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From Podcast to Audiobook

We had D&D last night and the group was talking about The Adventure Zone, a D&D podcast by the McElroy brothers and their father. It's over ten years old now and still going, but I particularly enjoyed the starting story arc for the podcast as they began playing D&D together.

After that discussion, I decided I wanted to go back and listen to it, but I wanted to get it as an audiobook on my phone. Mostly because it means I can hit play and my phone will track where I am and I don't have to navigate to sequential episodes, etc. Sure, I could do this with a playlist in the podcast apps, but then it's a one-time thing. This way, I have the entire run stored in my archives in an easy way to listen when I decide I want to again in ten more years.

Get all the MP3s, stitch them together into a M4b file using ffmpeg, and boom - you're good. Right?

Not quite. Turns out it is a little more complicated.

Ffmpeg is one of those tools which secretly keeps the internet afloat. It powers countless video and audio based programs and websites as a universal and powerful tool.

First surprise, the initial processing actually took all night. I knew it would take a while, just not really how long it would be.

This initial processing took nearly 8 hours to complete. That yielded nearly a 6 gig audio file. That size isn't shocking, it's a run of 70 episodes with a run time of 90 hours. I should have realized it would be this big as I was just literally taking the downloaded files and putting them all into one file with no conversions. I just didn't really think about it.

One thing to do to shrink these files is to decrease the quality of the audio. Default for podcasts is usually 128kps as the audio quality, but for audio that is just talking you can go down to 96kps or even 64kps with almost no notable difference. So, I reencoded it this morning at 96kps, which took a few more hours, and that took it down to less than 4 gigs in size. Still large but more manageable.

However, then I get it onto my phone and I use an open source audiobook app called Voice. And, despite it being in the folder the app monitors, I can't see it in the app. Which only leads me to believe there is something wrong with the metadata.

Metadata is the term for various "invisible" things on a file. For mp3s this is things like "title" and "artist," etc. But also things like a setting that confirms that this is an audiobook file. And so I think I'm missing something there.

I began exploring various tools and realized the easiest option may already be up and ready for me: Audiobookshelf. I run a self-hosted instance of it for managing my audiobook collection. And I do this for the same reason Sony deleting movies from customers is news: If I purchase something, I want to own it. And to do that means I need to have it without DRM and on my own file systems so someone elsewhere can't up and delete it. Thus I use Audiobookshelf to handle that management for me, and enable me to download them from the server onto my phone.

Additionally, it turns out that it actually has functions to do re-encoding that will hopefully will fix the metadata issues for me. As I write this it is in the midst of re-encoding, we'll see how long it takes and if it works!

Update: Alright, it seems like we solved it and the issue was stupid. The Android app was simply bad at updating based on its contents. I had to clear off the content folder and now it shows up correctly.

Masters of the Universe (2026)

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It was good campy fun. I still hate Jared Leto in literally everything though.

In Time (2011)

I really like the concept of this movie. I saw it originally in the theaters when it came out but unfortunately this movie just doesn't land in any of its elements. It's "almost good" in everything.

Reading Sarah Bond's book, Strike, that I mentioned in the previous blog post is already an enjoyable academic read.

One word that jumped out to me as a word I didn't know: confraternity

I understood it based on the Latin origins: con (with) + fraternity (brotherhood) - and in the context of the book I was able to also understand it from contexts, but still - I enjoy finding new words.

confraternity, n.

1. a society devoted especially to a religious or charitable cause
2. fraternal union

Saturday Shopping

The wife and I went out to visit a few local businesses. One of which was a "Retro Emporium" which has lots of nostalgic games and toys. We primarily go there these days to look through their vinyls, but while there I spotted two D&D items they had which I didn't own for my collection.

So, obviously, I picked them up. They also had an NES system running Duck Hunt and it is so nostalgic for me to use. Also, I've still got it. Fastest gun this side of the Mississippi.

Our other stop on this outing was our local library as I had requested a book: Strike, by Sarah E. Bond. I've been meaning to pick it up but I couldn't find it for a DRM free ebook, so rather than purchase the Kindle version I opted to borrow the physical copy. Feels good to support our local library system.

It was pleasantly busy with people, I'm sure some were there escaping the warmer weather, but I hadn't been inside the local branch in some time and I was concerned it was going to be empty

"Year of Therapy in a Minute"

I came across a TikTok of a podcaster (whose name escapes me) reading these points from some other person online. And it stopped me, I think I was literally walking towards the bedroom as I watched this, and as I heard it I stopped and turned around to go sit at the computer and transcribe the points from this video.

1. No one is coming to save you. Being a functioning adult means realizing you are responsible for everything in your life even if it wasn't your fault.
2. Strong boundaries make for good relationships. Weak boundaries make for drama.
3. Many of your problems don't get fixed. You just learn how to live despite them.
4. Your mind lies to you all the time. It will tell you the world is ending when it's not. That a mistake is fatal when it's not. That everyone is thinking about you and laughing about you when they're not. Learn how to tell your mind to shut the fuck up.
5. Stop trying to convince people to like you. The right people won't need to be convinced and everyone else is just going to get very annoyed.
6. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to let a dream die. No one likes to hear that, but it's true.
7. Only a few people in your life are going to matter in the long run. When you find them, treat them right. Make time for them. Keep them close, and be grateful.

I've done some digging to try and find the source but I can't find any definitive resource to identify it.

Of these points, five is the one I take slight umbridge with. The core of it is absolutely correct, but also what some would call 'convince' is also just learning how to communicate and interact with another person.

True Romance (1993)

I'd never watched it before and it came up on Jeopardy! tonight, so we put it on.