Apple issues iBooks for Mac update with bug fixes, stability improvements

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Continuing its rollout of bug fixes for recently-released OS X software, Apple on Thursday issued an iBooks for Mac update to address bugs and boost performance of the e-book reader.

iBooks


With the update, iBooks for Mac hits version 1.0.1 and, according to Apple's release notes, brings unspecified "bug fixes and performance improvements" to the newly-released OS X title. This is the second Mavericks app to be updated today.

Earlier, Apple pushed out an update for Mavericks Mail, which takes care of problems associated with Gmail and custom folders. The company also issued an EFI update addressing keyboard and trackpad freezing issues seen in late-2013 13-inch Retina MacBook Pros.

Apple first brought its iBooks platform to the Mac with OS X 10.9 Mavericks when the operating system launched in October. The software allows users to read e-books purchased through the iBookstore, as well as buy new books directly from their desktop or laptop. Titles are synced across iCloud, and can be automatically pushed to compatbile iOS devices.

The iBooks 1.0.1 update is available now and can be downloaded via Software Update.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    mknoppmknopp Posts: 257member
    I hope that the fixed the nightmare that they made file management. Not only did they move all eBook files to a hidden location onto my hardrive from my external iTunes' library, but they changed all of the eBook file names to gibberish, and didn't even include any way to modify any of the eBook's information like author name.

    iBook for Mac has been one of the biggest disappointments to me that Apple has done recently. I can at least understand why the did things like remove some features for upgraded programs, but this whole thing just smells of vendor lock-in and fear of competition. Well, sorry Apple, but I don't buy all of my eBooks from the iBook store, and I likely never will. And this isn't even touching on eBooks that I am making myself or formatting from the Gutenberg Project.

    So, fix this atrocity that is iBooks' file management.
  • Reply 2 of 30

    Agreed! (kmnopp)

    I was SO glad I had a backup of those iTunes book files after migrating to iBooks OSX.  I use those files on other stuff... not just t sync with iOS devices... the placement I could have lived with, but the gibberish names pissed me off.

    I guess I'll stick with Stanza for reading on the MacBook... (at least for now.)

  • Reply 3 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mknopp View Post



    I hope that the fixed the nightmare that they made file management. Not only did they move all eBook files to a hidden location onto my hardrive from my external iTunes' library, but they changed all of the eBook file names to gibberish, and didn't even include any way to modify any of the eBook's information like author name.



    iBook for Mac has been one of the biggest disappointments to me that Apple has done recently. I can at least understand why the did things like remove some features for upgraded programs, but this whole thing just smells of vendor lock-in and fear of competition. Well, sorry Apple, but I don't buy all of my eBooks from the iBook store, and I likely never will. And this isn't even touching on eBooks that I am making myself or formatting from the Gutenberg Project.



    So, fix this atrocity that is iBooks' file management.

    Same here! Same here!

     

    So disappointed (MAD!!!) when I saw what happened to about 200+ e-books of mine .... most purchased from Apple Store directly.

     

    Like my movies, musics, and etc., I keep my e-books on my NAS drive which get backed up to another NAS. This allows me to access them using my iPad, iPhone, as well as my other MACs without having to keep one computer up & running ...

     

    But after this iBook....OMG!

     

    Anyways ... I am also happy that I had backups and restored them the way they should be!

     

    Here's hopping this update actually fixes that file management!

     

    UPDATE: Same shit! It doesn't even tell where the books are when downloading but certainly NOT the same place you tell iBooks! Grrr.....

  • Reply 4 of 30
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member

    Strange, all the ebooks Ive downloaded previously are still in the same place, as opposed to the other posters here. 

  • Reply 5 of 30
    enzosenzos Posts: 344member

    It moves (in my case, having requested permission) books out of the old iTunes books file folder location. If you have them elsewhere it copies them to a folder in the ~/Library/etc. and assigns code names in the finder instead of book titles.

     

    At present it is a reader only; you can't even change metadata (as you could within iTunes), presumably, to avoid 'version clashes' across devices and iBook Store. 

     

    I've found it an excellent reader so far (having reached 450 pages into The Luminaries and re-arranged my books into Collections) but only within spartan limitations and I'm guessing Apple will add some basic user functionality at some stage. 

     

    Seemingly, 1.01 fixed a no-show in displaying the books library at start up (on my set-up).

  • Reply 6 of 30

    Frankly, I'm tired that Apple is now acting as Microsoft does. Updates are incomplete or only partial updates. It is most annoying when there is a new iteration of OS X and we have to wait so long for what we already have come to expect. I for one don't think we should put up with such shoddy treatment from a company we rely on for the first and best that computing has to offer.

  • Reply 7 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by chaoshavoc View Post

     

    Frankly, I'm tired that Apple is now acting as Microsoft does. Updates are incomplete or only partial updates. It is most annoying when there is a new iteration of OS X and we have to wait so long for what we already have come to expect. I for one don't think we should put up with such shoddy treatment from a company we rely on for the first and best that computing has to offer.


     

    Frankly, I'm tired of whining craps bitching about software they didn't buy.

  • Reply 8 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post

     

     

    Frankly, I'm tired of whining craps bitching about software they didn't buy.


    If you bought a Mac, then you did BUY this software ... Apple's accounting methods support that statement.

