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dham340 · 03-31-2010, 11:29 AM

iLounge has posted its usual deep dive into yesterday's iTunes update.

Here's the portion about books:

The most notable change in iTunes 9.1 is support for storage and synchronization of eBooks, specifically for the iPad. Rather than adding a separate section, however, Apple has simply re-labelled the “Audiobooks” section to just “Books” and now combines both audiobooks and text-based eBooks in the same sorting area.

As with the Audiobooks section before it, the Books section can be displayed in List, Grid or Cover Flow views. In Grid View, Books and Audiobooks can be grouped into separate sections as shown above or you can choose to group by Author or Category. In List and Cover Flow views, both types of content are mixed together into the same list, although the “Kind” column can be used to differentiate books from audio books.

iTunes 9.1 also lets users import their own ePub-format books from other sources such as Project Gutenberg. ePub files are imported in the same manner as other types of media content—drag and drop into iTunes—then are automatically grouped into the Books section. Books are managed in much the same way as other types of media content as well: the File Info dialog box can also be used to update metadata for Books, and cover artwork can be added in the normal manner.

For Books, the Options page currently only provides one user-settable option: VoiceOver Language, which will presumably be tied to the VoiceOver feature on the iPad itself. Apple has also released a new VoiceOver pack (version 1.3), which signals that iTunes will automatically download pronunciation updates for this feature going forward.

Note that iTunes 9.1 does not provide any support for actually opening ePub files directly on your Mac or PC—these files are stored in iTunes only as a repository for syncing with the iPad and any future devices that may provide support for Apple’s iBooks app.

It is unclear at this time whether the iBookstore will be available through iTunes or only on the iPad. As of this writing it is not yet appearing on the iTunes Store, however Apple may be waiting for the actual launch of iPad before opening the iBookstore. At the very least it seems likely that iBooks purchased on the iPad itself will sync back to iTunes and be displayed and managed in the Books section. We’ll update this section when the iPad is available.

03-31-2010, 11:29 AM	#6
dham340 Long Time Lurker Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: North east, md Device: Kindle Paperwhite	iTunes Deep Dive iLounge has posted its usual deep dive into yesterday's iTunes update. Here's the portion about books: The most notable change in iTunes 9.1 is support for storage and synchronization of eBooks, specifically for the iPad. Rather than adding a separate section, however, Apple has simply re-labelled the “Audiobooks” section to just “Books” and now combines both audiobooks and text-based eBooks in the same sorting area. As with the Audiobooks section before it, the Books section can be displayed in List, Grid or Cover Flow views. In Grid View, Books and Audiobooks can be grouped into separate sections as shown above or you can choose to group by Author or Category. In List and Cover Flow views, both types of content are mixed together into the same list, although the “Kind” column can be used to differentiate books from audio books. iTunes 9.1 also lets users import their own ePub-format books from other sources such as Project Gutenberg. ePub files are imported in the same manner as other types of media content—drag and drop into iTunes—then are automatically grouped into the Books section. Books are managed in much the same way as other types of media content as well: the File Info dialog box can also be used to update metadata for Books, and cover artwork can be added in the normal manner. For Books, the Options page currently only provides one user-settable option: VoiceOver Language, which will presumably be tied to the VoiceOver feature on the iPad itself. Apple has also released a new VoiceOver pack (version 1.3), which signals that iTunes will automatically download pronunciation updates for this feature going forward. Note that iTunes 9.1 does not provide any support for actually opening ePub files directly on your Mac or PC—these files are stored in iTunes only as a repository for syncing with the iPad and any future devices that may provide support for Apple’s iBooks app. It is unclear at this time whether the iBookstore will be available through iTunes or only on the iPad. As of this writing it is not yet appearing on the iTunes Store, however Apple may be waiting for the actual launch of iPad before opening the iBookstore. At the very least it seems likely that iBooks purchased on the iPad itself will sync back to iTunes and be displayed and managed in the Books section. We’ll update this section when the iPad is available.