I purchased a couple of audio-books at The Pragmatic Bookshelf, and how do I seriously listen to them on my iPhone?

• https://pragprog.com/categories/audio-books/
• https://pragprog.com/titles/a-fsfire/fire-in-the-valley/
• https://pragprog.com/titles/a-jsrw/effective-remote-work/
• https://pragprog.com/titles/a-actb2/technical-blogging-second-edition/
• https://pragprog.com/titles/a-jkthp/the-healthy-programmer/
• https://pragprog.com/titles/a-kcdc/the-developer-s-code/

Actually I had a 20% discount voucher, that’s why I got them all at once.

I want to listen to the audio-book on my iPhone and to read the corresponding e-book on my iPad in sync. Makes sense, doesn’t it? That’s my new alternative to binge-watching on the treadmill in the gym. I can imagine to do that in the green as well.

The audio-books come as “.m4b” (a “protected MPEG-4 audio”), or as a ZIP file with “.mp3” (which I unpacked into a directory). They live one of my Synology DiskStations, actually in a “Drive”, that I can see with a Synology app on my iPhone. I can actually navigate into the respective folder using the Files app on my iPhone. The Synology Drive app allows to download the files in question “in place” (in advance, e.g. through my home wifi), so I am not forced to download them through the mobile Internet of my smartphone.

Once I try to “share” an “.m4b” or an “.mp3” to the Books app, the Books app is not available. In other words: the Books app on the iPhone is only good for audio-books purchased through Apple. Isn’t that silly?!? It’s a P.I.T.A., to be honest.

If I “share” the “.m4b” with my VLC on my iPhone, VLC plays the “.m4b” just fine. I can see the TOC (through the triple-point, “Video Options” (never mind!), “Chapters”), and that is certainly a “must” for an “audio book app”. Fine so far.

I am reading “the e-book” on my iPad in the Books app. The Books app on the iPad does not refuse to handle an e-book not acquired through Apple.