Two iPads but no desire for two sets of iBookstore purchases

[cjbryce]

OK, probably/certainly breaking the EULA, but if i buy and read a physical book I can then lend it to my partner so she can read it after me or she can even read it at the same time when I'm not there. There's where this whole eBook model falls apart as far as I'm concerned.

If I buy a second iPad, how can I have a copy of all my (several dozen) iBookstore purchases on both simultaneously?

This is, of course, chiefly an excuse to justify an iPad 2

 

[bpd115]

Sync it to the same iTunes Store account and use one computer to sync both devices.

That's what I do with my iPhone/iPad and my wife's iPhone/iPad.

 

[saving107]

Log into the iBooks Store using the same Apple ID, then just re-download or re-sync the same books from iTunes to your new iPad, then also activate "Sync" to allow your two/three/four devices to communicate with each other.

 

[nutmac]

From iBooks: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

Books downloaded from the iBookstore can be placed on up to five computers you own that you’ve authorized with your iTunes Store account. You can sync your books to all iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches you own.

Just be sure to use the same Apple ID across two iPads and you can download additional copy on second iPad without paying.

 

[Zeos]

Use the Kindle store instead. You can easily read on more devices and it has a much better delivery and library management system.

OK, probably/certainly breaking the EULA, but if i buy and read a physical book I can then lend it to my partner so she can read it after me or she can even read it at the same time when I'm not there. There's where this whole eBook model falls apart as far as I'm concerned.

If I buy a second iPad, how can I have a copy of all my (several dozen) iBookstore purchases on both simultaneously?

This is, of course, chiefly an excuse to justify an iPad 2

 

[elgrecomac]

Sync it to the same iTunes Store account and use one computer to sync both devices.

That's what I do with my iPhone/iPad and my wife's iPhone/iPad.

Ditto. This is the answer.

 

[brettatk]

As others have mentioned, use one iTunes account for all iDevices and selectively sync. That way if you pay for one app or book, you can sync it to every device.

 

[Night Spring]

Log into the iBooks Store using the same Apple ID, then just re-download or re-sync the same books from iTunes to your new iPad, then also activate "Sync" to allow your two/three/four devices to communicate with each other.

Actually, if two different people are reading the books, you DON'T want to activate device-to-device syncing. You don't want to open a book and find yourself at the last page your partner was reading, instead of where *you* left off.

 

[iserian]

OK, probably/certainly breaking the EULA, but if i buy and read a physical book I can then lend it to my partner so she can read it after me or she can even read it at the same time when I'm not there. There's where this whole eBook model falls apart as far as I'm concerned.

If I buy a second iPad, how can I have a copy of all my (several dozen) iBookstore purchases on both simultaneously?

This is, of course, chiefly an excuse to justify an iPad 2

Was this a made up question -

 

[saving107]

Actually, if two different people are reading the books, you DON'T want to activate device-to-device syncing. You don't want to open a book and find yourself at the last page your partner was reading, instead of where *you* left off.

You are correct, I missed the part of the OP that said that the 2nd iPad was for his/her partner.

 

[guywoodman7]

There is a much better method that I use with my girlfriend. We each have an iPad 2 and we each are using our own accounts.

All you need to do is open iTunes on your computer, go to Store in the menu bar, then select "authorize computer".

Have HER enter HER iTunes info on YOUR computer. This will authorize your account to work with anything she has purchacesd. Do the same on her iTunes and you two can share any of the same iBooks or apps and still maintain separate accounts.

You can authorize up to 5 other accounts to work this way.

 

[epi117]

As others have mentioned, use one iTunes account for all iDevices and selectively sync. That way if you pay for one app or book, you can sync it to every device.

We use same account for 3 ipads and 3 iphones, keeps the cost down.

 

[austinuser]

I had no idea this was possible! this is great. i never even created an itunes account for my wife because I didn't want to have to repurchase apps/music/books etc that I might want on my device. we buy everything to my account, but it gets a bit messy as there is now stuff in there i don't want and vice versa.

is this an either/or thing? either you sync your library or hers to your device?

There is a much better method that I use with my girlfriend. We each have an iPad 2 and we each are using our own accounts.

All you need to do is open iTunes on your computer, go to Store in the menu bar, then select "authorize computer".

Have HER enter HER iTunes info on YOUR computer. This will authorize your account to work with anything she has purchacesd. Do the same on her iTunes and you two can share any of the same iBooks or apps and still maintain separate accounts.

