Reading iBooks on macBook Pro??

Strange, and annoying... I purchased one book from iTunes and it worked on my Adobe Digital Editions. So thinking it would always work. I purchased another book. It loads onto Adobe Digital Editions but it doesn't show any writing, just a blank white screen?

Does anyone know whats up with it?

Adobe Digital Editions is useless for reading almost all books purchased from the iBookstore because they have DRM and can only be read with the iBooks app on an iOS device. It normally says than an iOS device is required right on the purchase page. The book that worked for you must be one without DRM. Those from O'Reilly and Take Control fall into that category, perhaps others. What is the title of the one that worked?

Tom, have you ever tried using GoodReader on iDevices to open iBooks? I haven't tried it yet but have opened books from other sources without issues. Plus it will open m-etc video files and even password protected PDF files.

Just curious if you have tried it with the iBooks DRM files.

Happy New Year.

Ralph Landry1 wrote:

Tom, have you ever tried using GoodReader on iDevices to open iBooks?

I tried it with a typical DRM ibook by Nicholas Sparks and only get a blank page.

Tom Gewecke wrote:

I tried it with a typical DRM ibook by Nicholas Sparks and only get a blank page.

Thanks, was curious if it is as universal as the author makes it sound 🙂

Tom, thanks for the response. You have saved me money!

The book that worked is called 'Wild Nights' by David Deida

Good old apple has refunded my money for 'Respect For Acting' the book i purchased that did not work.

I think they should make it a little more clear that you can't read books from iBooks on your Mac comp

Anyway problem solved!

Thanks

Thanks for the info! I guess that publisher (Sounds True) is one of those that does not require DRM.

I went to that link. Ironically, there is no option to leave iBook feedback.

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nsolsen

Level 1 (0 points)

Use iTunes Feedback.

tt2

Just for those who haven't figured this out yet and for those who, like me, got tired of reading page after page of the same types of replies.

I don't know if anyone has posted this yet but I will just in case.

For those who do not know iBook's ePubs are not DRM, they are encrypted. You can open them and even access the individual html files but will get only blank pages in the readers and only see gibberish in the files.

An iBook's ePub can only be read in iBooks on the iPad and iPod touch, at least until Apple comes out with iBooks for OS X or stops encrypting the ePubs (unlikely). In my opinion this is because they hope that having to repurchase your library will influence your choice on brands and make you chose Apple the next time you decide to upgrade your handheld.

To see if an ePub is encrypted simply open the ePub in a zip program (7ZIP or Stuffit) then open one of the x/html files in any text editor and if it shows you html code it is not encrypted (but may still be DRM) if it shows a bunch of gibberish then it is encrypted.

That's my two cents.

Radcat wrote:

iBook's ePubs are not DRM

The system Apple uses is normally called "Fairplay DRM". Is there some reason you think "DRM" is not the appropriate term?

When a publisher does not want its works to have DRM, like O'Reilly or Take Control, their books can be read on any device. Publisher choice is really the key factor as to whether DRM is applied or not, not Apple.

Just to be clear about this point, DRM is always implemented by using encryption. The ePub books from Apple's iBook Store are generally DRM "protected" just like the audio files were generally encrypted for years at the insistence of the record labels. They (RIAA members) even insisted on making only DRM audio files available from Apple even though Amazon and others were allowed to sell unencrypted versions. Steve Jobs and Apple had already stated unequivically that Apple wanted to sell non-DRM audio files.

That rather odd period seemed to be due to an effort by the RIAA to promote competing music stores but it did not have that effect since it only locked in customers who were using Apple's iTunes music store. Their purchase were not portable to other devices so people were even more reluctant to switch from iTunes Music Store. Finally, after the slow learners got the message, Apple was allowed to sell unlocked audio files and that is where we have been for a few years.

We seem to be going through a similar process with the book publishers. It is quite possible to buy unencrypted ePub format books that can be read with ePub programs on Mac OS X. But book publishers have to enable Apple to sell unencrypted books just like the record labels had to "see the light". But this time the market situation is quite different. Amazon has the dominant position in ebooks so DRM might be a way to keep the market fragmented and avoid Apple or Amazon gaining too much leverage.

All of the verbiage above involves a lot of speculation. In any case what we have are ebooks we buy from Apple are often scrambled and unreadable on a Mac. That is utterly ridiculous. There does not seem to be any excuse, except incompetence, that Preview is not already capable to read ePub format with or without DRM on the Mac. The result of removing convenience (buy anywhere, read anywhere, no worries) is that gray market alternatives become an attractive alternative. The clock is ticking.

All of the verbiage above involves a lot of speculation. In any case what we have are ebooks we buy from Apple are often scrambled and unreadable on a Mac. That is utterly ridiculous. There does not seem to be any excuse, except incompetence, that Preview is not already capable to read ePub format with or without DRM on the Mac. The result of removing convenience (buy anywhere, read anywhere, no worries) is that gray market alternatives become an attractive alternative. The clock is ticking.

Exactly. Moreover you can download for free a version of the Kindle program that runs on OS X and use it to read Kindle ebooks.

what amazes me is the price diff on the books at ibooks are so much higher than on kindle. same book just way more expensive.

COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE Apple....you will not get another dime from me for ebooks until you resolve this. I, too, left the Windows platform over this kind of idiocy. I expect more from this company.