very long track.
I have to ctrl+drag it into a music tab, then I have to drag that item into audiobooks. This is the only way to get it to copy and get it to display individual chapters as separate tracks.
However, if I then right click the audio book, send to -> File Rescan, it removes all the chapters and shows as one big file without chapters.

[Steven]

I'm currently using Musicbee 3.2.6735 and I have lots of issues importing m4b.
If I ctrl+drag an audiobook m4b into an audiobooks tab, it doesn't copy over, even though I have auto-reorganize enabled for audiobooks on that harddrive. Also it doesn't divide it into chapters, it just shows one very long track.
I have to ctrl+drag it into a music tab, then I have to drag that item into audiobooks. This is the only way to get it to copy and get it to display individual chapters as separate tracks.
However, if I then right click the audio book, send to -> File Rescan, it removes all the chapters and shows as one big file without chapters.

could you send me a link to a zip of one m4b file you are having problems with

also could you post a screenshot of the library auto-organise settings dialog

[hedgehog90]

Sorry for the delay.

I uploaded the shortest audiobook I own:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pOUMfsVgFk4-Gr9HuinE8IG4fDRk27c2/view?usp=sharing

I've tried adding C:\ to auto organize audiobooks but it makes no difference.

[Steven]

The file you sent doesnt have a disc or track number and hence will report missing tags in the file organiser. The file organiser doesnt split the single file into multiple files for each chapter.
The chapters display in the player panel as expected ie. everything is as i would expect