Comments on: The Apple iPad and ePub Books

By: The “e” in ePub Does Not Stand for Easy - CogDogBlog

The “e” in ePub Does Not Stand for Easy - CogDogBlog — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:00:15 +0000

[...] I’ve been pondering how to make our NMC publications available in an ebook format. With the push of an iThing it looked like ePub was the format to aim for. It is after all, a standard (or is it a [...]

By: Rob Poole

Rob Poole — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:36:24 +0000

In response to Precia Carraway, there are copious examples on the web for creating content in EPUB format and publishing it onto an iPad.

Here is a YouTube video showing how to generate content in Adobe InDesign CS5 and publish it as an EPUB book onto an iPad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS6mZaksmIs

Note from the comments on the video that it appears Apple’s implementation of EPUB is lacking in some areas.

If you’re trying to install an EPUB-format e-book on the iPad using iTunes, and iTunes is crashing using either Add Media or drag-and-drop, then I would strongly recommend checking how you’re generating the EPUB file (you never say what software you’re using to create the e-book) and maybe trying alternate software. If that doesn’t help, then maybe consider testing that file against another user’s iTunes installation. It may be that Apple’s EPUB support is broken enough, or far enough from the specification, that the software crashes when trying to read your particular EPUB file.

By: Michael Campbell

Michael Campbell — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:05:45 +0000

If your home-made ePub is crashing your iTunes, likely your ePub has validation errors. You can test it free at http://www.threepress.org to find what those errors might be.

I create ePub books for self-published authors and they all pass easily into iTunes and iBooks.

To my surprise, ePubs exported from InDesign need tweaking before they pass ePubCheck validation. An invalid file will not be accepted by Apple for iBook distribution.

I’m happy to help if anyone needs it.

By: Precia Carraway

Precia Carraway — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:59:40 +0000

Still crashing iTunes when drag-drop in the Books list

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:23:50 +0000

You can also simply drag-and-drop an ePub book into the Books list.

By: Precia Carraway

Precia Carraway — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:16:59 +0000

If one creates an epub formated document to test/read a book of one’s own creation on an iPad and tries to move it with iTunes to the iPad this crashes iTunes on the host computer. If one tries to pass the epub document to Pages on the iPad then Pages does count the document in the My Documents list however it will not display the file for selection. Conclusion, if you are an author that has the tech savvy to create a epub book in a software package such as Adobe’s InDesign then wish to test it out on iPad, you will not get far.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:12:21 +0000

I’ve just gotten my iPad and I was able to load up non-DRM EPUB docs from Project Gutenberg and view them as you would expect using the iBook reader. Note that the EPUB books have to be synch-ed to the device via iTunes. I have described this multi-step process here: http://sleepybackwater.com/blog/?p=224 (but it’s not too onerous from the majority of iTunes users).

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 02:17:58 +0000

RIck,

If you go to file > Add Media (or whatever) you can then point to the .epub file. It’ll sync next time you hook up your iPad.

By: Michael Roegner

Michael Roegner — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:05:18 +0000

The biggest danger here is the POTENTIAL for causing grief to the user community. Whether they implement the constraints immediately or later, they will almost certainly implement them eventually. The combined drivers of profit motive, the threat of legal action from content providers, and the raging thirst for a competitive edge from the ebook sellers (Amazon, B&N, etc.), are all going to push the industry towards an ever-increasing spiral of DRM and protectionism. Open standards sound great when you’re a user who just wants to read your ebooks, but when a company is trying to protect its revenue stream it will take just about any option available to it to do so.

Apple’s closed architecture, absolute (and arbitrary) control over applications allowed onto the device, and now their entry into the ebook vending arena itself do not bode well for our future experiences as ebook readers.

By: Charles Calthrop

Charles Calthrop — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:08:30 +0000

Based entirely on what I would do if I were calling the shots on the iPad and on no actual knowledge of plans by Apple, I expect something analogous to the CD ripping capability of iTunes. For example, I have a bunch of unprotected, free, Stanza books and I expect to be able to bless them with iTunes and use them with the iPad reader. Perhaps I will be disappointed. I don’t expect to be too disappointed, because this market promises to be far more competitive than the MP3 player and smart phone markets. Someone will do this right.

By: Rick Stein

Rick Stein — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:17:54 +0000

I am a little confused about how you will load the books into the Ipad. On the Apple website it says:

“And you can add free ePub titles to iTunes and sync them to the iBooks app on your iPad.”

Ok, that sounds great, but how do you actually add the free titles to iTunes? I could not find anywhere on itunes that allows you to import ebooks. Am I missing something? Is this a future feature that hasn’t been implemented yet? Does it mean you have to do it through the itunes/ibooks app that is on the ipad?

If anyone has had success figuring it out, please share with us!

Eric, you had concern about battery life of the Ipad. It is my understanding it has 10 hour battery life, so that should not be such an issue.

Thanks.

By: Eric Daniells

Eric Daniells — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:32:19 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts on the iPad as a eBook reader…

I’ve been using a PRS-300 (sony) for some time, and love it’s compact size as it fits easily in any bag I carry around or even a large cargo pant pocket or jacket,inside pocket.

Also I’ve been quite an apple user, owning a fair amount of their hardware and the iPhone.
Thus naturally I am interested in the iPad.
But I just can’t imagine why this would be a good reader for eBooks.
PDFs yes – amazing, or basically any document with a lot of high end graphics, formatting, etc inside – lovely.
But to read books on a non eInk Display? thanks no. I don’t know, but as long as there’s backlight and refresh rates, there will be a serious eye strain coming along with it, if used to read books.
Battery life is the other issue at hand..

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:13:08 +0000

@Brock Because ePub is simply crap is why:

IDPF Screws Up ePub eBook Covers For Everyone!

By: Paul McFedries

Paul McFedries — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:38:26 +0000

No one can say for sure whether the iBooks app will be part of the default iPad Home screen, but the iPad Features page says this:

“Download the free [iBooks] app from the App Store and buy everything from classics to best sellers from the built-in iBookstore.”

http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/

By: Learning a bit about the EPUB format « learn.amniisia.com

Learning a bit about the EPUB format « learn.amniisia.com — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:56:59 +0000

[...] The Apple iPad and ePub Books (Mike Cook at epubBlog) [...]