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chims Author

Level 1

14 points

Reading iBooks on macBook Pro??

Is it possible to download and read iBooks on my MacBook Pro?

mac book pro, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 10, 2010 6:57 PM

Top-ranking reply

Allan Sampson

Level 10

123,677 points

Posted on May 10, 2010 7:16 PM

No - this required the iBooks app. The iBooks app is for the iPad and the same will be available for the iPhone when firmware update 4.0 for the iPhone is released this summer.

An app written for OS X on a Mac can't be installed and used on the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, and an app written for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad can't be installed and used on a Mac.

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236 replies

Mar 11, 2011 7:17 AM in response to johnostrowick

@Johnostrowick,

Thanks so much for posting this...

I just tried reading an iBooks epub with ADE (No luck, they just show up with blank pages). The other readers didn't work either.

I had hoped this would do the trick, so I really appreciate your post.

I'm a total Apple "fanboy" but I'm actually going to pass on iBooks, for now.

Earlier this year I moved. To my dismay during the move, I had over 1,000 books I've purchased in hard form over the years.

After packing and moving all those books, and seeing how many were out-dated, I decided to only buy digital books from now on.

I purchased my first iBook on my iPhone one day, and began reading it (The whole time thinking, "The Mac App store must have an iBooks reader. Every other ePub reader does, surely Apple will.")...

When I go home I realized that I couldn't read the 1 and only iBook I have purchased, on my Mac.

I've since waited for months, but no go...

I don't have an iPad, and I won't be getting one for a while yet (I'm waiting for an iPad with a retina display).

I've finally given up on reading iBooks on my Mac, and repurchased a Kindle edition of my first digital book purchase (Kindle app is free on iPhone and Mac. I think for iPad too...).

So I've thrown in the towel, and went with a Kindle version of the SAME book I purchased in iBooks.

At least with Kindle, I can read it on my Mac, and My iPhone. I'm also, pretty sure it will work on iPad when I get one. (I'm hoping Kindle has the same note taking, high-lighting, and bookmarking features that iBooks has, but that is really a secondary if I can't actually read the book right?)

Thanks so much for your post, it was the closest thing I've been able to find.

=)

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

119,014 points

Mar 11, 2011 7:33 AM in response to johnostrowick

If the ebook is DRM-protected, you might be able to read it with ADE

No, you cannot read books you buy from the iBookstore with any app other than iBooks -- they have drm that makes it impossible. This has a been established since this thread was started last May, and ADE has been discussed here last October.

Mar 11, 2011 5:03 PM in response to Greg1234567890

The Kindle Mac app syncs with iPhone, so you can can alternate reading the same book on both devices and recall the last page read. Each respective Kindle application syncs with each other automatically each time they're launched.

Message was edited by: one of the joes

Mar 20, 2011 3:18 PM in response to one of the joes

It is sad that the DRM is application specific. I own the ePub file not whichever application I purchased it through.

I can not find any mention of iBooks for Mac being included in the upcoming Mac OS X, 10.7, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

For now, I'm going to be re-purchasing the book through Kindle for Mac.

Sorry Apple. I have over 500 audio books I can listen to on any Apple device I wish to, why can't I do the same with ebooks with Apple software? And have it the software bring me to where I left off is the standard to meet.

HomerS

Level 1

0 points

Mar 30, 2011 3:45 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Just to be clear: You can open and read "free" iBooks with ADE but not paid iBooks

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

119,014 points

Mar 31, 2011 8:02 AM in response to HomerS

Just to be clear: You can open and read "free" iBooks with ADE but not paid iBooks

Yes! And everyone knew this 6 months ago too. Moreover, there is no app that can read paid iBooks on an OS X device so far.

Apr 1, 2011 2:23 PM in response to chims

Apple has just released a free application for this as of 4/1/2011.

Happy AFD!

Apr 4, 2011 9:19 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I just tried it - Stanza or Adobe Digital Editions can read one that's entirely unrestricted; but neither reads one that has some protection on it (the Winnie-The-Pooh that comes with iBooks is protected, but the iPhone User Guide is not, and they could only read the second of those).

Calibre can therefore probably convert the unprotected ones to other ebook formats.

I don't know if any existing tool will read books protected with iBooks DRM (or strip it).
I suspect that they use their own DRM scheme that's different from some others used with ePub
format.

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

119,014 points

Apr 4, 2011 10:13 AM in response to R. Hamilton

I just tried it - Stanza or Adobe Digital Editions can read one that's entirely unrestricted; but neither reads one that has some protection on it

Yes, everyone has known this for many months now.

I don't know if any existing tool will read books protected with iBooks DRM

I do know. There is no app that can read paid iBooks on an OS X device so far.

Apr 6, 2011 9:32 AM in response to chims

Very frustrating, indeed.

I bought a book to gain knowledge without any caveat that I had to read it on an iPad. What law gives Apple the right to restrict the way I learn? Sadly, in this day and age, I'm sure there is a law that allows them to do this, and it disgusts me.

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

119,014 points

Apr 6, 2011 10:07 AM in response to jackinmaine

What law gives Apple the right to restrict the way I learn? Sadly, in this day and age, I'm sure there is a law that allows them to do this, and it disgusts me.

Are you objecting to the copyright laws which allow authors/publishers to require people like Apple or Amazon or Barnes/Noble to put DRM on their eworks? That has nothing to do with Apple itself, so aim your disgust elsewhere.

Or is it that you think there should be a law requiring Apple to create an iBooks app for OS X?

Apr 22, 2011 6:41 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I keep searching for this answer every time I look for a new digital book, in the hopes that the answer has changed. It's really odd on Apple's part. I categorically won't buy any iBooks until they release an app to allow me to read my books on my Mac.

If there were no choice, it'd be another story. But, now we have both Google Books & Kindle apps for the ipad/iphone. Many books can be purchased through any of the 3 services. Kindle books don't look as good. But, Google books look fine, and can be read on iPad/iPhone and on the computer (as well as purchased there).

Apple needs to fix this issue -- I do believe it's under their control (since other providers of the same content do provide multiple means of access).

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

119,014 points

Apr 22, 2011 6:49 AM in response to purpleaster

purpleaster wrote:

Apple needs to fix this issue -- I do believe it's under their control (since other providers of the same content do provide multiple means of access).

I can't imagine anyone here disagreeing with you about that. But for Apple to hear it you should use their feedback channels:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Apr 22, 2011 6:58 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Ok, I left feedback. But, I'm now wondering about why there's no option to leave feedback on the iBooks application. Makes me wonder if they've forgotten about it.

Scott Rose

Level 4

1,042 points

May 8, 2011 7:49 AM in response to chims

Yeah, as others have said, there's really only one solution at this point:

Do not use iBooks, but use Amazon's Kindle app instead.

Not only will Kindle books sync to your Mac, but you'll also find that Kindle books are much cheaper, there is a much larger selection of Kindle books, there are actual REAL live humans who will respond to your technical support inquiries & customer support inquiries via email or phone, and the Kindle reader has more options than the iBooks reader.

Reading iBooks on macBook Pro??