Listening to your audio drama MP3s and old CDs on iPhone

The short version

1. Rip your CDs: The Music app on a Mac (or a program on Windows) turns CDs into files.
2. Tidy the files: One folder per episode, clean tags with title, series and track number – it saves a lot of trouble later.
3. Get them onto your iPhone: iCloud Drive, AirDrop or the Files app are the easiest routes.
4. Play them in the right app: The Files app plays MP3s but doesn't remember your place. A player that does makes all the difference.

Am I even allowed to copy my CDs?

For private use, generally yes in German-speaking Europe: Germany allows private copies (§ 53 of its Copyright Act) and Switzerland allows copies for personal use (Art. 19 of its Copyright Act). The key limit: in Germany you may not circumvent copy protection. Regular audio CDs don't have any, but some discs from the early 2000s do. And the copies are for you and your household – not to pass around. Rules differ by country, so check yours if you live elsewhere.

DRM-free downloads you bought (MP3, M4A) can be used on your own devices anyway. Files with DRM, such as Audible audiobooks in AAX format, only play in the provider's app.

Step 1: Digitise your CDs

On a Mac you don't need extra software – the Music app does it. All you need is a CD drive, usually an external USB one.

1. Under Music → Settings → Files → Import Settings, pick the format. AAC or MP3 at 256 kbps is plenty for audio dramas. Turn on error correction if your CDs have seen some life.
2. Insert the CD and click Import CD. If the Mac is online, Music fetches titles and track names automatically.
3. Check the result: audio drama tracks are often just “Chapter 1” to “Chapter 12”, or missing entirely. At least fix the album (e.g. “Folge 42: Der weiße Leopard”), the artist (the series) and the track number.

On Windows it works similarly with the Apple Music app for Windows or iTunes, or free tools such as Exact Audio Copy. If you have a big pile, set the Music app to import and eject CDs automatically under General.

Step 2: Organise the collection

Five minutes of tidying now saves hours of searching later. This structure works well:

• One folder per episode, named with number and title: 042 Der weiße Leopard. Leading zeros make every app sort correctly.
• Tags, not file names: Most players read title, artist, album and track number from the tags (ID3 for MP3). On a Mac you can fill gaps in the Music app via Get Info.
• Embed cover art: It looks nicer, and you'll spot episodes faster.
• One long file instead of many short ones? If you like, convert an episode into a single M4B file with chapters – Apple's audiobook format keeps everything together. It's optional.

Step 3: Get them onto your iPhone

There are two basic routes, with different consequences:

Two ways to get audio drama files onto your iPhone

	Via the Music app (sync)	As files (iCloud Drive, AirDrop)
How	Connect iPhone to the Mac, sync music in Finder	Put the folder in iCloud Drive or send it via AirDrop
Play with	Music app	Files app or a player of your choice
Remembers position	Only if you set “Remember playback position” on the Mac	Depends on the app
Next to Apple Music episodes	Yes, in your library	Depends on the app
Effort	Re-sync after every new CD	Drop it in once, done

Music app tip: On the Mac, select all tracks of an episode, open Get Info → Options and turn on Remember playback position. Your iPhone will then resume those files where you stopped – at least within a track.

Step 4: Listen with position and order

The Files app plays MP3s, but it's not a player: no queue, no position, no sleep timer. For audio dramas, use an app that treats files like a library. Look for:

• Does it read tags and track numbers, so the order is right?
• Does it remember the position per episode – not just the last track?
• Can it show chapters from M4B files?
• Does it sync files and progress between iPhone and iPad?
• Does it have a sleep timer that fades out gently?

How importing works in zentr

zentr imports your own files into the same library as your Apple Music audio dramas. There are three ways:

• Via the iCloud Drive folder: zentr creates a zentr/Sideload folder in your iCloud Drive. Drag your audio drama folders into it in Finder – the next time you open zentr, it offers to import them.
• Via the Files app: Pick several files at once in zentr's settings.
• Via Share: From any app that can share audio or video files.

On import, zentr reads title, artist, album, cover and track number from the tags. Files from one folder are suggested as one album, with the folder name as title. You choose whether it's filed as an audio drama, podcast or music. For M4B files, zentr picks up the embedded chapter marks.

Supported formats are MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, WAV, FLAC and AIFF, plus MP4, MOV and M4V for video. From then on, everything works as for any other content: a remembered position per episode, the queue, the sleep timer and iCloud sync across your devices. The files stay in your iCloud Drive and never touch a server of ours.