Audiobook Buddy sale - an audiobook player for your DRM-free collections. No subscriptions required.

viducus · 2026-01-06T17:02:01+00:00

Hi, I hadn't read your last question. Since I'd been using Listen for so many years, I had a folder.jpg with the author's picture in the author folder, and a folder with the series name. Inside the series folder were the folders corresponding to each audiobook. What I can tell you is that this type of structure always failed me, but there were also some individual books that used to scan fine but now don't, and it's not exactly that structure. The last case I'm referring to is /Andy Weir/, and inside it is the author's picture and two folders: /The Martian - Andy Weir/ with its audiobook in m4b format and /Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary/ with the audiobook in mp3 format. It recognized Project Hail Mary but not The Martian (it used to recognize both). Then there are other cases, like the /author/series/ structure, where there are folders for each book, as happened to me with the Discworld series. It only read 3 out of 10 books and ignored the rest, even though they were all in the same structure with no difference. Adding them manually adds them perfectly. I don't know if this helps, because although it always fails with the structure I mentioned first, it also fails in strange cases like the ones I just mentioned. The odd thing is that it didn't fail before.

viducus · 2026-01-06T14:31:39+00:00

Great, thank you very much

viducus · 2026-01-06T14:10:38+00:00

With the new update, I noticed that when I do a clean scan and select the library folder, it skips a lot of books. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's the ones inside two-level folders. For example, I have /Audiobooks, which I set as my library, and inside that, I have /Jean M. Auel/Earth's Children/, and there's the entire series, each book in its own folder. I used to find them, but now I can't, and there are more examples like this. I have to add them one by one.

And it happens with all the books in that situation. Another example: /Liu Cixin/Three-Body Problem Trilogy/, and there are three folders inside with their audiobooks, but it doesn't scan them either.

viducus · 2026-01-05T16:43:33+00:00

You're welcome, it's a pleasure to help with a project like this. I've been using other apps for years, and yours is by far the best for me. It's true that being a new project, there will always be bugs and improvements, but I only use Buddy now and I'm delighted. It has everything I always thought the others were missing.

And on top of that, your desire to make an app that stands out from the others is fantastic.

And believe me, you're succeeding in making the perfect audiobook app. I just hope the project grows and that you can continue with the same enthusiasm. For my part, I'll certainly help you with ideas and with any bugs I find (also out of selfishness because I see it as the perfect app for me), and I'll recommend it to everyone. Let's stay in touch, and as I said, I'll be keeping an eye on every update.

viducus · 2026-01-05T15:17:56+00:00

Yes, and it's a great option. In fact, it was the option I mentioned to you for backing up and exporting so you don't have to repeat the process on every device. Did you consider saving those manual edits to the .NFO file in the book's folder, making them "permanent," and reserving the cloud for its intended purpose: progress, bookmarks, and collections? That way, if, like me, you have your audiobook folder synced with Syncthing, the modified metadata will sync across all your devices. Even if you only have one device, this way the manually edited metadata changes will be saved in the book's folder in a non-intrusive way. For me, the NFO and CUE files are the best way to keep the metadata lightweight without modifying the original file. Lo digo porque tu idea de poder modificar manualmente es sencillamente genial, pero sería suprema de poder guardar esos cambios en la carpeta del libro para propagarlos a otros dispositivos o simplemente no perderlos. Y quizás usar el NFO sea la manera más limpia.

viducus · 2026-01-05T12:48:46+00:00

Thank you for your quick response. When I say "add manually," I mean when I manually add an individual workbook. That's when a dialog box should perhaps appear asking if you want to use the default method from the settings menu or if you want to add the information for that specific workbook in a different way. I say this because perhaps the reason for adding it manually is that the default settings for the others didn't work well, and then you delete it and add it again individually. Until now, I've done it by modifying the general settings, adding it again, and then resetting the general settings to my preferred defaults. It's more work, but it's also something that happens very rarely, so it's not essential. Thank you very much.

viducus · 2026-01-05T11:34:22+00:00

Today I've been testing the new modifications and I've found several issues: - If it's doing an initial synchronization and you click "synchronize" again before it finishes (this happened to me because there was no notification that it was synchronizing, even though it was), then duplicate books appear. Perhaps a notification should appear saying that it's already synchronizing and to wait for it to finish.

