Apple Updates 'iBooks' With Illustrated Books, Collections, and AirPrint

[rwilliams]

Apple is going to take over the book industry and redifine everything as he did with the iPod and iPhone.

How? Their selection is abysmal compared to Amazon, and Amazon's solution isn't as proprietary as Apple's. With iBooks, you have the iPad, iPhone & iPod touch to read content on. With Kindle, you have the Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Mac & PC.

 

[NebulaClash]

They are. Although they're not reading iBooks.

I am. I've read about 100 novels on my iPad so far, and I have over 300 books in my collection, and probably half of them came from the iBookstore (the rest from Gutenberg). Some of us don't like Kindles for reading, but love the iPad for reading.

 

[MoodyM]

Why does only one new feature (auto-hyphens) require 4.2?

 

[talkingfuture]

I like the idea of the illustrated books, thats been the major missing feature of all the e-readers so far for me.

 

[calvin2006]

Yep. Kindle still provides the most content and the ability to read their books on the widest range of devices.

Yes. The iBookstore has so little content it is laughable. I prefer the UI of iBooks, but everything I want to buy is available in the Kindle store but not the iBooks store. Any word on when Apple will expand its content offerings?

 

[tk421]

My favorite new feature is the ability to print/email my notes. I've taken a bunch of notes that I've been wanting to export from the app!

I would rather it didnt hyphenate by itself, i hope we can turn this off...

You can. It's in the System Settings app, under iBooks.

 

[a.jfred]

Can you organize alphabetically by author on the bookshelf view yet? THAT's a feature I'd like to have, moreso than anything else.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

While I appreciate the ability to organize into Categories, the implementation of this feature is very feeble.

Apple has the model they need; iTunes. Let me create playlists and rate books and sort books in a myriad of ways.

...and graphically, let me mix flat-font book displays and spine display of books on the same shelf. That way I can show certain books and group certain books just like I do on my real book shelf.

As it is, just giving me static folders is an improvement, but only barely.

 

[NebulaClash]

Any word on when Apple will expand its content offerings?

As soon as the publishers decide to let Apple expand. Right now they are playing a game and letting Amazon have stuff that Apple can't. Don't blame Apple. It's a power game at work, and we suffer.

 

[steveh]

Can you finally read a book with white type on a black background? Since it came out, that's the only thing I've wanted on ibooks and why I have to continue using Stanza. The white background is just too much in a dim or dark room!

Or, you could use the dimming feature in iBooks to set the background at a comfortable level.

 

[iphone1105]

Steve Jobs: "Now, one more thing. Many of you wonder how Apple can manage to get more words on a page. Apple has done just that! And boy did we patented it! Let me introduce to you; The Hyphen. Simple. Effective. Apple. And in a few more months, we will become even more innovative in this regard. Smaller. Margins. Apple, redefining your experience, one innovation at a time."

"New from Apple. Pictures. In books."

You're sort of usually good for a laugh like 10% of everything you write, but this was not good, bland actually.

 

[steveh]

I'm with you. I wanted to make epub books for publishing applications data but it didn't support layouts. You had to use PDF. I'm still unclear on this. What is the advantage of epub over pdf?

Better readability on devices of varying sizes, as opposed to either trying to cram a whole page on a tiny screen, or scrolling around the page to read bits and pieces at a time. Which is what you usually get with PDF documents.

Although some PDF readers, like GoodReader, give you the option to view PDF either as laid out, or reflowing the text to better fit smaller screens.

 

[abhimat.gautam]

Check this page out for how to do white text on black background:

http://www.tipb.com/2010/12/15/tip-read-ibooks-white-black/


Because “White on Black” is considered a system-wide feature, so all we need to do is head into Settings.

•Open Settings
•Tap General
•Select Accessibility
•Switch “White on Black” to “ON”
•Exit settings, launch iBooks or Kindle, and enjoy!
Bonus tip: If you want to have white on black as a quick option then place it on your triple click home button.

•Settings
•General
•Accessibility
•Triple click home
•White on Black

Now you can switch it on and off as needed.

That’s a great workaround. Of course, official support would be much better, but this gets the job done until then.

 

[steveh]

How? Their selection is abysmal compared to Amazon, and Amazon's solution isn't as proprietary as Apple's. With iBooks, you have the iPad, iPhone & iPod touch to read content on. With Kindle, you have the Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Mac & PC.

I've got about 200 books in my iBooks set.

I think I got three or four, at most, of them though the iBooks store.

It's not like you're limited to what's carried in Apple's store, you know.

I've got the Kindle application, too. Don't use it, but it's there.

And non-iOS devices are a no-op for me, reading-wise.

 

[JAT]

Check this page out for how to do white text on black background:

http://www.tipb.com/2010/12/15/tip-read-ibooks-white-black/


Because “White on Black” is considered a system-wide feature, so all we need to do is head into Settings.

