How do I read iBooks on my Macbook Air

I have a Mac Book.........I just downloaded the last two books - Fifty Shades from ....Google Books. I loved reading the books from my lap top.........

You don't need an ipad or kindle......... I stumbled across it by searching on google on how I could download a book.

I use in the meantime the also great Kobo reader, while waiting (and hoping) desperatly for Apple to launch iBooks for OS X.

Kobo can display all ePubs properly and has also very good ePub 3 support. It is available for all devices - i think even Blackberry 😀 (i am not affiliated with them)

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

I am actually very happy with Kindle (and own the device), and will continue to buy books through it. It just strikes a lot of us as weird that you can read Kindle books on OS X machines, but not books purchased through the dedicated Apple book app.

Anyway, there we are.

I am a public speaker. I often find a need to copy and past a quote or passage into my speech notes. It's tedious to type someone else’s words out. I have a Kindle and find it a clunky (don't want to be to techy here) interface. Flipping between passages in long chapters and finding and idea with the limited search ability of kindle is prohibitive. I would love to use iBook instead of the primitive Kindle approach to comparing multiple passages.

I believe that it is shortsighted for Apple to limit the usability of their products. I would find my work process accelerated and less complicated if Apple let the customer decide how their products will be used instead of imposing limits to the great products made by Apple.

I also find some of the arrogance that has been used in this discussion self-indulgent. There is no reason to try to use a forum like this to proclaim yourself brighter or cleverer than the rest of us. Perhaps you are of higher intellect than most humans. I'm just not elevated enough to comprehend.

I just export mine to a PDF file, its alot more user friendly for a MacBook!

Justinejones123 wrote:

I just export mine to a PDF file

I don't see how that helps someone who wants to read their DRM books purchased from the iBookstore -- you can't export them to another format.

If I use 8 to 15 books, which is not uncommon for a term paper, a research paper or a speech, that's a lot of files to convert to pdf. There needs to be a better way to do this than creating multiple files of the same books on my hard drive. Wouldn't it be great to just search an eBook and have markers and notes in it so that you can find and marked passage to copy into whatever work that you're doing? eBooks should not just be for reading. Present formats make it difficult to use them as serious work tools.

It's a right pain I know! I'm the same, I study 3D so I have to use about 4 different softwares which means I use alot of books that are too thick to carry. To be honest they just want you to buy an iPad, so I'm just trying to make do. I'm close to caving in and selling my MacBook air and swap it for an iPad. This is part of apple's success, they make you need all of their products! :/

I would like my books to sync with my MacBook Air. Seems like a simple request and the people that dont want to do it dont have to.

I thought the iCloud was all your stuff on all your devices?? Guess not.

When I am sitting at a desk I dont want to hold my phone up to read when my MacBook Air's screen is way bigger and stays put with out my arm getting tired...

pohlcat01 wrote:

When I am sitting at a desk I dont want to hold my phone up to read when my MacBook Air's screen is way bigger and stays put with out my arm getting tired...

While waiting for Apple to accomodate your wishes, the fix for this is to get your books elsewhere and use one of the ereader apps for OS X from Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or Googlebooks.

Everyone on this thread needs to post here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks_ios.html

submittd 😉

Apple's success or apple's arrogance. As rettogo said (albeit in an extended form), if you're not meeting a demand, there in lies an opportunity -- for someone else. Apple has become the big (in deed, biggest by value capitalisation!) corporates that they so dispised in the 1980s. No longer are they as nimble as they advertised themselves to be or most responsive because they think they know what's best for the customer. And this will be their undoing... in time.

In the meantime, there are a few workarounds for reading books contained in your ibook library on a Mac. Note these are not for 3D features. http://www.survivalguide4idiots.com/how-to-read-ibooks-on-mac.html

Here is an interesting commentary article stating the bleeding obvious reason for our lament in this thread, and also the loss opportunity that Apple might not be seeing! I'll provide the link later, but the most relevant quote is reproduced below:

" It's simple economics. Apple makes its money from selling hardware (iPhones, iPads and Macs) and it sells software (apps, music, movies) mostly as a way to move hardware. Apple's answer to students with MacBook Airs, of course, is to buy an iPad!"

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/why-ibooks-will-never-come-to-mac-os/12067

Hopefully, in the interest of customer service (OMG!), this appalling state will change. iCloud was suppose to have everything sync and Mountain Lion is suppose to be more iOS driven... so it'd make sense to have iBooks on MacBook Air. Hello, it doesn't make sense that one can author an iBook, but have to get another item to read. This seems a very Microsoft thing to do! :-o

Jason\'s Funsky wrote:

In the meantime, there are a few workarounds for reading books contained in your ibook library on a Mac. Note these are not for 3D features. http://www.survivalguide4idiots.com/how-to-read-ibooks-on-mac.html

That link is just a reference to Calibre and Adobe Digital Editions, neither of which (nor any other app) can read iBooks which have DRM, which is what most people want to do and why these threads exist. There has never been any problem reading iBooks without DRM on a Mac or any other platform

I am just hightlighting some options with those who've downloaded ibooks, without DRM and are not aware of the options to make it readable on their MBAs. Yes, I know the restrictions of iBook and our collective pain, I have aired these many months ago and echo the disappointment (or outrage amongst some) of Apple's short-sighted corporate greed.