You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: Ooze2
Ooze2 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Copy out of a book in Apple Books not possible

I just purchased a book for reading on my iPhone on Apple Books and found that I somehow can't copy out of the book. I like to learn languages with buying books in that foreign language and reading them online or on readers where I can copy paste texts which I don't understand yet to Deepl for instance, or look them up with the internal dictionary. Since I bought that book, the copy of that book is a part mine too and I expect that I can do the same like with downloaded PDFs. So what did I do wrong that I can't copy anything in this book of all books and PDFs in my Apple Books App? Is there a setting to switch that on? Thanks for your help.

iPhone 12

Posted on May 2, 2022 6:52 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Ooze2
Ooze2 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Posted on May 2, 2022 8:45 AM

Dear Tom Gewecke


Yes, I see that DRM is in place here and yes I am able to copy from free books. But that I can't copy in bought books is not how digital books work, it's how digital books don't work. And I haven't seen any declaration that the book I bought is DRM-corrupted by Apple. Furthermore there are certain laws that apply in Europe and Switzerland, not only for the Copyright owner, but also for the owner of a copy, that I should be able to use the copy. In a copy of a digital book which I buy, I presumed that I can use that as I can use a free Book or PDF, and learn a language by copy-paste to a translator of my choosing, not just the word by word translation from Apple. Therefore the now bought version of a book values less than a free version. I don't think that the world should work this way, I think this is something wrong.

View in context

Similar questions

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Ooze2
Ooze2 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

May 2, 2022 8:45 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Dear Tom Gewecke


Yes, I see that DRM is in place here and yes I am able to copy from free books. But that I can't copy in bought books is not how digital books work, it's how digital books don't work. And I haven't seen any declaration that the book I bought is DRM-corrupted by Apple. Furthermore there are certain laws that apply in Europe and Switzerland, not only for the Copyright owner, but also for the owner of a copy, that I should be able to use the copy. In a copy of a digital book which I buy, I presumed that I can use that as I can use a free Book or PDF, and learn a language by copy-paste to a translator of my choosing, not just the word by word translation from Apple. Therefore the now bought version of a book values less than a free version. I don't think that the world should work this way, I think this is something wrong.

Reply

Copy out of a book in Apple Books not possible

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up