[dmusicant]

I don't have a W7 system anymore. Try it out on your W7 system and report back. Theoretically it should till work.

Thank you! I have a related question you might have something to say about. I can try using my Windows 7 laptop. The MP3s are stored on machines on my wireless network that run Windows XP. I can access those files over the network from the Windows 7 machine. Do you think this will work, or do I have to copy the files to the Windows 7 machine's HD?

[Guzzler3]

You can try... But libraries and network shares can be troublesome. Personally I would just copy them down to the W7 machine to get them to the phone. Leave copies on the network for 'backup' purposes.

[dmusicant]

You can try... But libraries and network shares can be troublesome. Personally I would just copy them down to the W7 machine to get them to the phone. Leave copies on the network for 'backup' purposes.

I've never dealt with "libraries" before. I just started checking it out. I'm first off going to try to set it up using the network connection. One reason is I am not right now in the habit of using this Windows 7 laptop very frequently. I may upgrade one of my Windows XP laptops to Windows 7.

I just tried making the network folder that has the bulk of the files the default folder in the library but got an error, evidently a common error being that the folder is not indexed. I checked on the server machine and it is indexed. Digging down in MS's help I see that the problem may be that the server machine is running Windows XP. Further digging into MS's help, I see that installing Windows Search 4.0 on the XP server machine may get this working.

Gosh, this all seems pretty complex and unnecessary just to get my Nokia Lumia 520 to play MP3 files and remember where I was when I stop play. I have to wonder if there's an app out there that supports that feature, which seems pretty simple. The developer could include a button to "Save position," if just shutting down the app wouldn't work.

I tested and I'm pretty OK with the way my Nokia is handling FF/Rew even with my ~3 hour long MP3s. I am completely surprised at this, many is the time that I was infuriated by the results when I used FF/Rew on my Sansa M250 MP3 players that I used before I got the Nokia a couple of weeks ago! That and the offline GPS make the Nokia a totally worthwhile acquisition for me. However, if and when I can work out a means of saving my position in a long MP3, will really improve things. I think it remembers if I hit pause, but of course if I shut down the Nokia it forgets.

[Guzzler3]

Hence my suggestion of just copying down the files to the W7 machine, then setup a library and such. The official way from Microsoft, is to mark the network share as 'Always available offline'. Which then invokes the Sync Center, which copies files down from the network and onto your local drive. This can be nice, since if you make changes on the network share, they will sync up. The con is that it eats up local drive space.

[dmusicant]

Guzzler 3, OK, thank you, please let me ask a few questions.

1. Your example, My Podcasts. I assume this is being set up on your Windows 8 computer, not your smartphone.

Then you

2. "Run Windows Phone App for Desktop, select the "Podcasts" tab, and then select which (or all) Podcasts (really now audiobooks) you want on your phone."

Your smartphone would be connected to your Windows 8 machine, presumably by wifi at this point.

You then say:


"4. Sync.

Now on your phone you can go into the Podcasts section of Music+Video app and see your "books" along with any real podcasts, and play them as you like. When you stop, and then go back, it should start right where you left off."
- -
Well, I'm not understanding this, but I think a few words from you will clarify it. When you sync, what happens? Does your phone play data right off the Windows 8 machine (i.e by wifi), or does it actually copy the data from the Windows 8 machine to it's own storage, playable later, I presume, offline, and having the ability to stop play, shut down the phone and later boot the phone and resume from the previous stop point?

[Guzzler3]

Well, I'm not understanding this, but I think a few words from you will clarify it. When you sync, what happens? Does your phone play data right off the Windows 8 machine (i.e by wifi), or does it actually copy the data from the Windows 8 machine to it's own storage, playable later, I presume, offline, and having the ability to stop play, shut down the phone and later boot the phone and resume from the previous stop point?

Right now, I would HIGHLY recommend that you just copy the 'audio books' from your network share to the W7 machine local drive to keep it simple and to get you going and to make sure things work.

When you sync with the "Windows Phone App for Desktop", the program will copy the files from your computer to the phone. The 'audio books' should show up on the phone in the Music App under the Podcasts section. You will need enough space on the phone for the files.

Only after you have gotten this work, then research/experiment with keeping the 'audio books' on your network share, creating a library on the W7 machine that points to that network share and trying to get things to sync with the "Windows Phone App for Desktop" to your phone. But always, in the end, the files will copied to the phone.

[jj2me]

So if a person only has Vista and XP computers, they're SOL as to getting regular MP3s into the built-in Windows Phone 8 player's Podcast section, correct?

I just love the default Podcast player's 30-second skip forward function when you tap the fast-forward button.

[EDIT: I just saw that the $1.99 Audiobook Player app has the 30-second skip function. I'll give that a go, am hopeful despite these seeming negatives: 1) I have to host my audiobooks on Sky/OneDrive and then download one at a time, 2) not so good user ratings, and 3) not updated in almost two years.]

[EDIT 2: Forget Audiobook Player. It gets stuck on the Library screen when playing the last audiobook in my Library, where there's no controls (the audiobook keeps playing) and the phone's back button doesn't work. The only workaround I've found, is to go to Home, re-enter the app, and go to "Now Playing."]

[Elastep]

Now with update to windows phone 8.1 you can simply copy mp3 or m4b audiobooks to file system of your phone and listen to them. Use ELAudioBooks.
Chapters in m4b are also supported!

[TJack1]

May be PlayBook help solves your problem? bit.ly/1gCH5rj

[John McLaughlin4]

Unfortunately support for Audiobooks on WP10 is as poor as ever. How can Nikia/Microsoft not resolve this!!!

However, I hate it but this works for me-

1. Copy from PC and select "Just copy, Do NOT convert" when prompted.
2. Using the "Files" app rename .m4b files to .m4a (or indeed .mp3 usually works).
3. You should now be able to open your audiobooks in Groove Music.

Why they can't support .m4b is beyond me, smacks of anti iTunes politics to me.

Good luck and happy listening.

Hissy