Q: How Can I Read iBooks on my Laptop?

Use Apple tv mirroring

Well, that's Apple for us!

Just adding to the steaming pile of frustration.  I would very much like to produce an iTextbook, but there is no way I am going to do so if it will not be available to students using OSX as well as iOS.  My option is to use an intermediary like Kno, which will allow me to publish the textbook on both platforms--but also on Android, Windows, and web-based platforms.  So Apple is forcing me to produce content in a way that is readable by its competitors' products.  How short-sighted is that?  I've been migrating my work, personal, and family computing to Apple, but this kind of thing makes me reconsider.

Abandon iBooks and use Kindle. It's the only option. S*cks, but what can you do.

jarodcore wrote:

 

use Kindle. It's the only option.

There are other options, namely Nook, Kobo, Googlebooks, and Sony.

Yes, those are better readers for ebooks, but this thread is about ibooks, an Apple proprietary format ebook, usually multimedia, with a filename XXX.ibook. They can only be read on iPads, not on any Mac laptops or desktops, and so far no one has posted a get around on this thread other than breaking the book open & reading it file by file, and that barely works. 

It is extremely frustrating, and what I would have thought until now extremely un-Apple-like: you, know,  have all your stuff available on all your devices.  I understand why you can't expect to read an ibook on an iPhone/iPod (scaling, limited computing power), but that you can't read an ibook format book on an MacBookPro or iMac is ridiculous.  Aside from the sheer bloody-mindedness of it, not everyone can afford or even wants to also buy an iPad.  I find it offensive that Apple touts the wonderful educational potential of their ibook format but limits access to it to people who have iPads. Like many people, either for work of school, I need a full computer for work, with me all day long, and I don't want to have to also purchase & carry around an iPad.  Taking books, especially textbooks into eformat is a wonderful thing, it will dramatically increase access to information, and the way the ibook formatted books work is wonderful, but limiting them to iPads - well, I just can't think of a decent reason why Apple would do it.

Well, I don't think that helping the world and the cause of education is the top most priority for Apple. The objective is to keep customers captive and make more money....which is not necessarily a bad thing (particularly for the share holders).

Actually, I would say forcing you to buy multiple devices is not at all un-Apple!

I would say why did Apple not include a forward facing camera on the first iPad? The technology had been out there for a few years.
Answer is that they want you to buy the next iPad.
Same here!.

It is probably time to think outside the Apple! I am for open computing. I was impressed with the fully featured devices MS has come out with.

lizzeymac wrote:

 

this thread is about ibooks, an Apple proprietary format ebook, usually multimedia, with a filename XXX.ibook.

That's not really correct, since this thead started in 2010, long before there were any .ibooks, and the iBooks in the subject line just refers to anything bought in the iBookstore.

But that does not in any way detract from your arguments regarding the .ibooks format.

Time to get the signs out and OCCUPY APPLE. 

My sense is that Apple will do this at the point they merge iOS and OS X.  Until then, they don't want to compromise the delivery of eBooks that take advantage of the upper end of the feature set of eBook production.  That means that this looks like an "unwise" decision near-term when one considers the more typical 'text plus some pictures and tables' found in the majority of books.  But knowing Apple, they have never wanted to push something that 'works' in 85% of the cases and looks crummy in the remainder.

Consider the Kindle.  Yes, there are readers for all sorts of platforms and devices, but only the Kindle Fire renders the high-end eBook specs. correctly — if you are a book producer and produce books that use some of those 'advanced' features, you can compare the results yourself across devices/platforms; you'll see some less-than-desirable on even the other (non-Fire) Kindle devices.

I am not sure whether there is a feature set limitation here.

It should not be rocket science to create an app on OS X that will read an iBook.

Amazon has proved that you could consume an eBook in the Kindle format across mobile and desktop devices (though no one wants to venture into Linux land).

Apple could easily create an iBook app for the OS X, but, then some people with MacBooks would not buy an iPad.

For the same reason, Apple will not make OS X available on a tablet unless Microsoft's move makes a compelling case.

However, once Apple makes a full featured OS available on a tablet or convertible, it will be a Block Buster.

Apple is always behind the curve, but, make a very good product when they do.

FOTE_FriendOfTheEarth wrote:

 

...Amazon has proved that you could consume an eBook in the Kindle format across mobile and desktop devices...

That's not entirely accurate.  In the eBooks that I've produced for Amazon distribution it is fairly easy to see that the rendering on the non-Fire devices is not correct for some of the elements.  The authors are fairly distressed when they see how the presentation appears on those "other" non-Fire Kindle devices/platforms.  (And those books are NOT using the high-end of the eBook spec., by any means!)  The Apple production, OTOH, always renders faithfully on any device that can view it.

However, as I pointed out, that is "good enough" for most books, and thereby Amazon has grabbed a large part of the ereading market — and Apple maintains its stance that "good enough" isn't "good enough"....

okay....so i'm an idiot.  i just downloaded an ibooks to my itunes on my macbook pro only to discover i can't frickin' read it on this device.  As i mentioned in feedback to apple....at the LEAST there could be a warning "this ibook cannot be viewed on this device.  Do you wish to continue with purchase?"  Feel like i just threw $25 away. I realize now when i go back to the screen where i purhased the book in itunes to the left under Requirements it states what it is viewable on - but i just simply bought it assuming since my music, shows, podcast, etc are accessible on all devices certainly books would be too. PO'd!!!!!

ye..that's right..agree with...

@keriah

The Amazon kindle started life as strictly an eReader for text based books, not as a rich content consumption device or as a tablet. The whole technology between the original Kindle and Fire is diferent.

Also, the original Kindle was not meant for moving images (being an eInk display).

So there will be limitations.

Apple iPad started life as a tablet which is really a slim computer with all the processing power and graphics processing capabilities.

So, again, there is no reason they cannot make an iBook readable on an iMac.

But, they do want you to buy an iPad AND an iMac.

So, there you go!

The same thing is with why they did not put a camera on the first iPad. There was no reason why you would not put a camera on the first iPad. But, they wanted you to buy the iPad 2.

Now, things will change in a couple of years in terms of merging of devices.