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 MouldySquid,

    MouldySquid MouldySquid Mar 28, 2014 3:18 PM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (10 points)
    iBooks
    Mar 28, 2014 3:18 PM in response to Nicolas Online

    Does anyone have an idea why iBooks on my iPhone uses more storage than the books themselves take up? The file that contains all of my epubs only totals 3.8GB, but the storage bar on my iPhone says that they are taking up more than 5GB. Why would there be an extra 1+GB?

  • by Franco Franchi,

    Franco Franchi Franco Franchi Mar 29, 2014 3:10 AM in response to MouldySquid
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mar 29, 2014 3:10 AM in response to MouldySquid

    You must have synced your books to Apple iBooks for iPad. Each of your books has then been converted and recorded subdivided in individual chapters (1 file each chapter) plus one (or more) metadata and support files for each book, in a format different from the simple omnicomprehensive epub. This explains the substantial growth (many thanks, Apple!) in size and in my experience has also the effect of significantly slowing down the time for opening it, even when a book is read in part and subsequently re-opened at the bookmark point. The more books you have, and the bigger they are, the more time is spent... waiting to open it. Just another problem of a long list of bad choices in the "upgrade" of the entire Apple eBooking system that none would appreciate, I believe. I would like really to reinstall the previous version of ios... but that is not permitted.

    Welcome to the community of upset book readers.

  • by jfrd,

    jfrd jfrd Apr 2, 2014 11:17 AM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2014 11:17 AM in response to Nicolas Online

    After suffering the same issues, I installed Kindle on my iPad and convert books to mobi format using Calibre. I download a lot of free magazines and newspapers--MacWorld, WSJ, Popular Science, etc.-- in Calibre and used to simply transfer them to iBooks using iTunes.

     

    After conversion to mobi and saving them to my Calibre folder I can click on the Kindle app when my iPad is connected to iTunes and add them to Kindle by navigating to the Calibre folder.

     

    For pdfs, I've installed Adobe Reader on the iPad and use Calibre in the same manner.

     

    Calibre, as others have mentioned, allows editing of metadata as well as conversion to various ebook formats.

     

    Not the method I would use if I still had the capability to add books to iPad using iTunes, but it works for me. Maybe someone from Apple will read of my heresy here and be motivated to actually fix iBooks before I simply start buying all my books from Amazon and using Kindle for everything I read.

  • by Michael Kahn,

    Michael Kahn Michael Kahn Apr 2, 2014 12:51 PM in response to jfrd
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Apr 2, 2014 12:51 PM in response to jfrd

    Well, I think it is obvious by now. Apple decided to release a defective product, and they have no idea how to fix it.

  • by lovesreadin,

    lovesreadin lovesreadin Apr 5, 2014 1:06 PM in response to finniii
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 5, 2014 1:06 PM in response to finniii

    Go to itunes, click on your device ie ipad.  click on books and sync.....they all come back

  • by Franco Franchi,

    Franco Franchi Franco Franchi Apr 6, 2014 2:33 AM in response to lovesreadin
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Apr 6, 2014 2:33 AM in response to lovesreadin

    This does not resolve the claimed weaknesses. The list given by opening the "books" section of the device is just ... a list of the device content of what the device iOS accepted. No editing or other user action is permitted by it. Apple has no other chance to stop the ever increasing complaint than redesign the eBook system from the scratch.

  • by Trisklbr,

    Trisklbr Trisklbr May 13, 2014 12:19 PM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 13, 2014 12:19 PM in response to Nicolas Online

    I'm in some kind of weird hybrid limbo. My VERY large library, managed under Calibre (Please, Apple, just license Calibre!) is intact, thank goodness, but I can't manage things on & off my iPad effectively anymore, and in the oddest twist, some of my Calibre library has found its way from my iPad into the cloud...

  • by Marco MacFool,

    Marco MacFool Marco MacFool May 22, 2014 1:09 PM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 22, 2014 1:09 PM in response to Nicolas Online

    Ibooks is no doubt the worst app ever from Apple:

    - I have no control whatsoever over my PDFs and eBooks, as I cannot edit metadata as I could in iTunes;

    - I still haven´t found how to transfer my iBooks collections, etc., once I reinstall the OS, which was so easy with iTunes;

    - Worst of all, I can live with the folks from Cupertino bullying me into using the new iwork apps which, once I open my existing files on them, render my 2008 Mountain Lion Macbook useless to read or edit MY DOCUMETS (and I stress that they are mine, they are not Apple's documents) as they do not let me install the new apps on that Macbook. But what really ****** me off is the fact that I had dozens of hours of MY TIME invested in organized my hundreds of PDF files on iTunes, renaming them, making collectinons, etc. and what did Apple do? Yes, they acted as if the files were not mine and messed up my work. If I had done the same to Aplle I am pretty sure they would sue my butt to my last penny.

