Nicolas Online

Q: Every Single Problem with iBooks for Mac

Hello,

 

It is disappointing that as Apple users we are used to doing things a certain way for years, and Apple's way forward results in less functionality and flexibility.

 

Here is a list of all the problems I have been facing with iBooks for Mac:

 

1. Transfer of Books to iPad or iPhone from iBooks is non-existant. If I create or download a DRM-free epub and or PDF and add it to iBooks for Mac (i.e. it wasn't downloaded from the iBooks Store), there is no direct way to transfer them to your iOS device through iBooks. Even books downloaded from the iBooks Store, since iBooks itself doesn't allow the transfer of files to the iOS device.

 

2. iBooks doesn't allow us to Edit metadata. Many PDFs come without metadata. And to organize them into the library as was previously possible in iTunes, we could add Author, Genre, Year, etc... Also even for books we actually download from the iBooks Store maybe we want to change the Genre or Category the book is in or simplify the Author's name.

 

3. iBooks essentially duplicates any PDF or ePub we drag to it into it's own library. Acting like iTunes "Copy files to iTunes Media Library when adding to library". If I have hundreds of PDF's that are hundreds of Megabytes in size, I don't want them duplicated again, especially when it's duplicated on my default Macintosh HD whom many people have as SSDs nowadays.

 

4. iBooks doesn't allow us to create or choose multiple libraries and have them in any destination we want (like it is possible with iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, etc). By Option-Clicking on iBooks we should have that option.

 

5. The ability to delete Collections in iBooks for Mac.

 

All the above problems are surprising, as what essentially Apple has done is a book reader, and not a book library management tool. With books becoming more and more digital and more and more people using them, so does the amount of books in one's collection grow. It is virtually impossible to manage any book collection with such a lack of features.

 

Should anyone have solutions to the aformentioned problems or ideas on how to overcome them, please feel free to post them here.

 

Should anyone have other problems they encountered in this initial version of iBooks, please feel free to post them here, as this would be a good place to sythesize all that's bothering a lot of people with this new phase into Apple's ecosystem of iBooks.

 

Thank you,

 

Nick

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 3:24 AM

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Q: Every Single Problem with iBooks for Mac

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  • by connie184,

    connie184 connie184 Nov 30, 2013 9:51 AM in response to Doug Holm1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 30, 2013 9:51 AM in response to Doug Holm1

    Thanks, was hoping to not have to jump into Calibre, but if I can convert from PDF to epub that might help clean everything up.  I think I have 6 reading apps on my iPad and that is irritating.

  • by Doug Holm1,

    Doug Holm1 Doug Holm1 Nov 30, 2013 10:03 AM in response to connie184
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Nov 30, 2013 10:03 AM in response to connie184

    Yes, that is the convenient thing about iBooks when it used to work, or when if it works again ... it takes most formats.

     

    Adding books to the iPad is a clunky system whether it is iTunes or Calibre. But at least Calibre is a versatile system that also converts material into different formats.

  • by Franco Franchi,

    Franco Franchi Franco Franchi Dec 3, 2013 3:33 AM in response to Doug Holm1
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Dec 3, 2013 3:33 AM in response to Doug Holm1

    Well, I'm really upset with the endless story of iBook' problems.

    Tried a lot of times to change somenthing, but every time I thought that a problem was cared, other problems arose... it's really unbelievable. I spent most of last two weeks in unsuccessful trials. Eventually - too late - I had the courage to stop: abandoned the stupid new iTunes; deleted iBooks from my Mac; copied a bakup copy of all my books (as they really were) to a folder of my choice, outside the idiosyncrasies of the new system; bought BookReader to read them on Mac; bought Marvin for iPad; synced Mac to Marvin by USB; deleted the unreadable cryptic iBook files; saved 1.7 gigabytes of disk space... oh, everything OK?

    Not completely. I've 4,300+ books and a not insignificant bunch of purchased epubs from any vendors I liked, all personally made: for almost all of them (why not simply "all"? another good question to Apple) their metadata were scrambled around sometimes (again not all!) even with their title! Would you imagine how long does it take to correct them? I spent 4 days to correct a miserable 25%.

     

    So friends, STOP CRYING! Take your courage and write a strong claim to Apple. I've just made it, here it is:

     

    After many years of fidelity for Apple products, hard and soft, it is my sincere regret to give a zero stars to both these products. Writing a list of what lacks, what is wrong, and what I don't like, would require a volume of comments. In synthesis both these programs are: totally UNUSABLE, don't permit any user setting, hard to use, lacking editing instruments (metadata and other), unfriendly for syncing to other devices, don't permit searches, not attractive 2D plain bare-bone layout, convert your books in cryptic files more than twice the size of ePub crafted with Pages (9, not 5, where another chapter of claims would be very appropriate)... SO: read the many complaints in the user Discussion section. Blah! I had to switch to Marvin (ipad) & BookReader (Mac).

