Garindan

Q: Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!

I really hope these can be fixed soon. As others have said, not having the ability to edit book info, which was so easy in iTunes, is terrible! And that iBooks moves all your books to a hard to find folder on your internal drive, and renames the files, equally bad.

 

It's great being able to read books on the mac for the first time, but everything else is a step backwards. In iTunes the books were stored neatly in the media folder and could be moved anywhere you wished with the rest of the library, and you could easily edit info, covers etc. Now it's all been taken away and we're stuck with having little to no options again.

 

I hope it can all be fixed soon!

iBook, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 1:46 AM

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Q: Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!

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  • by bluevoice,

    bluevoice bluevoice Oct 30, 2013 1:40 AM in response to Julian Bashir
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2013 1:40 AM in response to Julian Bashir

    I just had a look at the new deep rooted iBooks folder that can be found in the following location:

     

    ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks

     

    There are several folders in the iBooks folder:

     

    Books

    Downloads

     

    Now here is a weird thing, if you go to iTunes > File > Library  and choose the option "Organize Library" iTunes puts a copy of the ebooks from the folder "Books" into the folder "Downloads". The books "Downloads" folder have the old, legible, structure.

     

    This could be a feature, but the problem is that if you use the "Organize Library" option again, iTunes puts again a new copy in the "Downloads" folder. At the end you end up by having lots of copies of the ebooks in the "Downloads" folder.

     

    Any help on better understanding the new ebooks management would be appreciated.

  • by Julian Bashir,

    Julian Bashir Julian Bashir Oct 30, 2013 11:11 AM in response to bluevoice
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iBooks
    Oct 30, 2013 11:11 AM in response to bluevoice

    Bluevoice, I had a similar problem. I moved my iBooks folder to the desktop before I deleted it using App Cleaner. Then, I added back the remaining iTunes Media/Books files to my iTunes library, but was noticing duplicate e-book and pdf files in some cases. When I checked the information screen for the duplicate files, I discovered that they were pointing to the file location for the iBooks directory that had been moved to my desktop. This was in spite of the fact that I had not added that directory to the iTunes library yet. Still have no idea why it was seeing files it was not supposed to, unless it's just smart enough to know to follow the iBooks folder wherever one manually moves it. Weird.

  • by Julian Bashir,

    Julian Bashir Julian Bashir Oct 30, 2013 11:38 AM in response to Mr. Mordechai
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iBooks
    Oct 30, 2013 11:38 AM in response to Mr. Mordechai

    For those of you who have gone back to using a different E-book viewing system on your desktop:

     

    I am taking recommendations for a program to replace iBooks. I can read my PDFs by clicking on them in the iTunes library which causes the Preview program to spawn. However, I have no such program for the epub files. I can just read them on my iPad using iOS iBooks, but I would like to have a similar program on the desktop (NOT iBooks itself). Such a program would be:

    - compatible with Mac OS X Mavericks

    - work with the iTunes Library Books directory, without modifying the files or their locations

    - automatically detect any new books added to the iTunes Books directory, along with any changes made to the e-book files using iTunes

    - be free or at least inexpensive

     

    Hopefully, iBooks will eventually be good enough that I can use it to modify metadata and sync my books marks between books read on desktop iBooks and the same books on iPad iBooks. But that day is not today. So... any recommendations for a desktop iBooks replacement that will fulfill the above criteria are welcome.

  • by StoneSoup,

    StoneSoup StoneSoup Oct 30, 2013 12:04 PM in response to Julian Bashir
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Oct 30, 2013 12:04 PM in response to Julian Bashir

    I've found that OS X will generally "follow" executable files even if you move them from one place to another. 

     

    If you wish experiment with deleting executables like iBooks, you should copy them to a folder on a removable drive. For your own notes, stick a readme in that folder stating exactly where the files came from originally. Then unplug the drive and use a third-party tool like AppCleaner to delete the executable.

     

    If everything works the way you want, you can then delete that folder on the external drive at your leisure.

  • by StoneSoup,

    StoneSoup StoneSoup Oct 30, 2013 12:06 PM in response to Julian Bashir
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Oct 30, 2013 12:06 PM in response to Julian Bashir

    I use Adobe Digital Reader to read EPUBs. Its functionality differs from iBooks. Your mileage may vary.

  • by ssolomon,

    ssolomon ssolomon Oct 30, 2013 1:12 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 30, 2013 1:12 PM in response to StoneSoup

    StoneSoup...

     

    That is exactly what happened to me and I even renamed the files. I had to copy them to a thumb drive to get the books to appear in iTunes again.

  • by Julian Bashir,

    Julian Bashir Julian Bashir Oct 30, 2013 6:44 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iBooks
    Oct 30, 2013 6:44 PM in response to StoneSoup

    I downloaded Adobe Digital Edition (which is what I assume you were referring to). It says that it reads epub and PDF files. How do I get it to open up when I double-click on an epub file in iTunes? This is what I want it to do, like the way Preview opens up when I double click a PDF in iTunes.

  • by StoneSoup,

    StoneSoup StoneSoup Oct 30, 2013 10:22 PM in response to Julian Bashir
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Oct 30, 2013 10:22 PM in response to Julian Bashir

    Ah, yes, that's the right name for it.  Sorry about that.

     

    I highlighted an epub in Finder > Get Info > "Open With" (select "Adobe Digital Editions" from the list) and hit "Change All..."

     

    Every time you click on an epub, it'll open in Adobe Digital Editions until you change the default to something else.

  • by notmeagain,

    notmeagain notmeagain Oct 30, 2013 10:39 PM in response to Julian Bashir
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2013 10:39 PM in response to Julian Bashir

    Calibre?

