If you dive down deep enough in the "Media" windows you will come upon a list of stuff you can play. See below:



Does anyone know what the file layout and file formats need to be for the "Audiobooks"? I have searched and cannot find anything on any of these selections.

 

I think most audiobooks are MP3, or if you're going to copy them, that's a good format. The problem I've read about on here with audiobooks is they play as one long file, so there isn't any way to start at a section. Somebody probably knows how to do that, but that always seems to be the big complaint about them.

Supported file formats are on p18 of the infotainment guide:

 

I'm the poster who tried using the one long file. It's a PITA, for sure. I stumbled across this screen and wondered is the only for Audible ebooks from Amazon and if not, what is the file/folder layout and extension to get the book files to play in the correct order.

Ripping the books to mp3 files is problematic because the infotainment system puts them in some order that is not in book chapter order. In addition, many of the files in the book CDs rip to the same .mp3 file name. I am having some success with playlists but creating that playlist file on a computer and moving it to a USB drive is tedious. I have come up with using Excel to build names (after using the old DOS DIR command directed to a text file and sucking that into Excel) and copying that list to USB .m3u text file.

This is the kind of crap that drives people crazy. I should be able to either copy each CD to the USB drive directly or rip the CDs to the USB in .mp3 format and have it play. BTW, the Infotainment system doesn't recognize the playlist format from Windows media player. What bonehead developer decided THAT was a good idea?

Jumping through hoops like this should be totally unnecessary in 2017. All I freaking want to do is to be able to listen to books on CD. How hard is that? And, no, I am not going to buy a portable CD player and plug it into the AUX port. I shouldn't have to do that.

 

I wrestled with that menu and had asked several times - how can you classify a sound file as a podcast or an audio book. Never got any answer and AFAICT there is no way. IOW there is no difference from a Song.mp3 and say Podcast.mp3 or AudioBook.mp3 cept for the title. And I don't think mp3, wma, aac, m4a, and aif makes any difference at all.

That said, for Audible audio books I use, well guess what? Audible's app! Yes that's the best for handling that. Even comes up on Android Auto. Audible's format (.aa IIRC) is proprietary and is used to protect the book from copyright violations. So I'd say use that. You cannot use the Audible app to play .aa files from the USB drive though - instead play them from your phone.

And for podcasts, again I use BeyondPod on my phone and guess what again? BeyondPod also runs under Android Auto. To me putting podcasts on a USB stick is a bother because podcasts are temporary. IOW the next episode will be coming next week and this weeks episode is old hat, history and should be deleted.

I've long since given up on Windows but the car does understand .m3u playlists such as:

$ cat Face\ the\ Time.m3u
#EXTM3U
Breakaway.mp3
Cryin' in the Rain.mp3
Drugstore Novels.mp3
Face the Time.mp3
Lifeline.mp3
#EXTINF:241,Cast of Shadows - Love Beyond Our Needs
Love Beyond Our Needs.mp3
Reach Beyond the Past (Remix).mp3
Reach Beyond the Past.mp3
Remember.mp3
Silent Rage.mp3
Street Magic.mp3
#EXTINF:242,Cast of Shadows - The Reunion
The Reunion.mp3

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U

As stated the Infotainment system does not support .wma file format and as for Windows Media Playlist format see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window...layer_Playlist. Face it, Microsoft used to push through standards as defacto but by and large they have lost their clout and people are using real, internet standards that are agreed upon by everybody, not just Microsoft. Even that link says that .m3u is the most common playlist file format.

 

Unfortunately I have a 2015 so Android Auto is not an option for me.

I agree about MS clout, but how many computers are out there where people are ripping to .mp3 files with Windows Media Player? At least it should be supported. Of course this player builds the playlist with the full path (duh) that has to be edited out (the playback software should recognize this and handle it properly, BTW, without me having to edit the damned playlist).

I don't know how to easily get the book CD images onto my phone (Sammy S7). I have found navigating on my phone with Windows Explorer to be difficult; the folder naming is not obvious and the files have to be in certain (unknown) locations or the playback apps won't find them. The phone is just another USB device so I don't see any advantage. Plus I have to use my phone's small screen to navigate.