"unauthorized media"

I have now tried importing three iBook iba-files into Pages 10.1 (released late yesterday evening in Europe). 

Two out of the three different iba-files just crashes the Pages application without any message or reason given. Just a complete and thorough crash of the worst kind (seen from an old system programmers viewpoint when reading the report). My take: Code quality was probably not of utmost priority and importance compared to release date.

All iBooks based on the same, customized template.

All iBooks have lots of images (from full page to tiny, overlapping or not).

All iBooks use pages of varied design (no text, small text amounts, one or two column text etc.).

All iBooks use the same “free” Noto fonts (released by Google).

All iBooks have embedded videos - from one to many, from small and short to large and longish.

All iBooks are in use without hiccups - only the latest of the Catalina horror releases has needlessly introduced the “unauthorized media” error message into iBooks Author.

Observations (sizes rounded to nearest megabyte):

Travelogue from Hamburg January 2019.

One video, lots of images.

iba file size: 135 megabyte

ibook file size: 58 megabyte

Crashing without error message before completing import.

Impossible to know the cause and remedy any problem.

Travelogue from Rome April 2019.

Many videos, lots of images.

iba file size: 269 megabyte

ibook file size: 174 megabyte

Import succeeds. Front page missing, as well as a few goodies. Formatting dramatically altered by “text overflow page” (from a few lines to half a column of text) in most sections/chapters etc. due to not respecting exact line heights (in order to secure horizontal alignment across columns when different styles and fonts are in use, such as for headers, common text, citations etc.).

Some intricate positioning has been kept (exact positioned auto starting videos on full page images, aligning the starting/ending frame of the video with the background - in effect hiding the boundary before/after play). Others have “moved” inexplicably. Some videos have gotten their frames ‘locked” (wasn’t the case originally), others not. Maybe reaction on memory garbage causing crashes in the other two example reads).

Lots of bits and pieces not quite delivered in the same fashion - and especially display, handling and further editing in Pages leaves a lot to be desired, compared to using ibooks author.

Travelogue from Brussels July 2019.

Many videos, lots of images.

iba file size: 284 megabyte

ibook file size: 162 megabyte

Crashing without error message before completing import.

Impossible to know the cause and remedy any problem.

General comment: Files relatively small and mildly complicated to trivial in basic design and layout.

Conclusion: Not a decent release. Not a true replacement for iBooks Author in anything but trivial cases, but not even reliable for reading iba-versions of very trivial iBooks without thoroughly crashing completely! Not even reaching the level of “acceptable” for Alpha or (pre-)Betha-candidate releases. As an iba Import solution replacing iBooks Author the released Pages 10.1 stinks. Plain and simple.

I’m not even sure, what to do next for my around hundred current iBooks to save them for future use, but it starts to look as unnecessary hard work to me. Import into Pages is no solution, at all!

Had to go back to Mojave - not good at all 😳

"Copy the media delete the old one paste the new one. Fixed "

Unfortunately, this is not so simple in the larger context. Otherwise it would not be under discussion here.

I have exactly the same problem. Upgraded to Catalina and now all multimedia files (video and audio) appear as blank placeholders in my books. Some of them are DRM-protected (but never caused this before) but others were entirely created by myself.

Downgrading back to Mojave seems a bit extreme but I hope it's not the only option.

Same problem here.

All the .iba file I open give me this error message, regardless if the files are really protected or not. When I replace the audio/video files seems like it's working, but when I reopen the book I got the same message again.

Did you check the exported book?

Because even though you can export, the video/audio widgets appear differently than they should (videos are blank space, audio changed icon in my case, so I didn't want to risk and upload to the store like this)

As of 2/25/2020, I'm still having this same issue. I save my own videos in '.iba' file and at the time the media works fine but once I save it and then re-open to file to work on it I get the 'unauthorized media' warning and all media in my file is blank and needs to be re-inserted. Any update on a fix?

Having reported this fault six months ago and Apple having reproducing it themselves 4 months ago I am still unable to continue work on two books. The fault is identical to those posting here.

I even emailed Tim Cook twice in case we could get some movement / fix for this introduced fault - but no reply. Not even an acknowledgement.

I am surprised that, having broken iBooks Author with Catalina, Apple is content to leave it broken for what used to be an excellent multimedia book program.

Thanks for this helpful advice.

If i read it correctly does this mean only one video can now be added in a book? Because if you return back to another page to insert a 2nd/3rd video etc it will disappear? My travel guides can have up to 5 or 6 videos.

I really appreciate your tip and hope I can get iBooks Author working again as it did before Apple broke it.

Thanks again!

I have 40 videos in one of my books. I have to add it page after page (each video in a unique page). If I return back in previous page (i.e. to fix a text error) the videos in previous pages disappear and I have to re-add it again :-(

A quick update. I asked Apple Support if there was any news on a fix and they contacted Engineering. Unfortunately for us, no news of a fix, no timeline to give us an idea. Six months after they introduced this bug - absolutely nothing!

Hi HerrieC. If you have time could you tell us how you got it to work? Was it by never closing or saving the iBook as you wrote it / inserted video etc? Did this result in a complete functioning book when you uploaded it to the Apple Book Store?

If you can confirm this it will help a lot of people I think.

Thanks

I also reported this directly to Apple. I am screwed because ITunes Publisher requires an update to a version that will not run on my El Cap maxed out old machine. Tried to buy a new computer to get around it but it came with Catalina installed. Returned the new computer. Out of luck now. I sent a complaint to the Apple Books team and also to the iBooks Author team. My sense is that there is no iBooks Author “team”. The propeller heads that created this wonderful product are long gone or reassigned. I don’t expect it to ever be updated again. Whatever Catalina did to cause this issue may be more important to Apple for other reasons than keeping this product alive going forward. If you can get below Catalina and to at least HIgh Sierra you will live to see another day.

10.15.4 MacMini 8GB iBooks Author 2.6.1 *issues "unauthorizes media" and "limited media management"*

I would like to answer you because I like the fact that you are trying hard to keep afloat what has been a software masterpiece .

Others are always complaining, and I like your constructive way.

Of course it would be a pity if Apple does not continue to maintain iBook Author.

Probably there are simply too few creative people who appreciate the genius of this program.

+ I am pleased that there is a (complex) workaround for the media problem.

+ Also the partially missing cover display after transfer in iOS can be overcome with a strange trick.

- Unfortunately I had to realize yesterday that the number of images and movies that can be included is limited. After 463 pages of my 'Fashion Lookbook' (about 400 pictures and about 20 videos) I suddenly couldn't integrate any other media to complete this project successfully.

Therefore my personal rating for iBooks Author is almost reduced from "professional workflow" to "PC-like fragile mediocrity".

Just like you, I hope that somewhere at Apple there will arise another driving force that makes the iBook Author concept strong and superior again. Pages is of course not a viable replacement and has been developed for completely different ideas.

I have two books of band photographs and videos all originated and owned by me in collaboration with the band so there is no copyright issue when I updated one book I got the unauthorised media message when I updated the other book essentially exactly the same, just different photos and media. I didn’t get the message using Catalina so this may not be an OS related issue it sounds more like it’s an individual book issue have any of you had the same issue with two different books