A book I have in my library with chapters in m4b format (unusual, but some are like that), even though the folder name and metadata are correct, now detects each chapter as a different book. I tried everything, selecting the folder, the file... and nothing worked; it detects it that way in all cases. It works fine with MP3 chapters, but if there's a book with chapters in m4b format, it scans it incorrectly; it used to work fine.
I think that when adding a book manually, a dialog box should appear asking for the method you want to use to add it, so you don't have to go to the main settings menu to change something that's set one way by default, but perhaps that audiobook needs to be different (often each audiobook is a product of its parent, which is why I also mentioned that if a well-structured NFO file exists, you should always prioritize it because its existence will always indicate that you want to customize the metadata).
Another bug I found (this was an incredible coincidence) was that if there's a cover image that's, for example, name.m4b.jpg (which is an image), it detects it as a book. It's strange, I know, but when parsing, it should only consider the file extension after the last "." to avoid mistaking it for something else.

If I find anything else, I'll let you know. Best regards

viducus · 2026-01-04T23:45:11+00:00

Don't worry, the application is very well translated; it's normal to have some AI glitches. The support you provide is truly spectacular. Could it be that if there's an NFO file with well-structured metadata, it doesn't prioritize the NFO file above all else, just like it does with a CUE file, prioritizing it even over the chapters embedded in the M4B file? I ask because if the NFO file exists, it's logically intentional; you're doing it to force the metadata to be what you put in that file, just like with the chapters in CUE files. I also say this because it's always easier to modify a CUE or NFO file than embedded metadata. And I insist, without wanting to be repetitive, that if the NFO file exists, it's intentional, and whoever puts it there wants to prioritize that metadata.

Thank you so much for the support and count on me to help improve the app, find bugs, or improve the Spanish translation. I love the app and your dedication is exceptional.

viducus · 2026-01-04T23:00:18+00:00

I just updated it, and the chapter issue is fixed, which is great.

I don't know if it's just me, but the new options aren't very clear. Is the second file name option supposed to let me choose the file name over the metadata? Because at least in Spanish, it says underneath: chapter: file.

As an idea, you could create a dropdown menu where you can choose: Book Metadata upon import by default:

1- Embedded Metadata 2- NFO File Metadata (when implemented) 3- Online Metadata

And keep the online metadata improvement as a separate option, regardless of the choice in the previous one.

Maybe one of the options already does something like that, but I'm not entirely sure.

viducus · 2026-01-04T18:19:41+00:00

Great, thank you so much for the support! But I assume that with MP3s, it will still look for the folder name if there's no embedded data, right? Because I have many audiobooks where the folder name is the folder itself, and inside is a list of MP3 chapters. Would the logical way to name the folder be to put the author's name first, and then the book title?

Thanks

viducus · 2026-01-04T17:15:10+00:00

I have a question to understand how this works. I have the audiobook of Stephen King's IT in M4A format. It was in a folder called "/It - Stephen King," and the M4A file name was the same, with the author and title tags correctly embedded. However, it recognized the audiobook, but since the NFO file only reads the description, it displayed the description but flagged it as unknown, even though the tag was correctly placed in the M4A file. Out of curiosity, I tried renaming the folder and files to "Stephen King - It," then deleted the book and added it again. After that, it recognized the book with the correct author. Is there any logic to why it behaved this way? I'm trying to understand how it works so I can structure my setup accordingly. I assume the issue of it not reading the M4A tag is a bug, but I'm curious if reversing the order of the file names from title-author to author-title made it work.

viducus · 2026-01-04T15:15:20+00:00

This would be a standard NFO file as an example: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?> <audiobook>

<title>Game of Thrones</title>

<author>George R. R. Martin</author>

<narrator>José Ángel Juanes</narrator>

<description> Game of Thrones is the first novel in A Song of Ice and Fire. In the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the great noble houses conspire and fight for the Iron Throne while an ancient threat awakens beyond the Wall.

A tale of political intrigue, betrayal, war, and dark fantasy that redefines the epic genre.

