How Do You Read Books Purchased On Your iPad On Your Mac Pro?

Question

Level 1

12 points

How Do You Read Books Purchased On Your iPad On Your Mac Pro?

Hi...

I synced my iPad with my Mac Pro and I'm unable (or at least don't know how) to read the books on my Mac Pro. It appears they were transferred to the Mac Pro as they show up in iTunes under "Books"... However I have no idea on how to open or read them on the Mac Pro.

Thanks in advance!

Dual 2.8 Quad Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4), iPad 64GB WiFi+3G; iPhone 4 32GB; iPod Classic 160GB; iPod Touch 64GB

Posted on Jul 17, 2010 2:10 AM

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Answer 1

dhaun

Level 2

367 points

Jul 17, 2010 2:16 AM in response to montreaux

If you're talking about books purchased from the Apple iBookstore then the answer is: You can't - there's no Mac reader for iBooks yet.

Other book stores offer Mac readers, though, e.g. Amazon.

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Answer 2

montreaux Author

Level 1

12 points

Jul 17, 2010 2:23 AM in response to dhaun

Yes... It's exactly what I was trying to accomplish. Quite a bummer they haven't developed a way to read the Books on the Macs yet.

I assume though they do at least store the books on the Mac so I can sync them with other devices like my iPhone and iPod Touch or even back to my iPad?

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Answer 3

Jul 17, 2010 11:06 AM in response to montreaux

You need one of the epub readers, that's the format Apple uses, that will allow you to read DRM'd books on the MAC (If they're not the DRM kind then you'll have a much wider choice of readers.).
I think Lexcycle does but you'll have to google for any others.

Maybe publishers will get the point of "NO DRM" eventually.

Just copy the books you want to read into a folder and point the desktop app at them when you to read them.

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Answer 4

Jul 17, 2010 11:53 AM in response to montreaux

montreaux wrote:
Yes... It's exactly what I was trying to accomplish. Quite a bummer they haven't developed a way to read the Books on the Macs yet.

I assume though they do at least store the books on the Mac so I can sync them with other devices like my iPhone and iPod Touch or even back to my iPad?

That's why I'm sticking with Amazon and the Kindle app on my iPhone, iPad and Mac. You can buy a book and use them on all platforms. The Kindle app is as nice as the iBook app, though there are advantages and disadvantages to each of the stores. For example, on both platforms, you can get samples of the books (usually the first couple of chapters). On the iBook, you can buy and download the book from the sample. On Amazon, you have to leave the app, go to the store and buy the book. Annoying. But I can go to Amazon.com, then order the book, and push the book to all of my different devices, so that's easy.

I guess it's kind of like Coke vs. Pepsi, but Amazon has a slight advantage in that you can read it on your Mac. But, to be honest, I have the Kindle app on my Mac, and have used it once. I can't lie on the couch reading a book as easily as I do with my iPad.

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Answer 5

montreaux Author

Level 1

12 points

Jul 17, 2010 3:45 PM in response to montreaux

I'm using both the iBook app and the Kindle app too. The books I'm currently reading I purchased on my iPad via the iBook app. I was able to sync the books to my iPhone 4 and open them. So they are not quite DRM'd... They just require iBook (or at least an app which can also read them) to open them.

Since I won't be reading the books much on my Mac Pro I won't get to upset but it would be nice if they had the iBook application for the desktops. I was able to open the book with my iPhone 4, my iPad and my iPod Touch via the iBook application. The desktop is the only place I wasn't able to open them... However, it did sync them to the desktop... Just no application (iBook or otherwise) to read them.

Hopefully, Apple will develop a desktop version of iBook. Also, I'll into the ePub apps you mentioned and see if there is any for the desktop.

Kindle is nice too... I think there is more of a selection of books to choose via Kindle. But I try to do everything the Apple way. :0)

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Answer 6

ajsmiles

Level 1

0 points

Aug 28, 2011 1:05 PM in response to montreaux

Can you move the books you purchased on iBooks on the iPad (that show up by icon only in "books" in the iTunes menu) to the Kindle app on the mac? an Apple store employee indicated I could but I forget how she said to do it.

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Answer 7

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,144 points

Aug 28, 2011 1:10 PM in response to ajsmiles

No - the books will be digitally rights managed and you won't be able to read them in another store's app (similarly you won't be able to read Amazon's ebooks in the iBooks app). Only DRM-free epub books (or PDFs) can be read in multiple apps.

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Answer 8

ajsmiles

Level 1

0 points

Aug 28, 2011 1:35 PM in response to King_Penguin

darn!!

thanks.

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Answer 9

Jethdlr

Level 1

8 points

Sep 12, 2011 10:03 PM in response to montreaux

Let me get all of this straight........I buy a hard copy of a book and I can take in my suitcase, briefcase, overnight bag, beach bag but gee I buy the electronic version and I would have to buy 5 copies to do the same thing.

Lets rip the consumer off a little more.

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Answer 10

Ziatron

Level 5

4,186 points

Sep 13, 2011 1:00 AM in response to Jethdlr

Let me get all of this straight........I buy a hard copy of a book and I can take in my suitcase, briefcase, overnight bag, beach bag but gee I buy the electronic version and I would have to buy 5 copies to do the same thing.

That's why our family has gone back to hard copies of books.

I would often look at an e-book and say to myself “how can I pass this on to my grandchildren”? You can't.

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Answer 11

Sep 13, 2011 4:07 PM in response to montreaux

One of the reasons I much prefer the Kindle app to iBooks is portability and access.

My Kindle books are archived at Amazon.com and I can read them on my MacBook Pro, my iPhone, my iPad, and yes, even on my Kindle! For me, it's important to have my current reading accessible wherever I am. I also appreciate having my notes and highlights synced. And, I can access those notes and highlights online and copy and paste them into a text file to use in quoting, etc.

If you prefer paper books, great. For me, I often make extensive notes on books I've read and I can save so much time using digital editions and have those notes in an easily useable form. And for me personally, I prefer to have my "dead tree" books, like my other possessions, pared down to the bare essentials.

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