Getting books onto the iPad

crestfalleen · 05-18-2010, 04:44 PM

Is there a way (besides syncing them through the computer) to get books in ibooks without going through the ibooks store? I'm very limited in my knowledge as I don't have one, my boss wanted me to find out. Thanks guys.

kjk · 05-18-2010, 05:16 PM

Nope, not for the standard iPad.

That new wifi sync program for Jailbroken iPads may do it though.

scottjl · 05-18-2010, 05:21 PM

no. but there are other reader apps to use .epub and .pdf files with.

tmarks11 · 05-18-2010, 07:29 PM

Kindle app drops you into the amazon website. You buy a book there, it gets loaded directly onto the iPad and shows up in the kindle app.

So there obviously is a way to get books without using the app store or iBooks. Whether or not apple would allow anyone except amazon to circumvent the app store framework is a different question altogether.

I am guessing the answer would be NO!

AdamGott · 05-18-2010, 08:17 PM

You can get a program called Dropbox on both your PC and your iPad and then upload to your PC and download from your iPad but it only works with a few iPad apps right now. I am hoping that they add others because adding books to the iPad is a real pain for me.

athlonkmf · 05-18-2010, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmarks11

Kindle app drops you into the amazon website. You buy a book there, it gets loaded directly onto the iPad and shows up in the kindle app.

So there obviously is a way to get books without using the app store or iBooks. Whether or not apple would allow anyone except amazon to circumvent the app store framework is a different question altogether.

I am guessing the answer would be NO!

That's not circumventing the AppStore, it's merely a way to get content.
Other existing example where apple doesn't care where you get your content: zinio, comic apps, PDF apps...

scottjl · 05-18-2010, 09:22 PM

the sale of books at this point is a thimble of profit in apple's giant bucket o' cash. they have no interest in blocking other sources..

kjk · 05-18-2010, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmarks11

So there obviously is a way to get books without using the app store or iBooks.

Sure. But he mentioned INTO iBooks.

scottjl · 05-18-2010, 10:48 PM

the thing is ibooks doesnt just store a bunch of .epub files in a directory, there's another thread where i posted a response. ibooks stores book files in a whole directory structure index in a plist. it might be a simple injection into the plist to add a book file or there might also be a sqlite database, i didn't look that far. plus there might be some data stored back in the computer you sync with, checksums, etc. can't imagine the developer community is going to go mucking around much with apple's offical applications. wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a 3rd party way to inject books into ibooks. far simpler to use an application like readMe which has alternative ways of sideloading.

kjk · 05-18-2010, 11:45 PM

How many apps are taking advantage of the built in drag and drop File Sharing for the iPad? All I see in my own apps are Stanza and GoodReader.

dmaul1114 · 05-19-2010, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjk

How many apps are taking advantage of the built in drag and drop File Sharing for the iPad? All I see in my own apps are Stanza and GoodReader.

Doesn't seem like a lot.

Think all my g/f has that show up are Goodreader and Pages.

I think scott mentioned that they were adding a central file location for documents with the OS update (or another future update) so hopefully that will help.

It's a big nuisance to me--just too much hassle to get files on the iPad and accessible to all apps that use that file type currently.

So currently my biggest deal breaker is not just having an open file system to load files and open in any app.

scottjl · 05-19-2010, 12:20 AM

few for now, more every day. it was something that had basic support added in to 3.2 of the OS and more developed support in 4.0. I read something that lead me to believe apps will be able to share documents in 4.0 as well, so upload a PDF once and view it in any program that registers itself capable of viewing PDF files.

interesting, but both apple and Microsoft have discussed developing filesystems that did away with the traditional folder and file management that we use today. both are database based and just store your data with documents registering to act/edit on metatypes of data (word processing document, spreadsheet, graphics image). apple dropped it because it wasn't ready yet and so did Microsoft from longhorn/vista. the iPhone/iPad still uses unix filesystems under it all but apple's presentation to apps and the user are more along these lines. "don't worry about sticking things in folders, just launch your word processor and have it open a document." you certainly see this mentality with the iWorks apps. my only complaint is that there is going to have to be some better way for scrolling through a huge list, even left-to-right swipes to find one document out of the 20 or so I loaded into Numbers is a bit of a pain. so we still need some sort of folder metaphor. guess we wait and see where apple goes with all of this.

dmaul1114 · 05-19-2010, 12:27 AM

Yeah, I hope that flounders.

The traditional folder and file management systems are 100% fine.

murraypaul · 05-19-2010, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjk

How many apps are taking advantage of the built in drag and drop File Sharing for the iPad? All I see in my own apps are Stanza and GoodReader.

