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AudiBible

 

Software User Guide

STEP 2: CONTENT PREPARATION

2.1 Finalise your source audio

If you are recording new audio or have access to raw, unprocessed recordings, then in order to maximize playback audio quality it is first necessary to edit the audio to eliminate unwanted spaces and glitches, and to master the audio to improve dynamic compression, equalisation, etc.* Mastering the audio can be done using standard audio software such as: Audacity, MP3Split or Sweep which are some of the available open source programs. These programs are totally free to download at the following websites:

  • http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ 

  • http://www.metadecks.org/software/sweep/index.html

  • http://mp3splt.sourceforge.net/mp3splt_page/home.php

* (These are audio engineering subjects beyond the scope of this user guide however it is helpful to note that the Audibible®  is essentially a mono device (although it also has a stereo audio output), and that the range of the built in speaker is limited by the size required in order to fit into a hand held device. It will therefore often be advisable to master the audio for mono reproduction and to limit the frequency spectrum of the audio for optimal play back on the built-in speaker.)

 

2.2 Convert to Ogg Vorbis™

Converting audio content to Ogg Vorbis™  format is best done from audio files in an uncompressed format such as RIFF WAV (usually a file with a .wav extension). Content can be transcoded (converted) from a compressed format such as MP3™  to Ogg Vorbis™  however the best results will always come from uncompressed source audio.

 

Ogg Vorbis™  encoding and transcoding tools

Encoding means to convert a message into code for example MP3, WAV or Ogg Vorbis. 

Transcoding the audio simply means converting the message from one code to another for example from MP3 to Ogg Vorbis.

 

Several free tools are available for encoding or transcoding audio in Ogg Vorbis™  format, some with graphical user interfaces and batch processing capabilities.  Please visit http://www.vorbis.com/setup/ and http://www.vorbis.com/software/  for a list of some of the available tools. We can recommend using an open source program like Foobar2000 which can be downloaded at http://www.foobar2000.org/

 

Ogg Vorbis™  Options

The various encoding and transcoding tools allow some control over how the audio is encoded. These options influence how much disk space the encoded files will take for a given sound quality. Higher quality play back requires a greater amount of disk space. Stereo files will also take more space thereby reducing the number of hours of audio content that can be loaded on the SD card. Unless it is particularly important to use stereo, we recommend converting all stereo files to mono using the Ogg Vorbis™  - downmix option in the Ogg Vorbis™ software.

 

When using encoding and transcoding tools like Foobar2000, we recommend the following options:

Instructions to transcode audio content to Ogg Vorbis format using Foobar2000:

2.2.1 Download the latest release of Foobar2000 from http://www.foobar2000.org/

2.2.2 You will also have to download a separate file called oggenc2.exe to correctly convert the Ogg Vorbis files at http://www.rarewares.org/dancer/dancer.php?f=303 

2.2.3 Save the downloaded oggenc2 zipped file for later use somewhere that you will remember e.g. your desktop. (This function will be explained later).

2.2.4 Install and open Foobar2000. When Foobar2000 is opened for the first time it will ask for Quick Appearance Setup. Click OK.

2.2.5 Drag and Drop (or Copy) your audio content files or folder(s) into Foobar2000 as shown in Figure 1 below. One single MP3 track is used as an example.

 

Figure 1

2.2.6 Select ALL the audio files, Right Click and select Convert as shown in Figure 2 below.

 

Figure 2

 

2.2.7 Foobar2000 will open a new window showing the Converter Setup options shown in Figure 3. Select Ogg Vorbis, 160 kbps, q5.0 in the Output format drop down list.

 

2.2.8 In the same window select “Source track folder” at the Output path section as shown in Figure 4. This allow Foobar2000 to  save the converted the Ogg Vorbis audio content in the same source folder(s) that you initially drag and dropped (or copied) into Foobar2000.

 

Also please select “Convert each track to an individual file” and change the Name format to %filename% instead of %title% in order for Foobar2000 to structure the files correctly.

 

2.2.9 Click OK

 

2.2.10 Foobar2000 will now ask you for the oggenc2.exe file. (This is the file mentioned in section 2.2.3.) First open the downloaded Zipped oggenc2 File and copy the oggenc2.exe file and paste it on your desktop for ease of use as shown in figure 5 below.

