iOS 8.4 moves audiobooks to iBooks, adds separate CarPlay audiobook access

Posted:
in iPhone edited March 2020
Apple's newly released iOS 8.4 beta relocates audiobooks out of the Music app into iBooks, and it adds a separate launcher for them in CarPlay, AppleInsider has discovered.




With the first beta of iOS 8.4, CarPlay users will see a new "Audiobooks" app sporting the iBooks icon. The change to CarPlay was tipped by reader Jason.

Within the iBooks app itself on an iPhone or iPad, audiobooks occupy their own unique collection, accessible from the pull-down menu at the top of the screen. Notably listeners can open a selectable tracklist for each book, and fast-forward or fast-rewind through a title by tapping and dragging the cover art.

Apple has drastically revised the Music app in iOS 8.4. Apart from breaking off audiobooks, it adds things like a persistent MiniPlayer, a Recently Added section, global search, and various graphical changes such as new icons and bigger album and artist images.

It's not certain when the finished version of iOS 8.4 will be released. The firmware is just in its first beta, and so far available only to developers. It's unlikely to be ready in time for the launch of the Apple Watch on April 24, but will presumably be done before WWDC in June.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Funny this was just mentioned by a person here.
  • Reply 2 of 15
    macapfelmacapfel Posts: 575member
    This is fantastic! I always pledged for this. Much more sensible, and a first sign that iTunes will become a little less blown up in one of the next versions – probably tied to 10.11.
  • Reply 3 of 15
    adrayvenadrayven Posts: 460member
    Cannot wait for the day iTune App goes 'web only'... are mostly web only for what it should be.. a Music App.. break out all the other stuff like App Store and iOS Sync to a separate app (for windows) and go HTML5 for iTunes.. Just build in Sync for OS X..

    Would be the best for everyone IMO..
  • Reply 4 of 15
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    Hopefully we get a total rewrite, like Photos and iPhoto. Strip it down to the basics.

    Make music on a Mac fun again!
  • Reply 5 of 15
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Sad, yet another of Apple's two unloved and uncared for foster children is being forced into a new household. This is starting to look like child abuse.

    Before it was podcasts, given an app of their own to get the bugs out of the music app. Now it's audiobooks, which are being moved in with print books. I'm not sure I see the logic there. These are two different media only sharing the word "books" in common and suggesting that the combination will end up bloated and clumsy. Amazon seems quite happy to keep their Kindle and Audible apps separate.

    It matters little to me. I now use Downcast for my podcasts and love its time saving, playback improving features. I can kludge non-DRMed audiobooks into it, but I'm hoping audiobook listening will become a standard feature. Until then, I'm using other third-party audiobook apps. What Apple does matters less and less.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    What I really want from Apple's audiobooks is the ability to re-download past purchases just like all other iTunes content and go DRM-free. Until them I won't be buying iTunes audiobooks again. I have a few Pimsleur language courses that I bought several years ago and it's really frustrating that I still have to keep up with those files when everything else is backed up in the cloud.
  • Reply 7 of 15

    Why would anyone buy audiobooks from Apple, when Apple treats them like an afterthought of an afterthought. 

     

    Audible lets you:

     

    1) download your books far more easily

    2) keeps them in sync better between devices (does Apple even do that, much less do it well?)

    3) has a dedicated Player app that's well suited to book listening (chapter markers, notes, easy backup and jump forward by several seconds, etc.)

    4) is generally more economical.

    5) Doesn't throw out functionality when it updates an OS (iOS 7) and then takes more than a year to bring back functionality. 

     

    The only thing Audible doesn't have is the ability to BUY the books through the iPhone app, and that's because Apple's ridiculous, asinine insistence that it get 30% of the purchase price, even though the content is coming from Amazon's servers, not Apple's. To protect its services from competition, Apple hamstrings services that are far better than its own, screwing its customers.  

     

    More mediocrity from Apple. This is a company that brings its A game to a few products, and then is content to give everything else a C or D game. Keep up the good work, Tim!