You can authorize up to 5 other accounts to work this way.

 

[brettatk]

I had no idea this was possible! this is great. i never even created an itunes account for my wife because I didn't want to have to repurchase apps/music/books etc that I might want on my device. we buy everything to my account, but it gets a bit messy as there is now stuff in there i don't want and vice versa.

If you share an account, you can selectively sync your apps/books/music. You can choose what you want on your device and she can choose what she wants. It's not all or nothing.

 

[Night Spring]

You can authorize up to 5 other accounts to work this way.

It's five computers per account, with an unlimited number of iDevices that can be synced with each computer. And I don't think there's a limit to the number of accounts you can authorize on a single computer.

I had no idea this was possible! this is great. i never even created an itunes account for my wife because I didn't want to have to repurchase apps/music/books etc that I might want on my device. we buy everything to my account, but it gets a bit messy as there is now stuff in there i don't want and vice versa.

is this an either/or thing? either you sync your library or hers to your device?

You don't get a separate iTunes library for each account. In fact, this gets messy because you get all books and apps purchased with different accounts all on your computer in a single iTunes library, with no quick way of telling which books/apps were purchased with which account. Like the poster above says, you can select which books/apps to sync with which device, but it's not like iTunes will automatically sort out which items were bought with which account.

 

[guywoodman7]

I had no idea this was possible! this is great. i never even created an itunes account for my wife because I didn't want to have to repurchase apps/music/books etc that I might want on my device. we buy everything to my account, but it gets a bit messy as there is now stuff in there i don't want and vice versa.

is this an either/or thing? either you sync your library or hers to your device?

I dont actually sync to her computer. What we do is we have a dropbox folder that we share. We will drop any ebooks or apps that we want to share with each other in that dropbox folder and bring it into our own itunes library, then sync our iPads as we would with the new content selected on our own computers.

So that shared ebook or app will work on the other persons device but it's still registered to them. But being that your account is authorized on their account, iTunes will allow it.

 

[shandyman]

Use the Kindle store instead. You can easily read on more devices and it has a much better delivery and library management system.

but the kinda app is a pile of crap compared to iBooks

 

[bcaslis]

There is a much better method that I use with my girlfriend. We each have an iPad 2 and we each are using our own accounts.

All you need to do is open iTunes on your computer, go to Store in the menu bar, then select "authorize computer".

Have HER enter HER iTunes info on YOUR computer. This will authorize your account to work with anything she has purchacesd. Do the same on her iTunes and you two can share any of the same iBooks or apps and still maintain separate accounts.

You can authorize up to 5 other accounts to work this way.

Where exactly do you enter this? I see where you select an account in iTunes, but how do you do it for a second account? Do you log out of one account, log into a second a account, authorize it, then log out and log back into the first account?

 

[shootingrubber]

Where exactly do you enter this? I see where you select an account in iTunes, but how do you do it for a second account? Do you log out of one account, log into a second a account, authorize it, then log out and log back into the first account?

Yes, that's exactly what you do.

 

[Night Spring]

Where exactly do you enter this? I see where you select an account in iTunes, but how do you do it for a second account? Do you log out of one account, log into a second a account, authorize it, then log out and log back into the first account?

Menu > Store > Authorize Computer

This has nothing to do with logging in to the iTunes store. You don't need to bother with that.

 

[bcaslis]

Menu > Store > Authorize Computer

This has nothing to do with logging in to the iTunes store. You don't need to bother with that.

Thanks! Didn't have my computer with me to check before but I see that now. Pretty neat, I knew about 5 computers per account but I didn't know about 5 accounts per computer.

 

[cjbryce]

Thanks for all the responses, very helpful.

How do I avoid my partner's "new" iPad getting synched with all my stuff like email account settings and photos?

 

[Chundles]

Thanks for all the responses, very helpful.

How do I avoid my partner's "new" iPad getting synched with all my stuff like email account settings and photos?

Just don't sync that stuff. Don't tick the boxes.

Sync settings are stored on the iPad, not the computer. You can have as many iPods as you like synced with one computer and each of them with different stuff on them.

 

[cjbryce]

Just don't sync that stuff. Don't tick the boxes.

Sync settings are stored on the iPad, not the computer. You can have as many iPods as you like synced with one computer and each of them with different stuff on them.

Cool, many thanks.