Am I missing something or is there really no way to read ebooks in iTunes?

[lokiju]

Am I missing something or is there really no way to read eBooks in iTunes even though you can purchase and manage your collection in iTunes?

I have a epub book I've added to iTunes and it shwos the thumbnail of it, all the author info, etc.

I could sync it with my iPad but cannot find a way to actually just open and read it within iTunes.

Am I blind and missing something simple?

I was really hoping to get my ebook collection added to iTunes so I could access the books via home sharing from my iPad like I am for all my audio and video files.

So far I cannot find a way to "see" the book from my iPad like I can the other media and I also cannot find a way to open/read the ebook on my Mac or from iTunes.

 

[Redfraggle]

iTunes is an audio/visual program, and not meant for ereading. You'll have to copy the file to your ipad/iphone and use iBooks as far as I know. You can also download this Kindle app for macs and read it that way if it's a compatible format.

 

[mcmilljb]

Try this if you have FF - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/epubreader/

 

[Kaido]

Am I blind and missing something simple?

Wow...this seems like a huge oversight. I read Kindle books all the time on my laptop (mainly technical manuals). Currently Amazon's Kindle is my bookstore of choice, because I can read it on my computer, my iPad, my iPhone, and my Kindle. Seems like a lot, but it really depends on the context...if I'm stuck somewhere waiting in line or something, I can whip out my iPhone and read something, or if I have a break at work, I can pull it up on my laptop. I had no idea you couldn't read iBooks in iTunes...that's kinda nuts lol. Best answer I've found so far is here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2452731

You can read iBooks on your Mac!

1. Install Adobe Digital Editions http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/ - or Stanza http://www.lexcycle.com/ - on your Mac.

2. Unfortunately in iTunes you cannot double-click your iBook. Ctrl-click your iBook and Show in Finder instead.

3. Double-click there. Digital Editions or Stanza opens ...

Although I don't know if iBook's DRM-protected books will actually open in those or not...

 

[Redfraggle]

I don't think it's an oversight at all actually. I think it's Apple trying not to make their products redundant by having them all do exactly the same things.

 

[gorcorps]

You need ibooks to read those, which I believe is still mac only. Unless you mean an ebook not purchased on itunes... in which case you can use any ereader you want. There's tons of good ones.

 

[Kaido]

I don't think it's an oversight at all actually. I think it's Apple trying not to make their products redundant by having them all do exactly the same things.

That doesn't make any sense. I use my Kindle on my laptop, as well as my Kindle reading device. If I'm studying at my desk, it's way easier to pop open my textbook in the Kindle computer app and open Microsoft Word next to it to take notes, than to hold up my Kindle next to the screen and then take notes on the computer.

Plus, iTunes plays music, audiobooks, and movies. It doesn't do PDF's natively (like for podcast shownotes), but it does launch PDF's in Preview from within iTunes. They should really add a built-in iBooks viewer into iTunes, or at least add it as a separate app.

 

[Paperlantern]

I dont understand where thinking a program called iTUNES... TUNES... would, or even SHOULD be expected to be an ebook reader. I think even consuming movies on a program called iTunes is a bit much. I never use it for that.

 

[Tyranicus]

I dont understand where thinking a program called iTUNES... TUNES... would, or even SHOULD be expected to be an ebook reader. I think even consuming movies on a program called iTunes is a bit much. I never use it for that.

If iTunes won't work for reading iBooks, then there should be a separate iBooks app for OS X. There should absolutely be a way to read iBooks in OS X.

 

[Anteaus]

Calibre