New iBooks app nearly useless
So I was really looking forward to the new, dedicated iBooks app in Mavericks as a better way to organize my collection of epub and pdf books. Installed the new OS, fired it up and found that I can't do the most simple annotation like changing the category that a book is under.
Go to list view and try to edit anything and your SOL. Ctrl click on a something to edit and you are only given the option of changing the collection. Try to edit meta data by command+ I and bubkiss.
It fails in nearly every expectation you have in an iApp.
At this point I'm hoping someone can tell me how to edit the metadata using some third party app so that I can trick ibooks into organizing the books the way I want.
Comments
It’s called drag and drop, yeah?
The implication is that you’re not getting them from anywhere that isn’t the iBooks Store.
At this point I'm hoping someone can tell me how to edit the metadata using some third party app so that I can trick ibooks into organizing the books the way I want.
Yeah, just do it all in iTunes before you port them over.
I figure this will be one of the first updates pushed for Mavericks.
It’s called drag and drop, yeah?
Yeah, even that doesn't work. I select the categories tab then try and drag a book icon from one category to another and its a no-go.
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The implication is that you’re not getting them from anywhere that isn’t the iBooks Store.
You lost me here a bit. If I get your meaning, yes I did not get them from the iBooks store (these are mostly pdfs and public domain epubs). I'd bet that the ones purchased from iBooks store are probably correctly annotated from the start, but it would be bizarre if only purchased books were permitted to be moved into different categories.
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Yeah, just do it all in iTunes before you port them over.
I wish I had known that before the update as I see no way to do it now (Books are completely gone from iTunes, post Mavericks update). Even at that, I'm not even sure iBooks preserved edits I had made in iTunes (a lot of titles seem to have lost meta data edits I had made before).
Can't be sure, though, as I wasn't expecting a problem so I didn't bother to survey my book annotations before the port. Maybe if others are alerted to the problem they will watch for it.
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I figure this will be one of the first updates pushed for Mavericks.
Damn straight. I get the feeling that Apple is forgetting why iTunes was a success in the first place. It wasn't because it allowed people to purchase music easily. It was because it gave us a great way to organize the music we already had AND to purchase new music easily.
The iBooks app needs to follow the same model by making it easy for people to organize and use the books they already have from a multitude of sources before I'm going to feel comfortable buying a lot of books on it.
I use Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) for all my epub, mobi, and pdf use. You can edit all the metadata, I would assume that if you edit the metadata with it and then import the item into iBooks it would use the correct data.
I use Calibre .... You can edit all the metadata, I would assume that if you edit the metadata with it and then import the item into iBooks it would use the correct data.
It does ...