I have a similar problem with looots of multimedia fixed size ibooks produced since 2013 (never for public use).
Nothing has changed on my side, except now on Catalina EVERYTHING displays the same error messages, when I open the hitherto problem free “iba” files.
“NARJS, innit?”
Not good. Especially since we only have a vague promise from Apple, that “some kind” of converter will be available for conversion to Pages. I certainly hope, that will involve conversion to a “real epub3 valid” format, which the current iBooks format is certainly not.
Currently I’m moving everything out of Apple’s “fangs”.
First step: All my “.iba” files are moved to my NAS and my Windows platform. Whatever happens now is out of Apples domain. Add the extension “.zip” to the file(s), you wan’t to inspect the content, and go on from there.
Second step: Create a more ePub like representation. This involves iCloud (and putting your I iBooks into the books viewer). I have a “backup script”, that copies all content from:
/Users/<username>/Library/Mobile Documents/
to my NAS. My special interest is in the folder:
iCloud~com~apple~iBooks
where all my iBooks content is located. And that is far nearer to any valid ePub format, than anything else. Here’s a view into one of my Ibooks as seen on my NAS:
Looking into OPS gets you this:
Ahhh... now we’re getting somewhere. And a peek into assets, gives me:
You continue on your own, but it is absolutely vital, that you get this information out of the Apple environment NOW! Nobody knows, where it is placed or if it will at all be accessible that easy and especially that “organized” in the future.
Copy to your NAS, your Google Drive or OneNote or... an external disk or USB stick formatted in ExFAT (can be read anywhere else). Place it somewhere safe for later use, if Apple’s Converter offer does not pan out to be usable in real life for your purpose. It doesn’t hurt to have a copy of your iba files either, but they’re probably not that interesting in the long run. Their content is a plain mess in my eyes. But you never know, what the future brings, so... backup, what you have now!
From here, I‘m starting to “hand-convert” a few iBooks to Sigil. Discovering if that’s a viable option. If, I’ll try to optimize the conversion with a few scripts or a simple program running in Windows 10. Will NOT be released to the public in any form (life is too short to support some of the oafs feeling entitled to reserve hours, days or weeks if not months of your spare time - for free, of course ;-)
Did I say, that I’m moving out of the Apple sphere?
The iOS/iPadOS 13 and the Catalina debacles were the initiators; the extremely short notice concerning the iBooks Author, and still no Converter combined with the WWDC announcements concerning the migration to ARM made my decision firm.
I‘ve moved most of my projects to Windows 10 Pro machinery (the last machine starting this month), and for my purpose and use cases the pain looks to be relatively limited. What better to do, after a lockdown, over summer, preparing for being up to snuff again in a few months.
Pages may evolve to be a reasonable platform for many, but even if - my trust in Apple supporting their tools - and giving ample notice BEFORE termination - has vanished.
YMMV, but... the only reason I entered the Apple sphere in the first place in late 2012 was the introduction of the iBooks Author. What is more fitting, that I also follow the iBooks Author demise from the platform?
HerrieC wrote:
I try to be optimistic, interested in the possibilities of Pages. So I experimented a little with Pages, created a first book with a gallery and a short movie in it and exported the file. It shows up in Books on the Mac all right, but guess what: the problem with the cover of the book synced on iPad is still there! Again this generic ugly cover, and not my artwork.
So I'll have to use the workaround that was developed in the dedicated cover thread (Cover page cannot be displayed). I am worrying about the future of Books on iPad and the 25 books I created with Author.