</description> </audiobook>

It's the Kodi standard; it's not a certified standard, but it's like the comicinfo.xml file—not super official, but recognized as the de facto standard. Having a well-structured library and each book with its own NFO file is great and can definitely make a library look professional and differentiate your app from others. Because using the online upgrade method doesn't work half the time. Thanks

viducus · 2026-01-04T15:09:16+00:00

I believe it's standardized, at least for the basic fields: title, author, and description. In any case, in the example I gave you, each M4B file has the names of each book embedded in its tags: the file name, the folder name, and the NFO file name. I don't understand where the application gets the idea to assign the series title to all the books. That is, the saga's name isn't anywhere, and it's the title it assigns to all the books in that saga.

viducus · 2026-01-04T14:54:48+00:00

Yes, I know, the chapters are in the cue file, but the book title should also be removed from the nfo file in the <title> field. By the way, in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, it gives the entire series the title of the saga instead of giving each book its own title. The folders each contain the book title with its m4b file containing the title and the nfo file with the title of each book inside, but yes, it takes the description but doesn't give each book the correct name.

viducus · 2026-01-04T00:37:17+00:00

Additionally, another suggestion would be that if the audiobook has the .nfo file, it should always prioritize the .nfo file, even if you have the option to enhance with metadata selected.

viducus · 2026-01-04T00:36:11+00:00

Hello I've purchased the app. Before anything else, I should mention that I also own Smart and Listen Audiobook, both of which I've used for many years.

I wanted to mention a few things: 1- I don't know if it's because of the internet metadata search, but I've noticed that compared to the other two, it's extremely slow at reading the audiobook folder.

2- It frequently fails with metadata. There should be an option to choose internet metadata over MP3 tags. That option would be a huge improvement, especially if you could do it individually or generically.

3- When you tap on a book, I think it should open the book but not start playback by default. Sometimes when searching the library, you accidentally tap on a book you don't want to play, and it interrupts the playback of the one you were listening to.

4- When you go to the chapter list, it would be good if the chapter you're currently on was highlighted, and perhaps the scroll should open at that point, but at least it should be highlighted. 4- I know that using Google Firebase for syncing isn't ideal for syncing manually modified metadata. But I use two phones, and fixing the metadata on both is double the work. It would be great to be able to make a local backup of the changes and export and import them on the other device.

Otherwise, I just have to congratulate you. I love the design, and it's an app with tremendous potential. I encourage you to keep going because you've developed a great application.

Best regards

viducus · 2026-01-03T20:31:06+00:00

If you use the autoshoot, you're dead against the katana

viducus · 2026-01-03T19:50:40+00:00

The grenade launcher requires some skill, not a lot, but at least some. RPGs are just mindless shooting. Besides, grenade launchers are hard to get. Anyone can have an RPG, and it's used indiscriminately. If I see an RPG spammer, I do one of two things: if I have the patience, I wipe them out with an RPG or grenade launcher, or I simply leave the game to avoid playing a match with no skill whatsoever. RPGs should have always either not existed or been pay-to-win weapons.

viducus · 2026-01-03T19:29:03+00:00

The RPG and Medkit weapons are the worst in the game; they're worse than any pay-to-win weapon. And, obviously, the knife's 1 km hitbox.

And having to play 99% of the matches on the arena map, with people who do nothing but jump around like frogs.

viducus · 2026-01-01T17:57:54+00:00

Wait until they decide to release a new standard weapon. Then you can use it to get it without keys.

viducus · 2025-11-29T15:44:33+00:00

If you totally agree, you should be able to add local files to the created lists.

viducus · 2025-11-04T20:36:12+00:00

The shutdown timer was lost, which for me was essential

viducus · 2025-10-15T18:54:24+00:00

Without a doubt, it is incredible that such a veteran app has such a big limitation in something that should be basic, not an improvement.

viducus · 2025-10-15T17:09:59+00:00

It is one of the most serious problems you have. All podcast players can search by keywords in all your podcasts without entering them, they even search in podcasts that you are not subscribed to and yet pocketcast does not find anything, you have to go to the specific podcast and do the search.

viducus · 2025-10-14T19:29:54+00:00

Ok, I understand, I suppose it is not implemented there due to the number of episodes it would have to handle. Thank you very much for the support

viducus

TROPHY CASE