Disappointment with iBooks 1.1 PDF support

working fine, just need to drag a pdf any size onto ipad form itunes and all works

Adding PDFs to iBooks alone is not very useful without the cool aspects of Books: page turning animation, dictionary, selections, highlighting, etc.

It's amazing that these features should be vaporware in this day and age. Come on guys and gals.

Once again it appears that Apple's real expertise seems to be in hardware not software. Where's Woz when we need him? More opportunity for independent app developers, I guess. iAnnotate is head and shoulders ahead when it comes to annotating pdfs on the iPad even though they still have a way to go.

Just my 2 cents after a very mixed day of upgrading on the iPhone and iPad.

I've written a quick review of iBooks:


*iBooks 1.1 out with PDF support – mini-review & full ⚠ comparison & feature chart*

You may already have noticed that iBooks 1.1 has been released some 4-5 hours ago for iOS4-based iPhones and iPod touches (and, of course, the iPad).

Well, to make a long story short, I’ve expected more. FAR more. Unfortunately, the PDF support in iBooks 1.1 doesn’t really live up to my expectations – some of the third-party PDF readers (e.g., GoodReader, iAnnotator etc.) are way more powerful.

There are only three areas where I can only recommend iBooks 1.1:

++ Night-time reading: third-party apps that do support “decreasing” the backlight just make whites darker (that is, decrease the contrast of the page). Not so with iBooks: it, having legal and official access to the brightness control of the iPad, doesn’t need such tricks to decrease brightness. The result is: far more contrasty and easier-to-read PDF files than with any of the 3rd party PDF readers.

++ Opening PDF files you receive in an e-mail. So far, this has been impossible unless you used a PDF(-capable) third-party reader (e.g., GoodReader 2.8.1 by Yuri Selukoff and ReaddleDocs 1.1.0 by Igor Zhadanov) also offering direct access to one’s POP3 or IMAP mailboxes. Nevertheless, even then it was a bit complicated to access these files.

Note that, in my tests, I haven’t managed to make this feature work. There is supposed to be a “Open in iBooks” button in mails with PDF attachments. In my tests (where Mail did notice the PDF files I’ve thrown it at), it was never displayed. Note that a lot of other people has run into the same problem – see e.g. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11718309

++ You want to purchase PDF books right from iTunes Store on your iDevice. Then, iBooks is the only way to go.

Why I don’t (necessarily) recommend this title over the best alternative PDF readers, then? It’s simple: it severely lacks features: no link support, no text copy, no annotations / highlighting, no page cropping, no keeping open several files at the same time, not even support for TOC. Especially the latter is a real pain in the back, I’d say.

Note that I’ve been working on a full ⚠ comparison of most PDF(-capable) readers. So far, I’ve created the chart of the article, which has most of the info. I’ve also added iBooks 1.1 to it (see the second column). See http://winmobiletech.com/sekalaiset/201006iPadPDF/201006iPadPDFv1.html . Note that, as has been explained in my dedicated article, this chart is still a work-in-progress and, therefore, doesn’t have any dynamic hiding capabilities, unlike the final version to be published in 1-2 days.

Message was edited by: Menneisyys

i have itunes 9.2 but it doesnt show the Books tab...but if i go to "devices->prasad's ipod touch" i can see the books tab..but if i drag the pdf's there nothing happens..hence i am unable to read pdf's on my ipod's iBooks1.1 app. i have itunes 9.2 (64-bit)..pls help..

lileoj - I'm having exactly the same issues as you syncing from iTunes 9.2 to my iPad.

Setup:
iPad installed with iPhone OS 3.2 (7B367)
iTunes 9.2 installed on Mac OS X (10.6.4) - check.
Around 400 epubs / PDFs in iTunes (in the Books) section - check.
iBooks 1.1 installed on iPad - check (did this yesterday)

The results:

Automatic syncing of all PDFs:
As you've indicated, automatic syncing of all books doesn't appear to work. It looks like it is copying the files and even gives the normal progress updates in the iTunes status window as it copies them. When complete though, nothing is displayed in iBooks on the iPad; no books, no library / pdf buttons, nothing.

Non-Automatic Syncing:
So, I decided to try non-automatic syncing (i.e. manually selecting which books to sync in iTunes). I decided to sync 1 PDF document and 1 epub document for starters. After the obligatory sync period, back to iBooks and now the library / pdf button is displayed and both the epub and PDF books are also visible in all their glory. Strange...

I'll have a look tonight at whether syncing multiple epubs / PDFs manually works or not but my initial reaction is there IS a bug somewhere.

When I try drag and drop pdf files to: my device - books - it gives me the message that "It cannot be copied...because it cannot be played on iPad" I have been trying to load pdf on here also through adding it my library but it is essentially acting the same as if I never installed 1.1 version. I am wondering what's going on. I am outside the country on business so is that an issue?

I don't even see the pdf option on the ibooks interface.

One more thing, there was some sync option that it asked after I downloaded the update and I clicked 'no' Did that make a difference?

iBooks 1.1 works very well with PDFs in Dropbox. I've succesfully opened a 64MB PDF using "open with"

Use GoodReader to send the PDF from your desktop computer or from the web to the iPad. From GoodReader send it to the iBooks app.

Too bad that trick didn't work with ePub files, too.

We'er talking about about PDFs, were does ePub come into play? It's not a trick it's a new option in iBooks.

Wow, get an extra helping of Snark with breakfast this morning?

Sorry, I just wished I could also "open with" in Goodreader for ePub like we can with PDFs.

But, since this is apparently a PDF-only thread, carry on.

I had whale blubber this morning.

That goes well with a nice hollandaise sauce.

Ok so does Apple read these support forums? Because this is obviously too bugged to be user error. SOMETHING IS WRONG with 1.1 of Ibooks. To me this is so unlike apple to have been so poorly tested. This app reminds me of a Windows Phone app or Android app, lots of promise, no delivery.

When I spoke to the rep yesterday even he didnt know what to do last night.

Apple doesn't read these forums.

What is the problem your having and what workflow ( steps) are you using?