Switching from Libation to OpenAudible

What OpenAudible adds

Both apps download and convert your Audible library. OpenAudible goes further once the books are on your drive:

• Built-in audiobook player with chapters and resume position.
• Web app and REST API. Browse and play your library from a browser on any device on your network. See Web Server in the documentation.
• Audiobook transcription to searchable text, with a read-along player. See Transcribe an audiobook.
• Join and split audiobooks, for example to merge a multi-part book or break one up by chapter. See Split and join.
• Tag editor for fixing metadata, with auto-fill from Audible when fields are missing.
• Export to devices, including smart watches and Yoto players.
• Cover art poster: export all your covers as one image.
• Library export to Excel, CSV, TXT and JSON.
• Import audiobooks from other sources, not just Audible.
• A fast, flexible interface: customizable tables, drag and drop, stable multi-column sorting and filters.
• Full screen reader accessibility, including JAWS and VoiceOver.
• Mac, Windows, Linux and Docker support.

OpenAudible is free to try: the free download connects to Audible, syncs and downloads your library. A license with a year of updates unlocks conversion and the rest.

What you'll need

• A copy of OpenAudible (free download)
• Platform: Windows, Mac or Linux
• Your Libation folder on the same computer, or on a drive it can reach
• Enough free disk space for a second copy of the books. OpenAudible tells you exactly how much before it copies anything

You don't need to close Libation, change its settings, or export anything from it first. OpenAudible only reads the Libation folder.

Steps

1. Install OpenAudible

Get the installer for your platform from the download page and run it. You can keep Libation installed; the two apps don't interfere with each other.

2. Start the Libation import

There are three ways in, and they all open the same import page:

• On first run. The first time OpenAudible starts, it looks for a Libation install. When it finds one, the welcome screen shows an Import my Libation library (books and accounts) checkbox. Leave it checked and click Get Started; the import opens as soon as the library does, with the accounts option already on. Checking the box also selects the Title [ASIN] folders (Libation style) file naming, so the new library is laid out the way you are used to.
• From the menu. Choose File: Import..., select Libation library and click Next...
• By drag and drop. Drag your Libation folder, or its Books folder, onto the OpenAudible main window. To bring over only some books, drag just those book folders instead.

3. Check the folder and choose your options

The Import from Libation page shows what it found. OpenAudible looks for Libation the same way Libation itself does, so the folder is usually filled in already.

• Libation folder: the folder that holds Libation's Settings.json. If it is empty or wrong, click Choose... and select that folder, or its Books folder.
• Books folder: where Libation keeps the audio. This is read from Libation's own settings, so a Books folder on another drive is found too.
• Audible accounts in Libation: how many accounts it can import.
• Copy to: the books folder of your OpenAudible library.
• File names: keep Libation's folder and file names, or use OpenAudible's naming. See Keeping your folder layout below.
• Import podcasts: on when this library gets podcasts from Audible (File: Library Settings, Features), off otherwise.
• Also import the Audible accounts from Libation: turn this on unless you have already added your account to OpenAudible. Those accounts are already signed in, so there is no Audible login step.

Click Next... when it looks right.

4. Review what will happen

OpenAudible scans the Libation library and does a dry run of the import, then shows you the result before anything is copied:

• how many books it found in Libation
• New books to add
• Already in your library: these only get the files they are missing, and are otherwise left alone
• Files to copy, with the total size, and the free space on the destination drive

The counts come from the same import, run without writing, so they are the counts you will get. If the drive looks too small, the message starts with a warning. Click Yes to import, or No to change something first.

Large libraries take a while. A few hundred books is a lot of gigabytes to copy. The progress dialog shows each book as it goes. If you cancel partway, run the import again later: books already imported are not copied twice.

When it finishes, a summary lists the new books, the files added, the accounts added, and anything skipped or failed. Your Libation books are now in OpenAudible and playable.

5. Sync with Audible

Next, run a Library Sync. Libation only had the books it downloaded; the sync brings in everything else you own on Audible. Books are matched by their Audible ID (ASIN), so a book you already imported is not duplicated and is not downloaded again. The order doesn't matter: if you connected your account and synced before importing, the Libation files land on the books that are already there.

When the sync finishes, OpenAudible asks whether to start downloading and converting the books you don't have yet. The back up your Audible library tutorial walks through formats, downloads and where the files end up.

Only want the accounts?

