How can I read my iBooks on my PC?

Actually, it is possible. I don't have an iPad, iPod touch or iPhone, so I found out a way to open them on my pc. If you have WinRar, then just open the .epub file with WinRar and find the file for each chapter. The chapters should open with your web browser, but if not extract and open with whatever browser you use. However, not all iBooks are packed the same way or with the same type of files, so not all work. Hope this helps even if it's been two years since you posted the question and you've probably got an Apple device that works with iBooks already. 🙂

ryukluvsapples wrote:

then just open the .epub file with WinRar and find the file for each chapter. The chapters should open with your web browser

This method is useless with any book that has DRM, which is what most people want to read and why these threads exist. For .epubs without DRM, there has never been any problem reading them on a PC or anywhere else with normal ereader apps without going through the process you suggest.

Please clarify. Seems the discussion is about reading books from Apple store, but they are .ibooks format, NOT .epub. Or I am missing smth.? As to magicscroll - it does not work with free books without protection.

So, what about format? Seems users use them interchangebly 😕

vladimi1984r wrote:

So, what about format? Seems users use them interchangebly 😕

This thread is now 2 years old. When it began, there was no .ibooks format, only .epub, so the original question could only refer to the latter. Since early 2012 the iBookstore contains both types. .ibooks format can only be read on an iPad, regardless of DRM. .epub format can only be read on an iOS device if it has DRM, but on any device if there is no DRM.

Whether there is DRM is up to the publisher. Some, like O'Reilly, don't use it. Also free books usually lack DRM.

SRR1962 wrote:

This is not a new thing. For years we have bought items that were not useable on other formats or devices. Think back to when CDs replaced vinyl albums. If you wanted to listen to an old album on a CD player, but you only had it in vinyl, then you had to purchase the album again on CD ... or cassette ... or 8-track. Apple is really just doing the same thing ... they have a device that plays/views items on that device in a specific format. If you want to switch to a different format then you need another device.

Umm, no, this is different. You could play that vinyl on record players made by any number of manufacturers. You could do the same thing with the CD and if you wanted to sell the vinyl to fund your new CD collection, you could. Say you want to stay with iBooks, but move to a device made by Samsung, even if the device can read the same format, the protection will block it. So, it would be like if you bought vinyl for your RCA record player, then got a new Pioneer and had to trash your old vinyl (can't resell it anyway) and buy new vinyl for that player. See the difference yet?

Vinyl is the format ... just like ibooks is the format. You can't play the format on a device that doesn't support the format. Just like I can't play my vinyl on my CD player ... I had to buy some albums that I had on vinyl so that I could have them in a clearer format on CD. Way back I also had 8-tracks which was a format that didn't last very long, and was low quality ... so I ultimately bought the same album (the good ones anyway) on vinyl later on when the inconvenience of 8tracks (mostly just in cars) got in the way.

Vinyl is also making a comeback now ... not sure why ... nostalgia I guess ... but there was a period in the first decade of this millenium where you couldn't buy a turntable because nobody was selling them anymore ... and vinyl was scarce. You had to buy Cds and CD players.

ibooks is the "8 Track" of this generation. People realize after awhile that the flexibilityisn't there so moving to a more flexible format is a better idea. I haven't bought an ibook in over a year because I can read Kindle books on just about anything.

This is the same problem but just in a different warpper. Sorry you refuse to see that ... you would rather be contrary.

I had more in my original post that you replied to but apparently it was editted by the Moderator. I posted a solution that has solved this problem for me ... but apparently the Mods don't want me to share it.

You can't cram vinyl into a CD player, it's a physical impossibility. Also, they are both standards used by many people. What you are missing is, most of these digital formats can be used on any tablet or computer. They just won't let you. RCA did not key their records to only play on their players and then litigate anyone who try to be compatible (look up when Real tried make Apple music play on their devices). The difference here is DRM which is causing vendor lock in. The ibook,epub, AAC, mp3, mobi, mp4, you name it, all of these will play on any recent hardware IF they are not encrypted and locked by the publisher. Sadly, they often are. It's vendor lockin, it's anti-competitive, it's bad for consumers and you can't post solutions because in the US laws have been passed under the supervision of large copyright lobbies to make any recourse illegal. So, no, it's not an 8 track. If it was, it would be an absolute impossibility (physically and electrically) for my devices to display the format, not simply Apple (or whoever you want to say is pulling the strings here) choosing to stop me. If you want proof, look at your own "solution", if someone can get an iBook onto a Kindle without printing it and scanning it, that proves my point. Try making that record work in your 8track player without re-recording it, I think you will find that much more interesting. I am not just trying to be contrary, I just think many people can be fooled by your flawed analogy and not see how truly messed up and unnecessary these incompatible formats files are (the formats are acutally compatible in and of themselves). Unless you consider "necessary" to always mean bottom line at the expense of your customers, then, I guess it's just fine.