  • Reply 8 of 15
    “Sad, yet another of Apple's two unloved and uncared for foster children is being forced into a new household. This is starting to look like child abuse.”

    I disagree with this sentiment. I think the move toward apps that focus on fewer media types is desirable. For years Apple users have derided Apple’s media apps on iOS and desktop. This is a step in the right direction.

    I agree each app now needs polish and refinement to make them not feel like an afterthought.

    One last thought; I'd like to see the Mac version of iTunes not be held back by its Windows sibling—iOS apps browsing/purchasing on the Mac should live in the App Store app on the Mac with different tabs for each platform.
  • Reply 9 of 15
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post



    Sad, yet another of Apple's two unloved and uncared for foster children is being forced into a new household. This is starting to look like child abuse.



    Before it was podcasts, given an app of their own to get the bugs out of the music app. Now it's audiobooks, which are being moved in with print books. I'm not sure I see the logic there. These are two different media only sharing the word "books" in common and suggesting that the combination will end up bloated and clumsy. Amazon seems quite happy to keep their Kindle and Audible apps separate.



    It matters little to me. I now use Downcast for my podcasts and love its time saving, playback improving features. I can kludge non-DRMed audiobooks into it, but I'm hoping audiobook listening will become a standard feature. Until then, I'm using other third-party audiobook apps. What Apple does matters less and less.

     

    Yeah, it makes much more sense for audiobooks to be mixed in with songs and people's playlists, and not with.. you know.. books, right? When I think of "audiobook", "ibook" seems a much natural place than iTunes, regardless of media type. I love how everyone bitches than iTunes is bloated, and whenever Apple takes steps to logically break out features into more appropriate apps, there's of course more bitching. 

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by k2director View Post

     

    Why would anyone buy audiobooks from Apple, when Apple treats them like an afterthought of an afterthought. 

     

    Audible lets you:

     

    1) download your books far more easily

    2) keeps them in sync better between devices (does Apple even do that, much less do it well?)

    3) has a dedicated Player app that's well suited to book listening (chapter markers, notes, easy backup and jump forward by several seconds, etc.)

    4) is generally more economical.

    5) Doesn't throw out functionality when it updates an OS (iOS 7) and then takes more than a year to bring back functionality. 

     

    The only thing Audible doesn't have is the ability to BUY the books through the iPhone app, and that's because Apple's ridiculous, asinine insistence that it get 30% of the purchase price, even though the content is coming from Amazon's servers, not Apple's. To protect its services from competition, Apple hamstrings services that are far better than its own, screwing its customers.  

     

    More mediocrity from Apple. This is a company that brings its A game to a few products, and then is content to give everything else a C or D game. Keep up the good work, Tim!


     

    Oh, shut up. You mean a company that ONLY focuses on audiobooks has a more comprehensive audiobook product than Apple, when audiobooks is simply one TINY bullet point in a massive list of software, services, and hardware that Apple offers? Wow, I'm completely shocked. You're right, Tim Cook must go, because something as niche as audiobooks that I, and millions of others who own Apple products have never even used once, is not up to your standards, and does not have every feature compared to a company that exists only to sell them.

     

    And because of that, you throw snarky attacks at Cook, as if SJ would have given any more of a shit. Why can't people like you criticize something without pretending that Cook is doing a terrible job? Yes, Tim is doing great work, and no, most people don't give a shit about audiobooks. Stop being so petty, so childish, and so vindictive in your critisisms. Cook has bigger things to worry about then your little pet feature.  And who say you need to use Apple software for absolutely EVERYTHING? Whats wrong with choosing to use Audible? Oh wait, then you couldn't bitch and whine. Also, how is Apple "screwing" it's customers? Apple is providing Audible with an extremely active and affluent market of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people, yet Apple does not deserve any cut of the sales? Fantastic logic there. 