    I love Apple products, love their software, etc., but THAT STINKS!

  • by Paul DeCelle,

    Paul DeCelle Paul DeCelle May 23, 2014 12:08 PM in response to jfrd
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 23, 2014 12:08 PM in response to jfrd

    iBooks for Mac is a real stink bomb.  You can't edit metadata (really, Apple?), so if there's metadata that needs changing, you have to use an app like Calibre and re-import the book to iBooks.  (Hint:  After you update the metadata with Calibre, reconvert the book to your desired format, even if it's already in that format.  That'll make metadata changes like cover art 'stick' when the file is imported to iBooks.) 

    Once a title is added to iBooks you can't delete it, even though there's a delete pick in the pop-up menu when you two-finger click on the book.  So now you have two or more copies, and you can't get rid of the old ones!  iBooks creates duplicate files when they're imported, but there's no "Show in Finder" option.  It took forever to figure out that they're in a hidden folder buried deep within the Library folder, but the file titles are changed to some random-looking string of letters and digits so you can't even delete an unwanted file because the names are unrecognizable.

     

    After struggling with this awful software for several days, I finally gave up, uninstalled it, and deleted all of the hidden iBook Library files. 

     

    When iBooks is uninstalled, the books option will automatically reappear in iTunes and you can now add ebook files and sync them easily with your pad or phone iBooks apps, just like it worked pre-iBooks for Mac.

     

     

    To uninstall iBooks on Mac, open Terminal (It's in the Utilities folder in Applications) and type the following on the command line:

    sudo rm -rf /Applications/iBooks.app

    Double-check your typing.  Press Enter.

     

    You may be prompted for your system password - Type that in and press Enter.  iBooks is now gone from your Mac.  If the iBooks icon is still on the dock, it can be manually deleted.

     

    The iBooks files are in:

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

     

    The 'Containers' folder was hard to find.  I found it using MacKeeper and deleted the books from there.

  • by ichoderso,

    ichoderso ichoderso May 27, 2014 12:40 AM in response to Paul DeCelle
    Level 1 (105 points)
    May 27, 2014 12:40 AM in response to Paul DeCelle

    I had equal problem, especially with crashing iBook app after the last update.

    With many trail and errors i found a solution. The problem seems to me the filthy update procedure that made data garbage. My original books are stored under itunes, or if you need in your time machine backup.

    To fix it, i've made i fresh iBooks installation with following way.

     

    - using "AppCleaner" (try google, this app helps me in the past often) to delete iBooks and all related system files (not the books)

    - downloading the mavericks 10.9 installation image and create a USB installation stick

    - downloading an unrar or anzip utility, in my case i used "pacifist".

    - using "Pacifist" to locate the iBook.app in the "Essential.pkg"

    - install ibooks

     

    After that iBook works (no crash). Downloading my purchased books need a bit. Then all works fine.

  • by grebecks,

    grebecks grebecks Jun 9, 2014 8:45 PM in response to Nicolas Online
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 9, 2014 8:45 PM in response to Nicolas Online

    This was 100% helpful!  Thank you!

  • by Chasm,

    Chasm Chasm Jun 14, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Wozzeck
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Wozzeck

    Thanks for your clear instructions and excellent workaround to restore books to my iPad.

  • by charlie_maverick,

    charlie_maverick charlie_maverick Jul 3, 2014 10:38 AM in response to KAS7
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2014 10:38 AM in response to KAS7

    This did the trick! Thanks

  • by Catherine Gramze,

    Catherine Gramze Catherine Gramze Jul 8, 2014 3:33 PM in response to tincha
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2014 3:33 PM in response to tincha

    Okay, I just added 2 books to my iBooks library.  How do I find those 2 books, simply and quickly, to check the box next to them in iTunes and sync them? I have roughly 4500 books in my iTunes library; don't tell me to scroll through them all.

     

    Needless to say, I use still Calibre to store and organize my ebooks. I might have switched to iBooks if it was a decent app, but it is not. I was bitterly disappointed when all my metadata was ignored when iBooks imported the book files. I realize Apple is protecting digital rights, but making the transfer of a book from computer to iPad a painful and difficult task is not the type of user experience Apple customarily provides.

  • by jinet,

    jinet jinet Sep 4, 2014 11:33 PM in response to adougall
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 4, 2014 11:33 PM in response to adougall

    How do you get them back again?? (Ipad to mac)

    tx

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