As well as checking the "Remember Playback Position" check box, you should also check the "Skip When Shuffling" check box. This will ensure that your audio book files won't suddenly appear in the middle of your music mixes.

Audio books on iPods are wonderful, the trick is getting them. public Libraries now have a good selection of audio books for download on their websites, but most of them had Microsoft's old DRM scheme (which even Microsoft doesn't use anymore on its Zune) so you can't play them on a Zune or an iPod. This is a really silly situation, since the vast majority of people have an iPod, Apple should allow the libraries to use it's DRM for free, that would be a great PR move.

Personally I love to have at least on audio book on my iPod at any time, along with a large number of podcasts. A great way to keep up with my reading.

And unfortunately that's why I'm *not* in the market for an iPod. Other manufacturers provide real bookmarks--the ability to save a spot to go back to later, even if you listened further in that particular file and want later to go back to a particular scene or passage. Basically, the difference between a real bookmark and leaving your book splayed open upside-down on the table.

The Creative Zen is, at present, much less expensive than even the Nano and has real bookmarks. It doesn't seem to me like it's a really complicated feature that should present Apple any difficulty in including. When they do, I'll be happy to consider an iPod. Until then? Sorry, not for me.

Audiobooks are the main reason I've got my Ipod. I've got a longish commute (some biking then an hour on the train each way) so it helps pass the time. I have a hard time reading in moving vehicles so my reading is split 50/50 between at home and audiobooks.

They tend to work better with published audiobooks rather than ripped ones, which works for me since I get most of my content from Audible. Audible and SimplyAudio are pretty good, SimplyAudio being DRM free while Audible is now owned by Amazon.

Even though you asked for feedback, there was no contact information in the blog post, so maybe this will work.

At least on my 30GB Gen 3 (or 4 audio/video iPod) there is NO file menu. Remember playback position can be selected, in iTunes. In V7.7 that check box shows up at the bottom of a different get info screen which has a drop down menu for this purpose. It "appears" that if you've selected your entire library, then everything that's on the iPod will remember the playback position as well.

Okay, here's my trick for listening to audiobooks that are ripped from cd. This issue is that you end up with a hundred or so tracks to keep track of. So here's what I do:

I import the tracks and select "remember position" and "skip when shuffling"

Then I create a smart playlist that needs to meet two pieces of criteria:

1) The title or author's name so that it chooses all the files from the book (and only those files)

2) Playcount must be zero.

This means that you don't have to remember what track you were on because it will always be the top track in your playlist.

... and I've found a few interesting foibles with the whole thing.

When ripping an audiobook from CDs, there are usually a dozen or more discs to import into iTunes. This can lead to problems if the Gracenote CDDB returns slightly different information for one or more of the discs in the Artist or Album fields.

For instance, Disc 1 might have "Douglas Adams" in the Artist field, while Discs 2 through 7 have "Douglas N. Adams." Those discs will appear in your iPod to be two different artists. Change them all to be one or the other to keep it straight.

Check the field for Disc # for each disc before importing. If one or more of the imported discs doesn't have it, you'll want to add it yourself, 'cause it might not fall in line with the rest of the discs without it.

Before importing the CDs, look at the track titles and see if the track names are so long that you won't know one track from the next when viewing them in your iPod. If they are, consider using the Join CD Tracks command under the Advanced menu in iTunes with each CD you import. With the ability to memorize the playback position, all those separate tracks aren't really necessary.

Books on CD are things you get from the library for long or recurring car rides. YOU'RE the people who want to publically execute people who fiddle with phones and MP3 players while driving. Books on iPod would be Salon's Uber Terrorist Weapon of Mass Anti-Safety of all time times eleventy infinity billion squared.

I use my iPhone primarily for NPR podcasts of an hour or so. This works well in the car. However, I just recently got an Amazon Kindle and it is a fabulous traveling (i.e., business trip or vacation) companion. Instead of the several pounds of books I usually pack, there is just the Kindle and the charger. My major Kindle complaint (so far) is the spotty selection of titles.

I use a Sansa, which I love, but this also worked fine on my earlier iRiver T30 (which still works fine but, at 1 gig, doesn't hold as much).

Step one: check out the CDs from the library.

Step two: rip 'em all.

Step three: load to the Sansa.

This is, no doubt, technically illegal, but I figure as long as I have the disks out of the library, I have a right to listen to them in any form I want.

I recently bought a second Sansa (used, refurbished, 8 gig, $79 including shipping -- can't beat that) to hold my music, so I have my 2-gig dedicated to the ebooks. As long as you make sure the disks are named consecutively (e.g. DanteClub Disk1 etc), they play through seamlessly from the first disk to the last. No need to earmark or pagemark or whatever -- the Sansa always remember where you stopped it, and starts up from the same point when you turn it back on. Works for me!