  • Reply 10 of 15
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post

     

    Oh, shut up. You mean a company that ONLY focuses on audiobooks has a more comprehensive audiobook product than Apple, when audiobooks is simply one TINY bullet point in a massive list of software, services, and hardware that Apple offers? Wow, I'm completely shocked. You're right, Tim Cook must go, because something as niche as audiobooks that I, and millions of others who own Apple products have never even used once, is not up to your standards, and does not have every feature compared to a company that exists only to sell them.

     

    And because of that, you throw snarky attacks at Cook, as if SJ would have given any more of a shit. Why can't people like you criticize something without pretending that Cook is doing a terrible job? Yes, Tim is doing great work, and no, most people don't give a shit about audiobooks. Stop being so petty, so childish, and so vindictive in your critisisms. Cook has bigger things to worry about then your little pet feature.  And who say you need to use Apple software for absolutely EVERYTHING? Whats wrong with choosing to use Audible? Oh wait, then you couldn't bitch and whine. Also, how is Apple "screwing" it's customers? Apple is providing Audible with an extremely active and affluent market of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people, yet Apple does not deserve any cut of the sales? Fantastic logic there. 


     

    Time to wakeup from your fantasy-land. Apple's attention to detail and overall quality has dropped since Tim Cook took over, or perhaps since Jobs became affected by his cancer. Apple used to enter a product category and do an exemplary job. It may not have offered every bell and whistle that competitors did, but it did the basic experience so well that it was still a superior experience for the vast majority of customers. That was the Apple way. That's what made Apple special. 

     

    And it still does that SOMETIMES (generally the iPhone and iPad, the MacBooks, iMac, etc.), but there are many corners of the business that get forgotten and left to drift into mediocrity, with occasional updates that fix long-suffering bugs or prop the app up with just enough features to keep them muddling along.

     

    * Audiobooks

    * iWork

    * Final Cut Pro (legacy and X) and Apple's whole presence in media creation

    * Aperture

    * iOS Video app

    * iTunes synching

    * Mac Pro (Until the tube came out, and since it's been out, who knows how long it might languish without an update). 

    * Maps

    * More bugs and more bugs staying around longer than in years past (Airdrop reliability, Airplay reliability with Apple TV, airport signal dropoffs, my Apple Thunderbolt displays regularly flashing to black for a second or two, etc. etc. etc. etc..)

     

    Apple doesn't have the same high standards that it did when Jobs was around. Maybe it's because Jobs wasn't afraid to be very rough with people and insist on higher standards while Tim Cook is more of a "team player", a "consensus builder, etc. Maybe not.  I don't know. But I started out optimistic about Tim Cook (easily giving him the benefit of the doubt and defending him when people complained about Apple not "innovating" enough), but have changed my mind based on years of growing evidence. 

     

    And that's just the product quality front. Tim has also been making Apple far more political. His open letter about his sexuality, despite no pressing demand for that. His ridiculous stand with the race-baiter Jesse Jackson on "diversity". His publicly commenting on laws past in Indiana.  Tim Cook is steering Apple further down a political path, which in the end can have a lot of unforeseen consequences for Apple (taking needless political stands that can in turn make Apple a political target).

     

    Jobs was far more focused on Apple and Apple's products. Tim Cook has let things slip. Over time, that slippage is going to hurt Apple's long-term prospects.  

     

    P.S. Have you heard the saying, "If it's worth doing at all, do it well."? Have you ever heard that before? I think that definitely was Jobs' philosophy, and it's one I really believe in too. But you yourself seem to think it's okay if Apple ignores that. You cite the fact that only a small number of people care about audiobooks, so why should Apple care if its audiobooks experience is far worse than competitors, and if it also at the same time hamstrings those competitors from offering Apple's own customers a better experience. That's a terrible attitude. That's the attitude that destroys great companies over the long-term. It would be far better for Apple to get out of the audiobooks business, and leave it to companies that do a much better job, rather than confuse customers and lure them in thinking they're getting "Apple quality" and then giving them a turd. 

  • Reply 11 of 15
    yensid98yensid98 Posts: 311member

    Great!  Finally some logic ans sense is brought to the Music app.