Of the ones I use, Bookman, Goodreader, Cloudreaders and ComicZeal all do.

murraypaul · 05-19-2010, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottjl

interesting, but both apple and Microsoft have discussed developing filesystems that did away with the traditional folder and file management that we use today. both are database based and just store your data with documents registering to act/edit on metatypes of data (word processing document, spreadsheet, graphics image). apple dropped it because it wasn't ready yet and so did Microsoft from longhorn/vista. the iPhone/iPad still uses unix filesystems under it all but apple's presentation to apps and the user are more along these lines. "don't worry about sticking things in folders, just launch your word processor and have it open a document." you certainly see this mentality with the iWorks apps. my only complaint is that there is going to have to be some better way for scrolling through a huge list, even left-to-right swipes to find one document out of the 20 or so I loaded into Numbers is a bit of a pain. so we still need some sort of folder metaphor. guess we wait and see where apple goes with all of this.

And the two apps I use most, ComicZeal and GoodReader have both developed their own folder-like structure to deal with this issue.

05-18-2010, 04:44 PM	#1
crestfalleen Member Posts: 17 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: iphone	Getting books onto the iPad Is there a way (besides syncing them through the computer) to get books in ibooks without going through the ibooks store? I'm very limited in my knowledge as I don't have one, my boss wanted me to find out. Thanks guys.

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05-18-2010, 05:16 PM	#2
kjk . Posts: 3,408 Karma: 5647231 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: never enough	Nope, not for the standard iPad. That new wifi sync program for Jailbroken iPads may do it though.

05-18-2010, 05:21 PM	#3
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	no. but there are other reader apps to use .epub and .pdf files with.

05-18-2010, 07:29 PM	#4
tmarks11 Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Everun	Kindle app drops you into the amazon website. You buy a book there, it gets loaded directly onto the iPad and shows up in the kindle app. So there obviously is a way to get books without using the app store or iBooks. Whether or not apple would allow anyone except amazon to circumvent the app store framework is a different question altogether. I am guessing the answer would be NO!

05-18-2010, 08:17 PM	#5
AdamGott Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 2139614 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Kindle/iPad	You can get a program called Dropbox on both your PC and your iPad and then upload to your PC and download from your iPad but it only works with a few iPad apps right now. I am hoping that they add others because adding books to the iPad is a real pain for me.

05-18-2010, 09:22 PM	#7
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	the sale of books at this point is a thimble of profit in apple's giant bucket o' cash. they have no interest in blocking other sources..

05-18-2010, 10:48 PM	#9
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	the thing is ibooks doesnt just store a bunch of .epub files in a directory, there's another thread where i posted a response. ibooks stores book files in a whole directory structure index in a plist. it might be a simple injection into the plist to add a book file or there might also be a sqlite database, i didn't look that far. plus there might be some data stored back in the computer you sync with, checksums, etc. can't imagine the developer community is going to go mucking around much with apple's offical applications. wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a 3rd party way to inject books into ibooks. far simpler to use an application like readMe which has alternative ways of sideloading.

05-18-2010, 11:45 PM	#10
kjk . Posts: 3,408 Karma: 5647231 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: never enough	How many apps are taking advantage of the built in drag and drop File Sharing for the iPad? All I see in my own apps are Stanza and GoodReader.

05-19-2010, 12:20 AM	#12
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	few for now, more every day. it was something that had basic support added in to 3.2 of the OS and more developed support in 4.0. I read something that lead me to believe apps will be able to share documents in 4.0 as well, so upload a PDF once and view it in any program that registers itself capable of viewing PDF files. interesting, but both apple and Microsoft have discussed developing filesystems that did away with the traditional folder and file management that we use today. both are database based and just store your data with documents registering to act/edit on metatypes of data (word processing document, spreadsheet, graphics image). apple dropped it because it wasn't ready yet and so did Microsoft from longhorn/vista. the iPhone/iPad still uses unix filesystems under it all but apple's presentation to apps and the user are more along these lines. "don't worry about sticking things in folders, just launch your word processor and have it open a document." you certainly see this mentality with the iWorks apps. my only complaint is that there is going to have to be some better way for scrolling through a huge list, even left-to-right swipes to find one document out of the 20 or so I loaded into Numbers is a bit of a pain. so we still need some sort of folder metaphor. guess we wait and see where apple goes with all of this.

05-19-2010, 12:27 AM	#13
dmaul1114 Wizard Posts: 2,300 Karma: 1121709 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Amazon Kindle 1	Yeah, I hope that flounders. The traditional folder and file management systems are 100% fine.

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