Figure 3

 

Figure 4

Figure 5

You can now browse with Foobar2000 to locate your oggenc2.exe file (now on your desktop) as shown in Figure 6 below. When you select the oggenc2.exe file, Foobar2000 will automatically start the transcoding process as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 6

Figure 7

2.2.11 Foobar2000 will save these settings so that it will not be necessary in the future to locate the separate oggenc2.exe file. The user will be able to drag and drop (or copy) the audio content in the Foobar2000 program, right click and then select Convert > Last Used.

 

The converted (Ogg Vorbis) audio content will now be in the same file(s) or folder(s) that was copied into Foobar2000 along with your original audio content. You can open that specific file/folder and manually select the Ogg Vorbis files or let Windows search for the word ogg in the specific file/folder to eliminate your original audio files. (All Ogg Vorbis files have the ogg extension and you can therefore search for the word ogg to find all Ogg Vorbis files with the Windows search tool).

 

The Ogg Vorbis files can now be copied to a new folder, for example “Source”.

 

2.3 Content Structuring 

2.3.1 How the player interprets the structure of the content:

The Audibible® allows the user to press one of six buttons to move forward or backwards in the content on three levels. Typically this would be used to navigate between titles, books, and chapters, but for other types of content other divisions may be used.


The Audibible® Software determines the level for a group of content files by their position in the source directory structure. Files and directories in the root (base) of the source directory are interpreted as being “titles” on the top level (|<< and >>| buttons). Files in sub-directories are interpreted as being “books” on the middle level (<< and >> buttons), and those in sub-sub directories are “chapters” on the bottom level (< and > buttons).


The player navigates content in the alphabetical order of the source file and directory names.

 

2.3.2 Content Structuring Overview 
Titles

Titles are the content files between which the user will navigate using the |<< and >>| buttons. These files are in your source directory. A title may be a sub-directory or an Ogg Vorbis™  file.

 

Books

Books are the content files between which the user will navigate using the << and >> buttons. These files are in sub-directories of your source directory. A book may be a sub-directory or an Ogg Vorbis™  file.

 

Chapters

Chapters are the content files between which the user will navigate using the < and > keys. These files are in sub-sub-directories of your source directory. A chapter may only be an Ogg Vorbis™  file.

 

2.3.3 Instructions to create a source directory tree and structure the content by name:

Figure 8


Ensure that the content files in your source directory tree are named so that, when sorted alphabetically, they are in the order that they should be listened to. Figure 8 below shows an example of 4x Titles, 6x Books and 5x Chapters.

 

  • Titles (4): 001_The Bible OT, 002_The Bible NT, 003_The_Story of Jesus and 004_Teachings1.
  • Books (6):  001_Genesis, 002_Exodus, 003_Leviticus, 004_Numbers, 005_Deuteronomy and 006_Joshua.
  • Chapters (5): 001_Chapter1, 002_Chapter2, 003_Chapter3, 004_Chapter4 and 005_Chapter5.

2.3.4 Below is an example on how to create a source directory tree:

2.3.4.1 Open a new folder in your local drive and give it a name. In the example, the Local Disc (C) is used and the folder is named Audio. The example is shown in figure 9 below.

 

Figure 9

2.3.4.2 In your new folder (Audio), create another new folder and give it a name e.g. Source. This will be the source folder that will contain your structured audio. Figure 10 below shows the new folder named Source.

Figure 10

In the next step, there are four Title audio folders:

  • 001_The Bible OT
  • 001_The Bible NT
  • 003_The Story of Jesus 
  • 004_Teachings1

 

Please make note of the numbering in front of the names. This is necessary because the Audibible® navigates content in alphabetical order and the Audibible® will look at numbers first before letters. In other words, numbers will have first priority in an alphabetical arrangement.

This is shown in Figure 11 below.

 

Figure 11

Figure 12 below shows the example of 001_The_Bible OT, containing 6 Books and 5 Chapters.

Please make note of the numbering in front of the Books and Chapters.

 

Figure 12

This was an example on how to prepare the audio tree structure that needs to be copied into the created Source folder in order to be compiled with the Audibible® Software.