Also, let's not forget that you always owned the vinyl and could resell it. If you still had it, you could sell it for a premium to those collectors you mentioned, you can't resell your iBooks and if Apple stops supporting them, they stop working. Plenty of other services like this have shut down, and the (for example) music people spent all that money on, just stopped working because they could no longer talk to the authorization server. This is in sharp contrast to your records which will only die from damage and not because someone went out of business, or lost the right to publish something.

By that logic, I shouldn't be able to listen to my music store AAC files from the Apple Store when the internet is not connected. That is not the case. In fact numerous iPods have no internet connection capability, and are able to listen to store bought music. Granted it is up to you to maintain the battery and whatever necessary charger indefinitely, but it is not as bad as some places where authentication server does matter. Has anyone tried to read an iBook without internet connection and not been able to open it?

Two issues, one most of these authorization schemes only require you to reauthorize every so often or when you reinstall / move to a new machine / device. Otherwise it is "always on" like the new Sim City or Diablo III. So, it would not die instantly, but by timer or just the need to replace your hardware. Also, much of the iTunes music store is now DRM free! Yay! Thank Amazon for that, to an extent. Apple had a complete stranglehold on the legal music sales thanks to their DRM and since they sold the vast majority of the players, the only way anyone else could compete was to do with without DRM so it could play anywhere. Apple then had to follow suit so they would not lose too much market share. They claimed it was a win for consumers (which is true) and they were happy to help (which is false). If Apple hated DRM so much, the Books, TV shows and Movies would not have it. They only hate it when it works against them, not you. Also, I'm not hating on Apple here, Amazon has DRM free music too, while everything else is restricted.

In the meantime, I read that Apple is going to be oh so kind and allow you to read your iBooks on your Macs with 10.9. My reaction was, "wait, you can't already?" and "oh, gee thanks". I have not purchased almost any ebooks because I use many systems and I don't want to be stuck with one vendor. So, I only buy ones with out DRM (like from O'reilly) and then stick to paperbacks for novels.

theholyduck wrote:

i just bought one book from this iTunes stores...

i rly regret it now it works on ... NOTHING....

Every purchase page tells you the devices required for a book to work. If you have one of those and it does not work, you should use the Report a Problem link on your receipt. If you failed to read the Requirements section and don't have the required device, you can still use that link to explain your error and try to ask for a refund.

What I tried and worked (no DRM files though) :

Rename the ibook by changing the extension from .ibooks into .epub .

Import the file in calibre. Concvert the file in calibre from .epub to .epub ;

This worked for me

Good luck

The non compatible music media format analogy fails for this reason.

Cassettes replaced vinyl in the late 70's and 80's. But there was no DRM garbage so you could use stereo systems with turn tables and cassette recorders and transfer the music you paid for onto a medium you could use.

When CDs replaced cassettes in the late 80's and 90's a similar solution wasn't available yet... but by the late 90's PCs were ubiquitous, and CD burners were affordable. So all it took to transfer your old music from tape or vinyl to CD was an audio patch cable and a little ingenuity.

If you still had 8-tracks and an 8-track player lying around, you could even recover those old tunes.

And now that MP3s have more or less made CD's obsolete, ripping a CD to MP3 has never been easier. You can even do that in iTunes. And they finally learned their lesson in that medium that DRM is crap and stopped crippling their music with it.

Bottom line, if they don't fix the problem by removing the DRM or at least making readers for Macs (I'm a PC Linux guy but could at least accept it knowing Apple if it were available on a Mac)... well the open source community will fix it for them, though granted it might take awhile.

Unfortunately, by the time the modern-day 8-track can be transferred to a usable format, there may not be many around still using the old one to care.

Just like every other media that has come along there was always a delay in which a device or method came along that allowed you to copy it or convert it to another format. We are in that delay now. I've already solved the problem for myself but when I post the method it gets deleted by the admins.

If you want help stop jumping down the throats of people who are trying to help. Since you can't download I-Books for the PC its pretty silly to buy materials for it and just assume it will work. I-Books clearly says its only available for i-pad and i-phone on the app. Stop stressing the price of the book you want to read. No one cares that the book was $40. Next time go buy it in a store if you're going to complain so much. www.amazon.com is a wonderful tool you should beocme acquainted with.

To everyone saying apple is just out to make money, please name me a SINGLE company who is not in the business of making money. Its how the world work and clearly you use their products anyways so just get over it 🙂

Thanks and have a great day.

LasseMartinell wrote:

I can read iBooks on my iMac 27, 3 year old. Download iBook reader from AppStore.

Because you are running OS X 10.9 (Mavericks). The iBook application finally came to OS X with the release of Mavericks. It is not available as a separate download in the Mac App Store however - it is part of a default installation of OS X Mavericks.