[derm318]

I have some lectures on disc in an MP3 format. I wish to convert them to a format so that I can listen to them on my iPod and bookmark the place that I stop so that I can come back to that part of the lecture later. How do I do this?

[deathandtaxes]

iTunes will do it for you. iTunes/Advanced/Convert selection to AAC.

[Scott-G]

I thought that the latest version of iTunes will let you bookmark any file format, you just have to turn it on. Select the mp3 and open the Info page. Select the Option tab and see if the "Remember Playback position" option is available for the file.

Scott

[icruise]

.aa a proprietary format used only for Audible.com files, unless I am mistaken. You can't convert to that, but you can have any file remember its position, as Scott-G points out. However, this only works with 4G iPods and later, so if you have an old iPod I think your only option is to convert it to AAC, which does support bookmarking even on some of the older iPods.

[deathandtaxes]

Much Simpler!

[Scott-G]

Another method for the old iPods (at least the mini, which I have) is to convert to m4b.

1) convert mp3 to m4a
2) Find file in the finder (click on it in the library and then "reveal file" from the menu)
3) change the file extension from m4a to m4b (m4b is audiobook format).
4) Go back to itunes and delete the file from the library, but choose keep file in the dialog.
5) Re-import the m4b file into the library and sync to ipod

This file should show up in the audiobook playlist and be bookmarkable.

If that doesn't work, there is an applescript to run on the file to make it bookmarkable as well:

Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes ♫ Managing Files