    Hope that many of you would do the same. Stop crying and protest. Good luck.
  • by MichaelByrns,

    MichaelByrns MichaelByrns Dec 3, 2013 6:50 AM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2013 6:50 AM in response to Nicolas Online

    I agree with the others. The iBooks is awful. It makes it much harder for me to work with and to do what I have been doing all along. I have a lot of PDF files, etc that I have imported. I buy NO books so it is all my own stuff. In the past I was able to look at the directory in itunes (in windows 7) that had all the books. I could add and cheange the names, dates, etc. I could copy them to a flash drive to bring to other computers. Now I can't do any of that anymore. I can't change anything. I can't copy easily. I have to do all corrections on the file before dropping it into iBooks.If after, I have to move the file to finder, make my corrrections, delete it in iBooks and then move the renamed file back in. Plus it is exceptionally ugly now. I hate the new format. Yuck.

     

    I find the same thing with the movies. Editing is much harder there as well.

  • by Appelsap,

    Appelsap Appelsap Dec 5, 2013 2:58 AM in response to Wozzeck
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Dec 5, 2013 2:58 AM in response to Wozzeck

    Wozzeck wrote:

     

    Kill it with fire. Here are the instructions I followed to both nuke iBooks from orbit and restore iTunes to previous epub and pdf handling capabilities:

     

    1.) Kill the bookstoreagent service using the Activity Monitor.

    2.) Delete the file for that service: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CommerceKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/bo okstoreagent

    3.) Use AppCleaner to get rid of iBooks.

    4.) Restart iTunes and you will find the Books tag return under library.

    5.) Import your books again with all the metadata intact.

     

    On my machine, I found that I not only had to restart iTunes, but also had to log out of my account and then log back in. The good news is that once I did so, iBooks was dead and gone and iTunes was working properly again. I'd like to find whoever did the Quality Control for iBooks and kick them repeatedly in the genitals.

     

    Many thanks Mr. Wozzeck for this tip! Simple and effective. All you people are right - iBooks has to go down in history as the worst ever ****-up software-wise. There didn't seem to be one single thing that was better than before! Not my problem anymore since I managed to revert back to using iTunes. iBooks managed to wipe out my book data from iTunes though, so now I have the following dilemma:

     

    My iPad is happily loaded with my books (over 1000 of them), tidily and painstakingly arranged to about 20-25 collections. I have all the books on my harddrive backed up, but not on iTunes because iBooks (thanks again Apple!). So now if I sync the iPad I have reason to fear that, rather than syncing my existing books from the iPad to the empty bookshelf that is my iTunes, it will wipe out all the books from the iPad. One of the biggest reasons for this belief is that this is Apple's law - which option would the user prefer? Let's go with the worse one - the one where all the books are wiped out, yeah! Anyways, the colourful bar that indicates how full the iPad is seems to indicate this possibility since I remember that the iPad was/is about 90% full and now it shows to be (if I sync) at something like 60%.

     

    I can of course go through the whole process of putting my books on iTunes and then arranging them into collections again - only that I have better things to do. Anybody have any idea if there's a possibility of syncing my books from the full iPad to the empty iTunes and not vice versa?

     

    Thanks for the tips everyone, these forums are a lifesaver when the ****** rotten apple inevitably hits the fan. One endnote: I hope Apple completely redesigns iBooks - in principle I dug that my books were in a different place from my music.

  • by J. Hopmann,

    J. Hopmann J. Hopmann Dec 5, 2013 5:41 AM in response to connie184
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Dec 5, 2013 5:41 AM in response to connie184

    Yes, I had to go to Calibre with Marvin on the iPad.

  • by Nikuniku,

    Nikuniku Nikuniku Dec 9, 2013 7:56 PM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 7:56 PM in response to Nicolas Online

    I found another way to acess some of my ibooks. I had to e-mail them to myself and it ended up emailed as a zip file so I downloaded a Izip app first, but I finally got it. Does anyone else do this or is it easier a diffrent way?

