iBooks Update to Include Notes, PDF Compatibility

At least we only have to buy the books once. I like that part of the deal.

where is my pdf iBooks viewer on my iPad? Doesn't seem like a far stretch to have included that out of the box.

The first update is about iBooks? Seriously?

excellent, This will be very useful for uni lectures, especially with the notes function!

You guys think this will be an app store update or some bs iOS update? Because iPad's arent getting iOS4 til the fall.

douglaswilliams said:

The first update is about iBooks? Seriously?

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Where would you start? Kind of think wherever it started someone would question it. Seems Jobs just cannot satisfy everyone everyday. How does it matter if iBooks was first subject or last? Maybe like the good salesman he is Steve just wanted to start of slow. I for one liked it first. YMMV

this is probably the best bit of the whole keynote for me.

these features will make iBooks much more useful.

I can't say it's the best news, but the best news for iBooks, for me.

Now I don't have to go through the process of having to convert the PDFs anymore. The tools to do it, today, are a bit of a hassle with a little trial and error.

This will *seriously* speed up whenever I scan in music sheets for performance. (That is, can't wait for the iPad to get this. The iPad pretty much replaced having to shuffle lots of pieces of paper on a music stand. I have error-proof paging to keep up with my music, while playing. No more mess, papers falling off the stand, nor the threat of having to recover dropped sheets and getting lost because they got thrown out of order.)

I assume the iPad will get PDF viewing with the next iBook update. I am torn from having spent money on a good PDF reader to being happy about having iBook as my new PDF reader.

CupertinoBob said:

Where would you start? Kind of think wherever it started someone would question it. Seems Jobs just cannot satisfy everyone everyday. How does it matter if iBooks was first subject or last? Maybe like the good salesman he is Steve just wanted to start of slow. I for one liked it first. YMMV

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"So that's all about the iPhone. Now I'd like to talk a little bit about iBooks. Wait, don't go!"

I'm so glad they finally included PDF compatibility. This is a huge plus.

NeuralControl said:

I'm so glad they finally included PDF compatibility. This is a huge plus.

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+1

Right now I am using Calibre to convert my PDF's to epub format. Only problem is some do not convert correctly. Those would be ones with hyperlinks, and where the PDF is really all scanned images instead of real text. I don't have the original source for those. While Calibre will turn them into PDF, they sometimes do not function very well and are blurry. Would be nice just to have 1 app for all my electronic books and docs instead of using Airsharing, ibooks, mobilestudio (when airsharing does not want to connect), etc.

Although one draw back I will notice. I see that the ones I converted, the epub format takes up less space than the PDF (smaller file size). Let's hope that when they are moved to the ipad - there is some sort of compression to reduce the footprint.

sideline3 said:

You guys think this will be an app store update or some bs iOS update? Because iPad's arent getting iOS4 til the fall.

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I hope it is an app store update and immediately. I need this today, and will be traveling to a work convention in August. I cannot wait for the fall.

shervieux said:

I hope it is an app store update and immediately. I need this today, and will be traveling to a work convention in August. I cannot wait for the fall.

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I believe the official statement is "later this month." I'm also curious how long it's going to take, as this is a feature I can def use ASAP.

I just want to know what books are available without having to buy an iPad. Is that too much to ask?

When is it coming out?

sounds like a nice update to me. it seems they could do more with notes on there also

vega07 said:

When is it coming out?

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won't be out until iOS4 is out, which is June 21st.

wonder if that is when the ipad update will happen as well?

Is it just me or does the literal looking book shelf in this app look cheesy? I thought this when it debuted with the iPad. I mean they're not paper books that belong on a wood shelf but ebooks that belong on something that doesn't ape a wood shelf.

mcmlxix said:

Is it just me or does the literal looking book shelf in this app look cheesy? I thought this when it debuted with the iPad. I mean they're not paper books that belong on a wood shelf but ebooks that belong on something that doesn't ape a wood shelf.

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i think it looks good. makes things more visually familiar to look through.

and the shelf look is one of the reasons i've always like Delicious Library.

I like the way the shelves look, too. It gives it a nice touch.

PlaceofDis said:

won't be out until iOS4 is out, which is June 21st.

wonder if that is when the ipad update will happen as well?

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This is a quote from the very first sentence of this announcement, with my emphasis added:

At today's WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs announced that the iPad's iBooks app will receive an update later this month that will add the ability to view PDF documents within the app.

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iPad will not get iOS4 until the fall, so apparently this update is for the app only...it has nothing to do with the OS.

Steve Jobs : Now ****.

Anywayz, this is great news since a lot of the eBooks I find always wind up being PDFs.

I'm curious if the iBooks interface is going to carry over into PDF viewing. In other words, will we be "flipping pages" in a PDF doc? That'd be pretty neat.