The Library Problem
Ebooks accumulate. A few Gutenberg classics, the PDFs from work, that MOBI backlog from an old Kindle, a handful of articles you saved to listen to later — and one day the grid of covers scrolls for a while before you find what you were listening to yesterday. VocaRead 3.0 was designed around that moment.
Grid or List
Open the ⋯ menu at the top of the library and choose Display › List. The list view shows title, author, and a progress bar for every book, with roughly twice as many books per screen as the cover grid. It's the better view when you know what you're looking for; the grid remains the nicer one for browsing. VocaRead remembers your choice.
Unread First
Since 3.0, books you haven't started are ordered before books you've finished. The practical effect: the top of your library is your reading plan, and the bottom is your archive. Finished books are never hidden — they're just out of the way.
Filter Chips
Above the library, six chips narrow the view instantly:
- All — everything.
- In progress — books with a saved position. This is your "continue listening" shelf.
- Unread — imported, never played.
- Read — completed.
- Favorites — books you starred.
- Listen Next — your queue (more on that below).
The search field works within the active filter, so "Unread + Dickens" is one tap and four letters away.
Sorting
From the same ⋯ menu, sort by title, author, date added, last read, progress, or keep a manual order you arrange yourself. "Last read" is the sort most people settle on: it turns the library into a timeline of what you've actually been listening to.
Collections
Collections are shelves you name: "Commute", "Work", "Kids", "French practice". A book can live in several collections, and each collection appears as a chip so you can jump to it. Use Organize library to add or remove books in bulk. Tip: because metadata is editable, you can fix an author's name or a title before filing a book, and it will sort correctly forever after.
Listen Next
The Listen Next queue is the answer to "what should I play after this?" Add books to it, and when one ends — or when the sleep timer's end of chapter fires on the final chapter — VocaRead continues with the next one automatically. It works beautifully with a series: queue the trilogy once, then never think about it again. See also how the sleep timer works.
A Workflow That Holds Up
- Import in batches; don't worry about order.
- Star the three books you're excited about, queue the rest in Listen Next.
- Keep the list view sorted by last read.
- File finished books into a collection if you plan to revisit them; otherwise, leave them — they're already sorted to the bottom.
Looking for what to fill that library with? Start with our guide to EPUB on iPhone, or download VocaRead and import your first book — 90 free minutes per book, no account needed.