IBooks is Apple's dedicated app for eBooks, audiobooks, and PDFs on iOS device and Macs. IBooks includes a built-in platform for purchasing both eBooks and audiobooks, called the iBooks Store.
iBooks stands for the Apple eBooks or eBook reader. Referring to the iBooks reader, it is the official integrated app for users to buy and read Apple eBooks, but until recently it is still only available for IOS 8.4 and Mac OSX 10.10 Yosemite or higher versions, this means only the Apple users with iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch or Mac computer can get access to the iBooks literally. Compared to the narrow screen IOS devices, many users prefer to read on bigger screen devices like Mac and Windows computers. It is notably comfortable to read iBooks on desktop for its high clarity and resolution screen, but you may not use Mac computers all the time, so what can you do if you want to read iBooks such as the ePub files on a Windows desktop? Generally speaking, you just need to transfer iBooks to your PC and find an alternative reader.
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- The Mac App Store is the place to look if you want to download free Mac apps. With so many free apps already installed on your Mac you might think that there’s not much more you need, but there.
- For answers to all your iBook questions, check out the iBook Q&A. Also see: Currently Shipping Macs & Ultimate Mac Comparison. Click the triangle to the left of a system to open 'Quick Specs' - identifiers and basic configuration details - and click on the name or image for complete specifications.
- If Apple Books doesn't open, click the Books app in your Dock. Progress Indicator. ITunes is the world's easiest way to organize and add to your digital media collection. We are unable to find iTunes on your computer. To download from the iTunes Store, get iTunes now. Browse Mac App Store. Looking for Mac apps? Try the Mac App Store.
How to transfer iBooks to Windows Computers
There are many ways to transfer iBooks to Windows PC, following are the top three ones:
Transfer iBooks from Mac computer. For the iBooks which are already downloaded through iBooks app on a Mac computer, it is pretty easy to transfer. You can plug in an USB flash drive, then copy the iBooks from the Mac computer to the flash drive by simple drag & drop from iBooks app, after that you can do it in the similar way to copy the files from the flash drive to your Windows desktop.
Transfer iBooks from IOS devices. If you have already purchased and downloaded iBooks from the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, you can directly connect your IOS device to the iTunes to sync the files to your Windows. It is not difficult at all. After connecting your IOS device to the iTunes like iPhone, you will see the devices tab menu from the right side of the iTunes. Please click menu 'File' -> 'Devices' -> 'Transfer Purchases from Administrator's iPhone' to transfer the iBooks to your Windows desktop. Or alternatively you can use a free IOS transferring tool called iTools which is more flexible to transfer the contents.
Download iBooks by iTunes for Windows. What you need to do is to launch the iTunes on your Windows computer, then login with the iTunes account from which you have already purchased the iBooks and click 'Account'-> 'Purchased' to open the purchased content list, next you can go to 'Books' tab and pick up the iBooks you want to download. In this way, you don't need to connect any external devices but please make sure you have a good internet speed. Else it might take a long time to download.
How to Read DRM Free iBooks on PCs
As Apple doesn't have the official iBook reader for Windows, so you need to find other software. There are many kinds of iBooks files with different extensions like ePub and iBook etc. Take the ePub books for example, if you want to read ePub books on Windows, you can use eBook reader apps or plugins.
Adobe Digital Editions. Concerning the eBook software, the first one I will recommend is Adobe Digital Editions. It has the important features such as bookmarking, highlights & notes etc., making it simpler to enjoy eBooks. It Supports multiple formats including ePub, ePub3, PDF and so on. You can download it from the Adobe website for free and install it to your computer, then drag an ePub file to its main screen to start open an ePub file with ease. Besides this, you may use tools like Kobo, Nook, Kindle etc., the process is more or less the same.
Firefox with EPEBReader plugin. If you don't want to get extra software on your computers, you can also try to use your browser with eBook reader plugin like EPEBReader for Firefox, MagicScroll eBook Reader for Chrome etc. For instance, you can launch the firebox, then go to a search engine website like Google and search 'EPUBReader', you will find the plugin which usually shows as the first item. Then open it and click 'Add to Firefox' button. Finally, you can drag ePub files to the firebox to open and read. Likewise, you can do it in the similar way if you prefer the Chrome browser.
Additionally, if you get other formats of iBooks or you just prefer to read iBooks in other eBook reader, you may use a free eBook converter Calibre to help you convert iBooks to other formats of files. But please keep in mind that not all kinds of iBooks can be converted/read on Windows. For the Apple specific files with iBook extension, currently there is few third party software support it.
Tips about the DRM Protected iBooks
Above are the common ways to read iBooks on Windows. However, these methods only work for the standard DRM free files, not FairPlay DRM protected iBooks. For the iBooks which are DRM protected, you have to get rid of the DRM copy right protection first before you can read them on Windows. To check if your iBooks are DRM protected, you can right click on the book on iTunes and choose 'Get Info', after that go to the 'File' tab. If it shows the file kind as 'Protected book', then it is embedded with Digital Rights Management protection, which can only be opened from iBooks app currently.
Ibooks App For Mac Computer
Despite this, there are many kinds of DRM removal software such as Requiem or TunesKit iBook Copy for Mac can help. Requiem was used to be a great DRM removal freeware, but it was discounted in 2012 and the latest version only supports OSX 10.7 and iTunes 9 or lower versions. It is OK to use it on the old Mac computers. If you don't have such versions and want to downgrade OSX and iTunes, personally I don't think it is worthy spending such a long time to use it though Requiem is a totally free software. Instead you may use a tip-top software TunesKit iBook Copy for Mac to bypass all the DRM protection from your purchased iBooks to extract new DRM free books. It takes only three steps to do that, just add the iBook files, customize the output folder and then click 'Convert' to output the new iBook files. Fore more detailed tutorial, please see: Complete Guide to Remove DRM from iBooks.