  • by 4merAPPLemployE,

    4merAPPLemployE 4merAPPLemployE Oct 31, 2013 2:21 PM in response to Andy Epprecht
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 31, 2013 2:21 PM in response to Andy Epprecht

    Maverick is the worst Apple OS upgrade since 7.6.  What a disaster.  I had the same issue with iBooks.  Today, at lunch, I was all set to continue reading my book on my iPhone, but poof they were all gone. I couldn't use the method someone posted here becuase the book store agent wouldn't quit.  Not even force quit.  What worked for me was to go to ~/Library>Containers>com.apple.BKAgentService>Data>Documents>iBooks and delete everyrthing that had an .epub at the end of it.  Then added all my epub books back into iBooks.  It b!tched a little but I just kept hitting return and to my surprise all the books where there again.  I then launced iTunes and resynced and all my books copied back to my iphone.  Even remembered where I left off on the book I was reading. No guarantee it won't happen again.  Just awful.  This is the kind of crp I use to laugh at Windows users for having. Steve you are sorely missed.

  • by MacPedras,

    MacPedras MacPedras Oct 31, 2013 5:38 PM in response to 4merAPPLemployE
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Oct 31, 2013 5:38 PM in response to 4merAPPLemployE

    I'm feeling the same way. Apple is starting to look like Microsoft lauching buggy stuff. I'm affraid that this is becoming more frequent with Apple... And I'm an old fan of Apple.

  • by wendyfromhouston,

    wendyfromhouston wendyfromhouston Nov 1, 2013 4:08 PM in response to Andy Epprecht
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iCloud
    Nov 1, 2013 4:08 PM in response to Andy Epprecht

    I feel like a total idiot..  But I am more accustomed to PC's then Macs.. 

     

    How do I actually do this ?

     

    Stopped the bookstoreagent process.

     

    on a PC, I would use Task Manager to stop a program..  But I have no idea how to do this on a Mac..

     

     

    I have spent over 20 hours with Engineers and Programming..  They have my logs, they have my error messages.. 

    The last advisor told me, that he is very disappointed, and is making a list of ways to get around the problems.

     

    I can not even get my books to import from itunes..  They are all still in the itunes book folder.  The only books

     

    that it did import, it renamed these books with a long string of numbers and letters and no way to identify the book

     

    without opening it. 

     

    The advisor told me to "manually import each book" into ibooks..   I have OVER 3000 books..  

     

    I would much rather go back to Itunes..   SO MY SINCERE THANKS, for everyone here that has found a work

     

    around.. 

     

     

    3.06 Ghz Mac computer, mavericks( cause i was an idiot)

    Iphone, ipad, mini ipad with Os 7

     

    I bought a new ipad air today, but have NO WAY to get my books on it..  : (( 

     

    Very disappointed with APPLE... 

     

     

     

     


  • by StoneSoup,

    StoneSoup StoneSoup Nov 1, 2013 5:15 PM in response to wendyfromhouston
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Nov 1, 2013 5:15 PM in response to wendyfromhouston

    Hi, Wendy,

     

    I don't blame you for being disappointed.  This was a real misstep for Apple. 

     

    The equivalent of Windows's Task Manager on Mac OS X is Activity Monitor. It's usually in the Applications > Utilities folder, but it's even easier to use Spotlight to run it.  To use Spotlight, hit Command+Spacebar and start typing "Activity Monitor" in the popup window. 

     

    Once you've got Activity Monitor running, type "Book" in the filter field in the upper right-hand corner.  That will isolate the list to all processes with "book" in their name.  When you see "bookstoreagent", highlight it and press the "X" icon on the top-left of the toolbar.  Answer "yes" to the prompts.  That will kill the process.

     

    Good luck!

     

    Steven

  • by Doctor Ron,

    Doctor Ron Doctor Ron Nov 1, 2013 7:42 PM in response to JudasI
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 1, 2013 7:42 PM in response to JudasI

    Such a frustrating situation, surprisingly incompetent of Apple. The iBooks programmer seems to have either not realized people might want to manage ePubs/PDFs on their iPads and Macs at the same time, or just callously decided not to care, or just didn't have the skill to do better.

     

    Several people have pointed out the sync feature. But I have my iPad set to manually manage my vids. I hate sync. It's a pain compared with manual management. So for me, there's actually no way to get ePubs/PDFs from iBooks for Mavericks over to my iPad. It's nothing short of insane.

     

    ------

     

    Here's my current problem. I copied my books back to iTunes. I looked in my iTunes folder and there's now a nice subfolder "Books". But there's no "Books" tab in iTunes! Opening Preferences > General there's no checkbox for books!! ***? I thought someone said the Books tab would appear after I added books to iTunes?

  • by wendyfromhouston,

    wendyfromhouston wendyfromhouston Nov 1, 2013 11:20 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iCloud
    Nov 1, 2013 11:20 PM in response to StoneSoup

    Thank you so much, StoneSoup. 

      I know what I will be spending my day doing tomorrow..   

     

    Oh FYI  for everyone else..  Talked to another advisor tonight, asking about going back to Mountain Lion...   he told me " just wait, I am sure they will fix the problems soon, and since I have a case, they " should let me know as soon as they have a fix"

     

    Now this fix, is not to sort or make sure can keep books by series.. or make sure can change title names or add books to my ipad without sync..  

     

    THIS is just the fix, so I can import my books to Ibooks without doing them 1 at a time...

     

    Can you say iBooks, huge JOKE on us..   I was so looking forward to iBooks, thinking it would be a quality product.. 

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