How can I read my iBooks on my PC?

I'm surprised this still hasn't been resolved officially.

Today I can only read iBooks on Apple devices, while competitors like Google Play Books and Amazon's Kindle have apps available for most platforms and also web based readers.

I'm not asking for a dedicated Windows/Android app but is it to much to ask just having the ability to log into iCloud on my browser and read these books?

Purchase 5 books from iBooks and can't view them on any other device then an Apple Product. Don't make my mistake in buying books from iBooks. Just getting it from an open source location and save yourself a headache.

Not suprising- downright silly. I am not a big reader- but decided to buy a few books for my iPad. Couldn't find them in the iBookstore- but no problem with Amazon. At least I can access them on any decice that the Kindle reader can run on- how silly that Apple is hampering their own success. Why can't they at least allow it through iTunes- everything else goes through it. Just silly!

So to be clear they remove the 'store' option from all of their competitors but not their own app. And, unlike the competition, they are the only major ebook retailer to NOT have a Mac or PC option to read from. Sorry this is not 'silly' it is downright pathetic or short-sighted. Seems to serve their own needs and not address those of all their loyal customers.

xdamm wrote:

is it to much to ask just having the ability to log into iCloud on my browser and read these books?

Certainly not. After 7 years, an Android / Windows app is not even too much. Let Apple know via

http://www.apple.com/feedback

I purchased an ibook and found photo's in my ibook didn't always show up correctly on my iphone 4. As much as i love the convenience of taking my iphone everwhere, I would not buy another ibook that can be purchased on paper + having not to squint at smaller display. So What ,ibook doesn't work on PC. Just do what I'm doing. Don't support this stuff .You bought it and don't like restriction's, Lesson learned .Apple needs to do oh so much better and as a 1 ibook purchaser, I'm sorry , won't be buying off you again as well as recommending friends do the same .Guess what. Same book purchased thorugh knidle that can be read on iphone app and PC. go figure

Thanks for the good info Tom. I'm rather annoyed with myself for assuming there would be an ibooks reader, of some sort, on my pc. I've recently paid for several ibooks, each in the $25-$40 range, and can now only read them on my iphone or wife's ipad. It's so disappointing that, when I travel, I am unable to access these books on my laptop.

Caveat Emptor!

hmmmm I wonder why it doesn't work for you, 🙂

here is a screenshot of mine

can you send/email me some books that you've purchased on iBooks?

I'll try if I could open it on firefox.

and oh, I'm sure apple DRMed their books even if it's free, you know apple.

Those were app Developer's books by the way.

Cheers.!

Thanks it worked like a charm not sure if something changed recently but it worked for me. I left my IPad at work and this saved the day. But, lesson learned all future ebooks will come from other sources. THANKS

Alright I'm back and have discovered a new way of reading ebooks downloaded off of itunes on a PC.

First check that you have Google Chrome.

Next go to the web store.

Type in the Search bar "magicscroll ebook reader" without Quotes.

Install the extention.

Then open the app and follow the prompts.

It is as easy as that and this app unlike my previous answer is of higher quality and displays the book in book form along with other advntages like automatic scrolling and even a table of contents.

Once Again Good Luck and Happy Reading!

connor48 wrote:

have discovered a new way of reading ebooks downloaded off of itunes on a PC.

Most people ask this question because they want to read best-sellers and other paid-for books from the iBookstore. Your addon will NOT let them do that, it will only work for free books (or those from the very few publishers which do not use DRM).

It is important not to mislead people about this, because your advice could make them spend money on iBooks when to read them on their PC they must in fact buy them elsewhere.

When you buy an iBook in iTunes, right there just below the purchase button are the requirements (screen shot from iTunes 11.0.1):

Nothing is hidden or obscured. You may not like it, and it may not make sense why there are no computer iBook reader apps, but Apple is quite up front about the limitations of the ebook you are buying.

BarryWalraven wrote:

Why can't I view this book on my iphone?

Text books produced with the iBooks Author app can only be read on an iPad or a Mac running OS 10.9. It tells you this in the Requirements section of the purchase page, so that you can avoid downloading things you cannot actually use. To ask Apple to make such books available on an iPhone, use

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Andrew Blanche wrote:

I have 30+ purchased ibooks NOT free books and I have added them to a library in my firefox browser!

That's great that all your books were epub format and happen to be from publishers that do not use DRM!

But many books in the iBookstore are multi-touch interactive books in the .ibooks format, which cannot be opened with Firefox. And most best seller .epub books are from major publishers which do use DRM. In that case you will get this message from Firefox:

To avoid possibly paying for something they cannot use, people who want to read .epub books from the best seller lists on a PC should buy them from another bookstore, like Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google, Sony. (Books in the .ibooks format can only be read on an Mac or an iPad.)

Check out the following page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4059

Please note that under "What are the requirements to use iBooks?", it states that iBooks uses the ePub format. Knowing this, I used a Firefox Add-In that reads ePub and read the free public domain stuff I downloaded (I guess "purchased" is the better word) on the iPhone 4. I found all of my iTunes files in my user folder, under My Music, iTunes, iTunes Media. I did a drag-n-drop onto a new tab I opened in Firefox and it opened perfectly fine and everything rendered properly...so I'm thinking that maybe Apple's DRM is supported by a freeware ePub reader?

Just sayin...