In conclusion, reading iBooks on computers is a better experience when you are home or office, we highly recommend iBooks fans who use Windows computers often to try to transfer and read iBooks on their Windows computers. It takes only a little effort to accomplish the goal easily.
Adam Gorden is an experienced writer of TunesKit who is obsessed about tech, movie and software.
For the last few decades, reading printed books has been on the decline year to year. Some part of the change can perhaps be attributed to the rise in other forms of entertainment (e.g. Netflix and iTunes), but mostly it’s just been all of us collectively deciding to switch to a variety of book reading apps.
In 2011, Amazon announced that they were selling more electronic books than physical ones through their Kindle platform, which was available on all Kindle devices, as well as smartphones, tablets, and personal computers. Apple with the iBooks ePub reader for Mac, iPad, and iPhone was not too far behind. The rest of the apps for reading books were generally created by smaller third-party startups.
While reading on dedicated devices, such as Kindle, Nook, or Kobo, now takes the top spot, with smartphones and tablets coming in second, reading books on Mac also has its own benefits, which have long been overlooked. Let’s see how and why you should read more on your Mac.
What Are The Best Book Apps For Mac
Reading on your Mac has a few advantages over specialized readers or your smartphone. First of all, you have enough screen real estate to easily process a book of any kind, especially if it involves illustrations and graphs, which you can enlarge and modify as needed.
Second, reading on Mac doesn’t lock you into a specific format, such as .mobi, .epub, or PDF. If you’ve been wondering how to read book online, it’s practically only possible on Mac.
Third, as you read on your Mac, taking notes and annotation becomes so much easier. Reading could be a truly educational experience, which in turn could elevate the quality of your reading material.
Luckily, all the best book apps are available on Mac for less than the price of a single magazine. Most popular app examples include Kindle, iBooks, and MarginNote.
Is Kindle reader for Mac a good choice?
The most widely used reader for Mac is the Kindle app from Amazon. Undoubtedly, its best feature is the access to millions of Kindle-compatible books in the .mobi format. Besides, Kindle for Mac boasts an adjustable interface, where you can change your preferences as to fonts, line-spacing, and background colors.
The drawbacks of using a Kindle reader for Mac is mostly being restricted to .mobi format, available only on Amazon. Plus, the Kindle app doesn’t make it easy to upload your own books that you got somewhere else. For years, the Kindle reader for Mac has been avoiding the idea of bringing hyphenation to the platform, which makes text lines more uniform and easier to read. Although the platform supports hyphenation now, most of its books still don’t.
You can try and download Kindle for Mac on the official Amazon website or in the App Store. Kindle’s main competitor as of now is Apple’s iBooks app. Let’s see how they differ.
Why use iBooks for Mac?
Without a doubt, the iBooks app (now called Apple Books) is convenient simply because it already comes pre-installed with your Mac. You can use it to buy any book in the Apple Book Store, which carries nearly all the popular titles.
Unlike Kindle, Apple Books is the best ePub reader available on the market, although it also does support other formats, most notably PDF. You also have more adjustment options, particularly, hyphenation works much better in the iBooks app than it does on Kindle.
The latest updates to iBooks also included the support for audiobooks, which has expanded a straightforward book reader app into a full entertainment and education experience available at any time, whether you’re driving or relaxing at home.
How to read with MarginNote
The third popular book reader app is MarginNote. While it supports ePub and PDF just like iBooks, its unique features lie in advanced annotations, mind-mapping, and flashcards that allow you to better absorb all the reading material.
Annotations let you highlight text and make quick notes on the margins, whether to explain certain concepts or to save ideas for later use.
To make an annotation with MarginNote:
- Simply highlight the text by clicking and dragging your cursor
- Choose one of the available options: either make a note, add a tag, highlight with a certain color, or look up the sentence online
- If you’ve selected to make a note, use all the tools in the pop-up window and click on the icon in the top right when you’re done
To use the app to include an excerpt of text in a mind map:
- Choose one of the available excerpt tools from the top bar
- Highlight the part of the text you’re interested in
- Click Add to MindMap
To make a flashcard in MarginNote:
- Highlight the text as before
- Click on the share icon in the top bar
- Select Add to Card Deck
Finally, you can export all your notes into Evernote, Anki flashcards, iThoughts mind-mapping, or print.
MarginNote is an indispensable ePub reader for Mac if you’re a student, professional researcher, lawyer, or just like to read challenging books that need some breaking down for better retention.
Make reading experience more focused
In the end, no matter which app you choose for reading, you should hope for a good, distraction-free reading experience, where you can focus on one thing at a time.
HazeOver is a lightweight Mac utility that allows you to automatically dim everything on your screen but the currently active app. It lives in the background but is always available in your menu bar in case you need to adjust some preferences, such as the level of dimming.
So when thinking about the best book reader app for your Mac, lean towards Kindle only if you already have a large library of .mobi books. Otherwise, choose the iBooks app for lighter reading materials and MarginNote when you really need to dive into something worth contemplating. Accompany all of these apps with HazeOver to improve your reading experience and minimize any distractions.
Ibook App For Mac
Best of all, you can try MarginNote and HazeOver for free via Setapp, a platform of more than 150 Mac utilities that bring solutions to any app-related problems. What’s next on your bookshelf?
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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