Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!

Absolutely!

I need to have ability to control the location of my iBook library. This release is a disaster! One step forward, five steps back... How come this was not addressed during beta testing??? I have a hard time believing that none of the developers noticed this and did not raise objections... 😠

Agree entirely. the loss of editing book information as well as having the ability to control how books get sorted using sorting fields (so that we can sort by author last name instead of first) is crucial. It's a big enough issue for me that i'm delaying installing Mavericks as a result.

This is exactly right, unfortunately I didn't realize until I installled Maverick. I was hoping for something better than Adobe Digital which doesn't allow any correction or adding of info either.

I am now reverting back to Mountain Lion. This is a disaster and a shame. How does this slip Apple is beyond me.

exactly the same for me. This is the worst ever released application from Apple IMHO.

All my well kept and organised books and pdf's are now in disorder. Lost their category settings, their author setting and on top of all can't be edited in iBooks anymore and any further. No chance to edit wrong typings and to fill missing information (eg. authors, categories, ...).

I used to organise my papers (mostly PDF's) in iTunes like a document manager, the way I needed them on my various iOS devices and used them for work. I had groupings for my books like computing - networks, computing - guides, computing - iOS, computing - scripting, etc. .... now all is gone and lost. How am I supposed to organise over 1300 papers without any editing possibility (only sections can be assigned, no categories can be, neither can any information be edited/changed/corrected?

And on top of that all: HOW DO I BACKUP / RESTORE MY BOOKS from now on?

The books and PDF's are moved from the iTunes Library, where they were accessible and editable and where I could backup my whole media library on external NAS and storage. How will I get back my books/PDFs in the future if I setup my Mac Pro again from scratch or in case of a disaster (eg. failing disk)? Am I forced to use TimeMachine here?

There is no way to define by myselfs the place where the iBooks are stored on my system. No, they are all moved to some well hidden place into the users-library filling up my (until iBooks/Mavericks) system only SSD hard drive with hidden books. Is this the new strategy of Apple to try to make me under-age?

No editing, very limited organizing, no possibilty to define it's own storage-location, no backup/restore (no export/archive like in most other application like calender, addressbook, mail, etc. ....) what the **** is that?

I like most of Mavericks new additions but this here with iBooks is a mess and complete drawback for a user that liked to read his books on his iOS devices and was well organized.

And to be honest, I seriously consider to migrate back to OS X Mountain Lion just because of this ridiculous implementation of iBooks!

What a nuisance to have to revert, but I may be there also. I had finally figured out how to get my books organized in iTunes and get the authors to show as well as categories.

Organizing pdf's is doubly hard when the authors are still writing for windows formats with all the underscores, lower case and don't include their names in the "get info". Now Apple is loosing it "ituitive processes" or at least common sense for going forward.

It is a shame that Apple equates "keeping up with the competition" with stepping back or over to less polished, intuitive and organized applications.

The "Mavericks" title had me excited, something really to look forward to and it was a big let down.

Detroit_Soul wrote:

Absolutely!

I need to have ability to control the location of my iBook library. This release is a disaster! One step forward, five steps back... How come this was not addressed during beta testing??? I have a hard time believing that none of the developers noticed this and did not raise objections... 😠

I have the same question. I searched for any issues online before upgrading and people who had supposedly beta-tested Mavericks didn't mention any significant issues and only gave Mavericks glowing reviews. I should have known enough to wait a few days 😟. I upgraded because I trusted Apple and in over 15 years of using Apple products never had a serious issue. Very disppointed. I don't believe Steve Jobs would have let something like this through.

I was lucky, or perhaps forewarned so I installed Mavericks on an external disk which I then erased. The disaster that was (still is to some degree) iTunes 11 had me wasting hours in trying to find and use a way to go back to 10.7. Then came the horror that is iOS7, and I'm not talking functionality here because I was forewarned and never installed the **** thing (having friends and family who have been screaming **** after they were misled to install and regret it bitterly. I should mention that I have an iPhone running iOS6, an iPad 3 running iOS6 and I bought an iPad mini the day before iOS7 was released so I could avoid having iOS7 pre-installed.). I was hoping I could upgrade my Macbook and Macbook Pro to Mavericks but I will not do it because of the iBooks fiasko. I also have over 3500 books and articles in need of taging. I wonder if anybody at Apple ever read a book anymore. I don't suppose they are illiterate, probably they are too busy listening to iTunes radio and playing with the photos of their cute kids in iPhoto. I suddenly came to realise that Apple is catering only to teenagers and don't want customers like me. It is very sad but I suspect I won't be buying any more hardware from the once great company. I wish I would never had to say this after enjoying Apple's products for over 26 years. And the **** thing is I cannot find any good enough alternative either. Oh, how I miss Steve...

It is absolute fiasco indeed kiripap.

It's no wonder I'm still on a 2007 MacBook Pro (which came standard with a matte screen). The 2008 Apple Cinema Display in the still matte screen and a 2010 Mac Pro. It's a bit off topic, but it's true that it's like waking up in a nightmare. iOS 7 and the disaster that is their Music app (though music is what arguably got apple to a large part where they are today) took a HUGE step back in terms of fucntionality. Mavericks and the disaster of iBooks. The different looks of iOS 7 and Mavericks, the icons are all over the place, I wish I could find a way to revert to iOS 6 on my iPad and iPhone. No, there are no better alternatives than Apple out there. Hopefully my hardware will be able to last a bit longer for them to get their act together. But it's unbelievable how in the matter of a couple of months since iOS 7 and Mavericks, they have added a bunch of problems for me to solve rather than making my life easier.

it is a shame. We all miss you Steve.

I just figured out a way to get iTunes back to managing my books and pdfs.

1.) Kill the bookstoreagent service using the Activity Monitor.

2.) Delete the file for that service: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CommerceKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/bo okstoreagent

3.) Use AppCleaner to get rid of iBooks.

Problem solved!

You sir are a genius if this works!

I look forward to giving this a try.

It works. Just make sure to copy that buried away iBooks directory somewhere safe, then add them all back into iTunes. All the metadata is still there. Then use the iTunes Library Manager to copy everything back into the iTunes library, and presto, things are just like they were.

I wish I'd checked here before upgrading to Mavericks. I have a Mac Mini attached to a Drobo, and it's sole purpose is to feed my ATV's, and store all my books. I liked the idea of iBooks, right up until the point it moved everything off my Drobo, renamed all my books, and hid them away.

UPDATE: You have to restart iTunes for it to work. Apologies Kevin, your technique DOES WORK.

Kevin,

I tried your technique, but nothing changes in iTunes. In other words iTunes itself still has no "Books" pane to see and manage your books, they now show up in the "Music" pane with your songs.

Killing the iBooks bookstoreagent process and deleting iBooks didn't change how iTunes deals with books.

@Kevin - That worked a treat, thank you. Had to restart iTunes to get the Books tab back, and not all the books were copied ( it seemed to pick up the old location under ~/Library, even though I'd duplicated that folder under ~/Downloads ), but I've now got everything back where it should be.

It's at times like this that I can't wait for publishers to realise that DRM doesn't work, and release books un-encumbered.