     

    Now if they'd only take Music Videos out of the Music app.   I've never understood why they are mixed in with music when the Videos app has a specific Music Videos section.  Even worse, the Music app only plays them in a small window on iPad.

     

    Yep, there's still some insanity to address in the poor Music app.

  • Reply 12 of 15
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    k2director wrote: »
    Time to wakeup from your fantasy-land. Apple's attention to detail and overall quality has dropped since Tim Cook took over, or perhaps since Jobs became affected by his cancer. Apple used to enter a product category and do an exemplary job. It may not have offered every bell and whistle that competitors did, but it did the basic experience so well that it was still a superior experience for the vast majority of customers. That was the Apple way. That's what made Apple special. [...]

    Apple doesn't have the same high standards that it did when Jobs was around. Maybe it's because Jobs wasn't afraid to be very rough with people and insist on higher standards while Tim Cook is more of a "team player", a "consensus builder, etc. Maybe not.  I don't know. But I started out optimistic about Tim Cook (easily giving him the benefit of the doubt and defending him when people complained about Apple not "innovating" enough), but have changed my mind based on years of growing evidence. 

    what nonsense. do you have any idea what a cliched meme you are? "SJ would never!" "Apple's gone downhill!" "DOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!"

    the reality is, apple is doing far more stuff for far more people than it ever has in its history. and theyre doing a great job at it, which is why they are: 1) the most profitable company. 2) the highest valued company. 3) the best-rated by its customers.

    so GTFO with your Cook/Jobs crap.
    Tim has also been making Apple far more political. His open letter about his sexuality, despite no pressing demand for that. His ridiculous stand with the race-baiter Jesse Jackson on "diversity". His publicly commenting on laws past in Indiana.  Tim Cook is steering Apple further down a political path, which in the end can have a lot of unforeseen consequences for Apple (taking needless political stands that can in turn make Apple a political target).

    ah there we -- your real problem is you resent people standing up to hate, especially when those haters hide behind fairytale books written by ancient men. good luck with that, soon your state will legalize gay marriage as well, if they havent already.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    I agree that the quality of the music and video apps were appalling in iOS 7. So much so that I abandoned them and can't tell if they are good or not in iOS 8.
  • Reply 14 of 15
    IOS 7.1.2, iOS 6.1.6, IOS 5.1.1, and now IOS 8.4(May even become IOS 8.4.1/8.4.2) Is it me or is the numbering changed, does this have other affects?
  • Reply 15 of 15
    v900v900 Posts: 101member
    nolamacguy wrote: »
    ah there we -- your real problem is you resent people standing up to hate, especially when those haters hide behind fairytale books written by ancient men. good luck with that, soon your state will legalize gay marriage as well, if they havent already.

    See, that kind of racist and islamophobic attitude is exactly the reason why Cook should stear Apple way clear of cultural and political issues, and concentrate on products and quality.

    By engaging in cultural matters like gay issues, Apple may excite a small, well heeled ultra liberal elite, but it risks turning away over one billion Muslims, where those kind of questions are anathema, and Western cultural colonization deeply unpopular.

    With the kind of islamophobic attitudes you have been expressing, I assume your initial reaction may be: "So what?!? Muslims are backward and don't have money for Apple products!"

    But I'm afraid you're only looking at a very limited horizon.

    Over the next decade or two, as the liberal baby boomers die out, there is a significant religious majority of Muslims and Christians building in both US and Europe.

    And one of the things that "their fairytale books" as you so callously dismissed them as, have in common, is a significant overlap on cultural issues.

    In Europe, some of the cultural gains that ultra liberal intellectuals pushed for in the 70iea and 80ies, are being rolled back at a pace that will only increase as society turns gradually more religious.

    The same thing will happen in the US, and people who may currently think they're on the right side of history, like yourself, will realize that the cultural pendulum swings to both directions.

    Which is why cultural and faux moral issues shouldn't mix with business.
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