  • Reply 9 of 30
    1. Enter your Apple ID password in iBooks.app incorrectly and you’ll get the spinning wheel…forever; there’s no feedback
    2. iBooks / category / Biography: doesn’t list Walter Isaacsons’ Steve Jobs while other titles are in their correct categories.
    3. iBooks; can’t rename pdf’s or any other meta data. Not even the ones you created yourself. Need to export / modify / import them.
    4. All books are stored in ~/Library/Containers/com.Apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books and this is mandatory. I used to have my iTunes Media folder on HDD, now all books reside on SSD as I have my home folder on SSD but don’t want or need to have my books on SSD.

    So yeah, I agree with others here. Don't know why [B]Slupy's[/B] books are still in the same place. Have you opened iTunes after upgrading, and when selecting Books in the upper left hand of iTunes didn't you get the popup dying Books have moved, removing the category from iTunes (and its prefs)?

    https://discussions.apple.com/community/ibooks/ibooks_for_mac
    Top entry at this moment? "Re: Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!"
  • Reply 10 of 30
    enzosenzos Posts: 344member

    Don't know why Slupy's books are still in the same place <

     

    Because, presumably, they're not in the iTunes books folder. If you dump a folder-full of ebooks onto the iBooks alias it COPIES the books into the Library folder whereas it MOVES books from iTunes into iBooks. I can still use Calibre or whatever to change the metadata, etc. then reload into iBooks. 

     

    Mostly I read on an iPad mini or iPod touch so I'm very happy to have even a barebones synchronised ebook-reader on the desktop as well. 

  • Reply 11 of 30
    Frankly, I'm tired of whining craps bitching about software they didn't buy.

    And I did buy my iPad which is now useless as an ebook reader since my book library has vanished and only a few random books are available to sync to it. Apple needs to start doing a much better job of documenting what issues these updates address. I'm growing tired of blindly applying patches in the hopes that they may address the issues I'm having.
  • Reply 12 of 30
    Originally Posted by chaoshavoc View Post

    [post]

     

    Shut up and go away, you useless troll.

     

    Originally Posted by Eric Swinson View Post

    And I did buy my iPad which is now useless as an ebook reader since my book library has vanished and only a few random books are available to sync to it. 

     

    Well, given that my first-gen iPad running iOS 5 manages to sync perfectly, I tend not to believe this.

     

    I'm growing tired of blindly applying patches in the hopes that they may address the issues I'm having. 


     

    So then don’t blindly apply them. Read what they do first.

  • Reply 13 of 30
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    I can u dear stand why you are happy with a bare bones e reader if you mostly use the iPad for reading, Enzo. But I would have thought that the reason for a desktop version is more powerful ebook management, including editing metadata. It should also be not seen to enforce lockin, which is just wrong.
  • Reply 14 of 30

    I have been having Bluetooth connectivity issues with my Touch pad and my Logitech DeNovo  keyboard with my iMac after updating to Mavericks.  Any program launched can be working fine and then if I click outside the window or close the program the touch pad and the keyboard temporarily looses connection via Bluetooth. If I press the power button on the touch pad it generically reconnects or twiddle the touch pad on the keyboard it will reconnect. If I wait about a minute both will automatically reconnect. 

    I'm also having issues with Safari in that websites can suddenly slow way down or Safari will freeze.  Sometimes if I wait things return to normal as far as being able to do anything and other times I've had to press and hold the power button to restart.

    I also have a Mac mini that was updated to Mavericks and it too has issues with Safari bogging down or freezing. It uses the Apple Magic mouse and Bluetooth keyboard but it doesn't have any Bluetooth connection issues.

    Essentially there appears to be some sort of IO issue with the Bluetooth and possibly with internet connection where connections are momentarily lost or lock up the system.

  • Reply 15 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    Well, given that my first-gen iPad running iOS 5 manages to sync perfectly, I tend not to believe this.

     

    So then don’t blindly apply them. Read what they do first.


     

     

    His problem wasn't with syncing ... it was that the transition from iTunes to iBooks lost his "books" (or so I understood it.)

     

    As for reading what the new stuff does ... NOWHERE did Apple tell us that iBooks would completely re-name files (to gibberish) and strip any meta-data that we had added to non-iBooks-store material that we had in our iTunes Books library.

     

    iBooks works fine as a reader for iTunes-purchased books... but it really is half-assed as a replacement for iTunes sorting/organizing/syncing of eBooks of ALL types.

  • Reply 16 of 30
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post

    NOWHERE did Apple tell us that iBooks would completely re-name files (to gibberish)




    And why would they? Apple's goal is that you never see the filesystem again, after all.

     

    ...it really is half-assed as a replacement for iTunes sorting/organizing/syncing of eBooks of ALL types. 


     

    Thus far? I totally buy that. No "Get Info" option (not even a "mark as read" option) is LUDICROUS.

  • Reply 17 of 30
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    Ludicrous indeed.

    Found another bug: File/Import Books from iTunes gives me a progress bar with...'moving 43 books', fishing with "All books have been moved from iTunes to iBooks." But all my books were already imported to iBooks after upgrading to 10.9. You can even repeat that import; it'll keep on saying it imported your books...while there aren't any books in iTunes anymore. QA on holiday over there?

    Besides, what good is iBooks if it only displays your books but you can't do anything with them except for categorising them and only have them open in Preview? I can do that myself, thank you very much.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    Ibooks is seriously one hot mess. How long have they had to work on this? Welcome to the new maps.
  • Reply 19 of 30
    Originally Posted by AppleinsiderFrm View Post

    Welcome to the new maps.

     

    In that it will soon become the new standard of quality in its software field? Good.

  • Reply 20 of 30
    In that it will soon become the new standard of quality in its software field? Good.
    More like they will working on it until the end of time to get it half way right.
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