Open File: Manage Accounts..., click Import Credentials, and select Libation's AccountsSettings.json file. It is in your Libation settings folder, usually Libation in your home folder. Then sync and download from Audible as above. This skips the books Libation already downloaded, so OpenAudible downloads them again.

What carries over

• The audio: every M4B, M4A or MP3 Libation produced.
• Book details: title, author, narrator, series, description and the rest, from the Audible data Libation saved beside each book. When there is none, they are read from the audio file's own tags.
• Chapters, and cover art.
• Companion PDFs, when Libation downloaded one.
• The original Audible download, if Libation was set to keep it. Libation stores it as an .aaxc file plus a .key file; OpenAudible combines the two into its own .aax, so the book can be converted again later in any format.
• Books split by chapter: a Libation folder of chapter files becomes one book whose files stay together in their own folder.
• Your Audible accounts, if you ticked the box. Each one is tested before it is saved, and an account OpenAudible already has is skipped.

What does not carry over

The import reads the books on disk and Libation's account file. It does not read Libation's own database, so these stay behind in Libation:

• tags you added in Libation
• ratings, and books you marked as finished
• bookmarks and your last-listened position
• Libation's settings, apart from the file naming (see below)

Books that Libation knew about but never downloaded are not imported either, since there is nothing on disk to import. The Library Sync in step 5 adds them from Audible, ready to download.

Keeping your folder layout

If Plex, Audiobookshelf, a phone sync or a script of your own expects Libation's folder structure, keep it. The File names choice decides:

• Keep the Libation folder and file names (the default): every book keeps the exact folder and file names it had in Libation, including nested folders if you had changed Libation's folder template. It also switches this library's naming to the Libation style, Title [ASIN]/Title [ASIN].m4b, so books you download in OpenAudible from now on sit next to the imported ones in the same layout.
• Use the OpenAudible file naming of this library: the imported books are named by this library's own naming setting instead, the same as everything else OpenAudible downloads.

Either way, the books go under the OpenAudible library's books folder, shown as Copy to on the import page, not into the Libation folder. If your media server should keep pointing at one place, point it at that folder once you have switched over. The naming for future downloads can be changed at any time in File: Library Settings.

Running both side by side

The import copies; it never moves, renames or deletes anything in the Libation folder. So there is no deadline on the switch:

• Libation keeps working exactly as it did, with its own files, database and settings.
• Running the import again is safe. Only books that are new since last time, and files that are missing, are copied. If you keep downloading in Libation for a while, import again whenever you like to catch up.
• The cost is disk space: until you are done, each book is stored twice.

Once you are happy with OpenAudible, the Libation folder is yours to keep, archive or delete. OpenAudible does not use it after the import.

Common problems

• The Libation folder is blank, or "This is not a Libation folder". Libation was not found automatically, for example because its folder was moved or is on another drive. Click Choose... and select the folder that holds Settings.json, or the Books folder inside it.
• The welcome screen has no Libation checkbox. OpenAudible didn't find a Libation install. Use File: Import..., Libation library, and choose the folder yourself.
• "Libation stores its sign-in tokens encrypted". Newer versions of Libation can encrypt the saved sign-in tokens. Either export the key in Libation with Settings: Important: Export encryption key... and save it as libation-master.key next to AccountsSettings.json, or turn off Store authentication tokens encrypted in the same Libation settings page. Then import again. Delete the key file once the import is done.
• An imported account won't connect. Its sign-in may have expired. Delete it in Manage Accounts and use Add Audible Account to sign in again.
• "No new books found". Every book in Libation is already in this library with all its files. Nothing is wrong; there is nothing left to copy.
• Some books show as "Not imported". Usually a book with no Audible data that OpenAudible could use, or a file type it does not support. File: Log Window lists the reason for each one.
• "Podcasts left out". Import podcasts was off. Import again with it ticked; only the podcasts will be copied.
• A book split into chapter files was skipped. The book was already in your library, for example from a Library Sync, and a chapter-split folder is only imported as a new book. Download it in OpenAudible instead.
• The original Audible file did not come across. Libation kept the .aaxc but its .key file is missing, so the file cannot be used. The converted audio is still imported.
• Importing an "Audiobook folder" sends you here. The folder is part of a Libation library, which the plain folder import does not handle. Use File: Import..., Libation library, or drag the folder onto the main window.

Next

Download OpenAudible to try it with your own library, or see Importing in the documentation for every kind of import.