Self-hosted Audiobooks

(Note: Cribbed a bunch of this from seanap’s guide on GitHub)

Converting MP3s to Chapterized M4Bs

  • AudioBookBinder for Mac
    • Website (bluezbox.com) no longer exists that I can see?
    • Mac App Store
    • Standalone, Mac Informer
    • Note: Defaults to write m4b in ~/Documents/Audiobooks, which is a good staging ground for tagging

Uniform Tags

  • Mp3tag for Mac
  • Add an Audible Scraper as a custom Web Source
  • Possibly need to manually update SERIES and SERIES-PART/MOVEMENT, ALBUMSORT “Series Number - Title”, CONTENTGROUP/SUBTITLE “Series, Book #Number” for custom orderings.
  • Files on disk: I actually like the Audio Bookshelf scheme for consistency:
    • Author/Vol X - Year - Title {Narrator}/Title: Subtitle.m4b but many of those are optional,
    • Author/Title/Title - Author.m4b a typical use case for me, allowing filename search by author (and Plex is still reasonably happy) - Do keep the Title folder regardless for compatibility with MP3s (and also multi-file M4Bs with big fantasy epics)

Plex Setup

  • Install AudNexus Metadata Agent for Plex
  • Configure metadata agents:
    • Settings > Agents > Artists > Audiobooks and put Audnexus above Local Media Assets
    • Settings > Agents > Albums > Audiobooks and put Audnexus above Local Media Assets
  • Create Audiobook Library (Music)
    • Advanced settings:
    • Agent: Audnexus Agents
    • Keep existing genres? (New agent pulls 4-6 meaningful genres)
    • Album Sorting - By Name (uses ALBUMSORT)
    • Uncheck Prefer Local Media
    • Check Store Track Progress
    • Uncheck Author Bio
    • Genres - None
    • Album Art - Local Files Only

Playback on iPhone

  • Prologue looks like a great option that talks directly to Plex. Download for offline playback and collection support is a one-time purchase.
  • Alternately, manage files outside of Plex and use BookPlayer.