Strange issue when pausing LONG audiobook--pressing play again changes the

Question

Strange issue when pausing LONG audiobook--pressing play again changes the position within the book--it doesn't start back exactly where it left off.
The audiobook of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is between 18 and 19 HOURS long--all as one long track/file.
I've noticed that when I pause while listening and then press play again, it "rewinds" and starts playing portions of the audiobook from about 10 minutes prior--but the time stamp doesn't change. At least this is the time frame from the first "test". Other pauses/plays may result in different time differences.
The first time this happened, I didn't realize what it was doing. I pressed play (from the pause) and I heard a portion that I had already played. I thought that the bookmark just didn't "remember" as it should have, so I scrubbed forward trying to find where I remembered leaving off. If you end up pausing/playing even a couple of times with this happening each time, the portion of the audiobook that you're playing and the time stamp becomes COMPLETELY off! For example, almost an hour into the time stamp was really only about 10-15 minutes into the actual book.
I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but hopefully it does to someone. It's very frustrating to have this happen simply because you had to pause while listening. You have to scrub backwards or forwards each time to find out where you REALLY left off at and the time stamp becomes of no help value since it doesn't change as the playback position moves itself.
I'm sure that this is something happening due to the extreme length of the audio file. That maybe it can't track as precisely as it could with shorter lengths. ???
Any ideas? Has anyone else seen this happen? Any ideas on whether or not there is anything that can be done to prevent this?

Answer 1

I'm glad that I'm not the only one having this
problem. It's ironic that we're both having issues
with the SAME audiobook. I haven't had a chance to
listen to Books 1-5 much to see if they have the same
issue or not--I don't remember any on the few parts
that I've played for my nephews.
Yeah, I know! I was shocked to see that. I recently finished HP5 (twice), and NEVER had this issue, but it is a much smaller file size.
I'm thinking that I may try to convert to AAC before
I try the splitting program--in theory, it's easier
to start right back in again when you only have 1
track to find, than when you have dozens/hundreds of
smaller tracks. It's sometimes hard to remember
which track you left off with--even if it's
"bookmarked" within that track.
I dunno anything about AAC, to be honest. Never used it. My plan is to split the MP3 into smaller MP3s by chapter and load them on a playlist. Of course, I will have to label them all nice and pretty. It is a long book, but you could always just load a couple of chapter files at a time. The only thing that I can see that would be kind of a pain about splitting it with the Cool MP3 is searching thru the file for each chapter and setting break points.
My only concern is how much quality I'm losing by
converting from one compressed format--MP3--to
another compressed format AAC.
Yeah. Ew. No clue. Sounds unpleasant to me. Again, I really do not do anything with AAC.
I suppose, since it's
spoken word instead of music, the change shouldn't be
too noticable. I'm not sure what kind of time frame
it'll require to convert. I'll probably try it with
book 1 first--since it's the smallest.
May depend on the program. The one I got boasts no quality loss. You may wanna scrounge around the download sites and see which one sounds like it has the best features, even if you do just get a free trial version of something. I would definitely read the editor's ratings. I tend to trust that more than the typical end user's. They show how many stars the editor gives a product, and you can click that for the review, or sometimes they have labeled tabs where you can access the review.
As for how long it takes me to rip that particular file and if that actually fixes the scrubbing problem, I will have to let you know tomorrow. WAAAAY past my bedtime!
Keep me updated on your end. I sure which that there
was an explanation for why it happens.
Will do! I am thinking you hit the nail on the head with the length. That was exactly what popped into my mind when I figured out what the goofy thing was doing.
Talk to you later!
HP dv5117d, iTunes 7.0.2.16   Windows XP Pro   1st gen 4GB nano, sw ver 1.3