How you can listen to audiobooks from Wilderness Voice
This article covers how to listen to Wilderness Voice audiobooks using the following platforms:
Wilderness Voice Publications’ audiobooks are produced in .m4b format, which is an audio format that supports the ability for the reader to select individual chapters to read, bookmark where you are up to, and remember where you left off listening if the audio device supports it.
1. Windows
QuickTime
On Windows, by far the easiest way to listen to an audiobook is to download QuickTime:
Although the interface is dated, it has all the features needed to play an audiobook (m4b), including being able to pick a particular chapter from the dropdown menu.
The only downside to listening on Windows is that there is no bookmark feature or ability to resume where you last left off when you re-open the file.
iTunes
The second option for listening to audiobooks on Windows, and this is useful if you have an iPhone, is use Apple’s iTunes software.
Dragging and dropping the downloaded m4b file into the iTunes interface is sufficient to be able to play the audiobook in iTunes.
2. Mac
Books (old iBooks)
On a Mac using OSX, downloading an m4b audiobook file will automatically play it in Books.
If you have an older Mac that doesn’t not have Books installed, you can open the file in iTunes or QuickTime as per the instructions for Windows users in section 1 above.
3. iOS (iPhones, iPads)
iTune — Books
On iOS, if you can connect your phone to a computer running iTunes, you can copy the audio book into the “Books” section of your phone, and then it will be visible in the audiobook tab in the Books app, which is native to iOS.
To copy to your iPhone, first you must add the audiobook to iTunes’ software catalogue by dragging the file onto the opened interface. Once your audiobook file is playable in iTunes, plug in your phone and, once iTunes recognises it, drag the audiobook file onto the phone menu that appears in the left column within iTunes:
You will know you have succeeded if you click on the “audiobooks” section of your phone in the left panel and see a copy of your audiobook.
Once the audiobook has transferred to your iPhone, open the standard Books app. But, you will not find the title in the ‘Audiobooks ‘section of the app! That’s because it is not an iTunes purchase. You will find the transferred audiobook in the Library section of the app instead.
When you play the file in Books on your iPhone, the chapters are accessible in the ‘hamburger’ menu on the top right of the interface:
BookPlayer
An alternative to the Apple options is to download the app, BookPlayer, especially if you would like to download an m4b audiobook straight to your iPhone without having to transfer the file via a computer first.
Once you have this app installed, it is possible to download the audiobook directly from the Wilderness Voice website to your phone, and then use the “share” (long press) function to then ‘copy to BookPlayer’
Once opened in BookPlayer, the audio file is visible in your library in the app, which has full screen playback in a very good interface:
The chapters of the audiobook are accessible in the triple stripe ‘hamburger’ menu in the middle of the lower toolbar.
4. Android
Voice Audiobook Player
On an Android device, you may first download the audiobook from the Wilderness Voice website.
After setting it up, import a single book selecting the file you downloaded.
Once imported, the Voice Audiobook Player has a nice intuitive interface to play your audiobook files in:
We hope that this article is helpful. If you find you have other options that are particularly helpful, please let us know!