•Open Settings
•Tap General
•Select Accessibility
•Switch “White on Black” to “ON”
•Exit settings, launch iBooks or Kindle, and enjoy!
Bonus tip: If you want to have white on black as a quick option then place it on your triple click home button.

•Settings
•General
•Accessibility
•Triple click home
•White on Black

Now you can switch it on and off as needed.

No. Apple needs to put this feature into iBooks. And more than just these 2 choices. Every book reader I have has several options. Parchment colors are much easier on your eyes than stark white/black.

Oh, and...there are pictures in books?

 

[kingconsulting]

How do you get the books into the collections? I'm not seeing a way right now.

 

[SeanMcg]

Forget the iBooks update, what about this gem

The release comes just after the Canadian government granted approval for Apple to begin operating its iBookstore in the country.

Could someone from Canada please explain why this seemingly inane "review" had to be done?

I understand there are bureaucratic hurdles - often unnecessary - to get businesses going everywhere, but this particular one seems very odd.

 

[Night Spring]

No. Apple needs to put this feature into iBooks. And more than just these 2 choices. Every book reader I have has several options. Parchment colors are much easier on your eyes than stark white/black.

Book reader? If you are talking about book apps on the iPad, not every one has multiple color choices -- Kindle app only has three: black on white, white on black, and sepia. Yeah, one more than iBooks, but still not a whole lot of choices there.

How do you get the books into the collections? I'm not seeing a way right now.

Tap "Collections." Tap "New." Type a name for a collection.

Return to main bookshelf. Tap "Edit." Check the books you want to move to a collection. Tap "Move." Tap the collection you want to move them to. Done.

 

[Bistroengine]

How do you get the books into the collections? I'm not seeing a way right now.

Same here, I created a new collection but can't figure out how to move PDFs or books from one collection to another. I reply back if I figure it out.

Ok, figured it out! Tap 'Books' to load the new Collections screen then tap 'New' to create a new empty collection. Tap 'Done', Tap 'Edit', then tap all the books you want to move, then tap 'Move' and then select the newly created Collection. Walla!

 

[kas23]

Check this page out for how to do white text on black background:

http://www.tipb.com/2010/12/15/tip-read-ibooks-white-black/


Because “White on Black” is considered a system-wide feature, so all we need to do is head into Settings.

•Open Settings
•Tap General
•Select Accessibility
•Switch “White on Black” to “ON”
•Exit settings, launch iBooks or Kindle, and enjoy!
Bonus tip: If you want to have white on black as a quick option then place it on your triple click home button.

•Settings
•General
•Accessibility
•Triple click home
•White on Black

Now you can switch it on and off as needed.

First, I have to question the very need of a workaround like this. We shouldn't need a workaround to do a basic function every other reader in the App Store can do. Second, this is a very poor and inadequate workaround. This makes the status bar at the top of the screen white. Being white, it is very bright in a darken room and ends up being very distracting. Then you have those horrible white lines in the corner that are supposed to resemble pages. It's all very amateur, actually. What Apple needs is someone who actually reads books on their iDevice to redesign the UI of iBooks. Right now, it seems the most important "feature" of iBooks right now is the page-turning animations and the pretty bookshelf. This needs to change.

You're sort of usually good for a laugh like 10% of everything you write, but this was not good, bland actually.

Don't stalk me.

 

[URFloorMatt]

Oh thank goodness!! This is absolute, positively, #1 missing thing in iBooks that's been bugging me.

Except, of course, for the obvious one: good books. The iBooks selection is terrible.

 

[someone28624]

This would be a really handy upgrade for PDFs if airprint had reasonable functionality. Hopefully in the future.

 

[HiRez]

I'm actually quite excited my the hyphenation feature, especially since I find myself reading quite a lot on my iPhone (a lot more than I thought I would), space is precious, and fitting a few more words on a page helps.

Another thing I'd like is to be able to go full screen, as many apps can, lose the status bar with time, battery, etc. That would allow one more line of text, which again, on an iPhone, is a big deal.

 

[kingconsulting]

Awesome works! Thank you!

Same here, I created a new collection but can't figure out how to move PDFs or books from one collection to another. I reply back if I figure it out.

Ok, figured it out! Tap 'Books' to load the new Collections screen then tap 'New' to create a new empty collection. Tap 'Done', Tap 'Edit', then tap all the books you want to move, then tap 'Move' and then select the newly created Collection. Walla!

 

[Doctor Q]

The more Apple can expand the selection and the more elegant Apple can make the reading experience, the more we can move to e-books.

Hmmm... How soon before Apple figures out how to handle pop-up e-books using holograms? Not to mention scratch-and-sniff books, and touch-and-feel books like Pat The Bunny. Apple isn't doing enough for the lucrative toddler-with-tablet market!