    Open finder and from the Favorites sidebar click on: Music>iTunes>iTunes Media>Books

  • by Doug Holm1,

    Doug Holm1 Doug Holm1 Dec 10, 2013 9:04 AM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Dec 10, 2013 9:04 AM in response to Nicolas Online

    Another point to be made is that the updated version of iBooks on the iPad itself should be avoided. It takes a while to "turn on" unlike its predecessor, and crashes frequently.  Just today, while reading a book on the bus I got the equivalent of a kernel panic crash, when the screen dimmed left to right as if a shower curtain were being drawn closed. The device turned itself back on in a couple of minutes.

  • by Appelsap,

    Appelsap Appelsap Dec 11, 2013 10:41 AM in response to Doug Holm1
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Dec 11, 2013 10:41 AM in response to Doug Holm1

    Doug Holm1 wrote:

     

    Another point to be made is that the updated version of iBooks on the iPad itself should be avoided. It takes a while to "turn on" unlike its predecessor, and crashes frequently.  Just today, while reading a book on the bus I got the equivalent of a kernel panic crash, when the screen dimmed left to right as if a shower curtain were being drawn closed. The device turned itself back on in a couple of minutes.

     

    The iPad iBooks seemed almost unusable to me a while ago, it could take a couple of minutes to perform an action, like opening a book. Then I had an idea and closed down most of my other apps that were running in the background (there were lots of them) - now it runs smoothly enough.

  • by Doug Holm1,

    Doug Holm1 Doug Holm1 Dec 11, 2013 10:55 AM in response to Appelsap
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Dec 11, 2013 10:55 AM in response to Appelsap

    I do usually have a lot of things on all at once. I'll trying turning off a bunch. Thanks.

  • by G-Kap,

    G-Kap G-Kap Dec 12, 2013 11:32 AM in response to Wozzeck
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2013 11:32 AM in response to Wozzeck

    Thanks a lot for the tip, the best solution so far (unfortunately)...

    Thanks man

  • by crazywoman1,

    crazywoman1 crazywoman1 Dec 15, 2013 7:33 AM in response to Michael Black
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 15, 2013 7:33 AM in response to Michael Black

    They don't respond but they do read.  These forums are provided for user to user support (which means users do the work while alleviating company technical support workload) and, more importantly, for information to flow to the company from people who are using (and in some cases) manipulating the product.

  • by MorningDewProcess,

    MorningDewProcess MorningDewProcess Dec 15, 2013 9:02 AM in response to crazywoman1
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 15, 2013 9:02 AM in response to crazywoman1

    Here is how to delete iBooks and get book management functionality back to iTunes (just like it was before):

     

    1. Open Activity Monitor and kill the bookstoreagent service.

    2. Delete the file for that service:/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CommerceKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/boo kstoreagent

    3. Use AppCleaner to remove iBooks app completely.

    4. Restart iTunes and Books menu will appear again there.

    5. Copy our ebook files from our backup back to internal storage. This is mainly for ebook files that we didn’t purchase from iBookstore. Don’t worry about books that we purchased from iBookstore, we can re-download them again.

    6. Delete the ebook files from~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Booksso iTunes library will detect them as missing. Right click for each book, choose “Get Info” and it will ask the location of the file. Point the location to the ebook file that we have restored. Yes it’s probably a long and tiring process especially if we have plenty of books.

    7. An alternative way of step 6 is to delete all the books from iTunes library and re-import them from the files. All the metadata we created before should remain unchanged.

    8. Re-download books that we purchased from iBookstore. Or alternatively if we have those books in our iPhone or iPad, we can just sync them with iTunes and choose to transfer those books.

  • by S_eye,

    S_eye S_eye Dec 24, 2013 10:00 PM in response to MorningDewProcess
    Level 1 (2 points)
    Dec 24, 2013 10:00 PM in response to MorningDewProcess

    Hello,

     

    Is there also a way to transfer back ePUB and PDFs from an iPad back to iTunes. I tried with a file browsing application, but I will loose metadata and file names are encrypted. Is there a third party application doing the trick that you can recommend?

     

    Cheers

    Luca

  • by tincha,

    tincha tincha Dec 25, 2013 8:25 AM in response to S_eye
    Level 1 (57 points)
    iOS Apps
    Dec 25, 2013 8:25 AM in response to S_eye

    When you sync your iPad to your Mac, any books and PDFs on your iPad should sync to your Books library. Navigate to to [user]/iTunes/iTunes Media/Books in your home folder and the PDFs should be there. If they're not, go to File > Devices > Transfer Purchases from [user]'s iPad.

     

    You can also email documents to yourself from iBooks on your iPad.

     

    If you have an app like GoodReader or DropBox, they can transfer PDFs back and forth from your iPad but you first have to upload them to the app.

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