Audio’s in the reading app, sir
A
udiobooks have moved to the
Books app, and any audiobooks
you’ve bought from the iTunes Store
should appear here. But there’s no
Account menu where you can sign in.
Instead, go to System Prefs > Apple ID >
iCloud and click Options next to iCloud
Drive. Tick Books to sync your library,
and in Books > Prefs > General, make
sure ‘Sync collections, bookmarks and
highlights across devices’ is ticked to
enable these convenience features.
You can import your own
audiobook files into Books using File >Add To Library, but there’s no way to
edit metadata or artwork within the
app. Some users with audiobooks on
CD have worked around this by
importing them first into the Music
app, editing the album and track titles,
updating album art, then importing the
resulting track files into Books. Books
keeps synced audiobooks in an obscure
folder (~/Library/Containers/com.
apple.BKAgentService/Data/
Documents/iBooks/Books) and there’s
currently no way to point it to a library
stored on an external drive.P
odcasts, previously managed in
the iTunes app, now have their
own app. Like Music and TV, and
unlike Books, this has an Account
menu where you can sign in to sync
podcasts you previously purchased
or subscribed to on the iTunes Store.
Podcasts available from Apple are
browsed in the sections under Apple
Podcasts on the left, and your own
collection in those under Library. When
you hover over a show (rather than an
episode), the Play button plays the
latest episode, while the button with
three dots gives you the option to
subscribe, meaning all future episodes
(but not past ones) are added to your
library. From here, click Settings to
choose how episodes are organised.It’s assumed that you’ll stream
episodes rather than downloading
them, but if you double-click a show
you’ll see a list of its episodes; click
the cloud icon beside one to download
it, or ß-click to highlight multiple
episodes, ≈-click and choose
Download Episodes. You can also
set automatic downloading in
Podcasts > Preferences > General.Q Found sounds
> In Music, clicking in the Search
box at the top left temporarily
ignores which view you’ve selected
down the left-hand side. Search
results are filtered instead by three
tabs that appear at the top right,
allowing you to choose between
Apple Music, Your Library and
the iTunes Store. While searching,
you can change the search term,
but the results won’t update until
you press ®.Q Filter tip
> The iTunes app’s Column Browser
option used to show a panel above
the Library > Songs listing enabling
you to filter the list by genres,
artists and so on. If you’ve been
missing this in the Music app, you
may not have noticed that, since
the 10.15.2 update, it’s back. Use
the same key shortcut, ç+B, or
go to View > Column Browser. You
can also use View > Show Filter
Field (ß+ç+F) to show only
titles matching whatever you
enter here.Q Find files
> In the TV app, ≈-click any video
for a Show in Finder option that
reveals the source file (assuming
it’s on your Mac, not just
referenced from the cloud).
The Music app doesn’t have this,
but, as in the old iTunes app, the
Show Info command provides a
workaround. It’s now called Get
Info, matching the Finder and
other apps. ≈-click a track and
choose Get Info, then click the File
tab. The location field shows the
file path (unless it’s in the cloud).
Triple-click the path, press ç+C
(Edit > Copy), switch to the Finder,
press ß+ç+G (Go > Go to
Folder), press ç+V (Edit >
Paste) and press ® to browse
directly to the file.Here by the grace of Pod
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