Does anyone actually use Apple Books?

Software
64

The world of academic papers is even worse. Still so many multicolumn layouts in PDFs. The ultimate evil is HTML based locked in sites that are just awful even on a computer monitor. The academic publishing industry is such a scam.

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65

I always preferred PDF for tech manuals. The pages look like pages right out of the print version. ePubs often could not show the technical content and layout accurately enough for me.

66

For the record, I’ve now found that Kindle is far superior for comics compared to Apple Books. Apple Books is missing lots of content for comics. They also display kind of weird on the iPad.

67

We must be talking about two different things. I am referring to coding, adobe, final cut, logic pro etc. there are plenty of epubs for these.

69

I use Kindle for library books. And, frankly, I don’t care for it at all. I find Books is far more user friendly. I take advantage of the previews in Books and avoid buying books I have less interest in than I thought.

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70

I’m in the same boat. I tried Kindle and I really disliked the app (especially on the Mac) and I have been buying and reading in Apple Books. The whole reading experience is much better and I like the fact that it exports highlights to Readwise flawlessly. It’s another fantastic Apple app that makes reading a great experience. Sync has improved a lot recently, it was slow to sync a while ago, but the Apple engineers have cleanly been working hard on this aspect, so the last friction point has gone.

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71

I’d prefer to use Apple Books but I already have an extensive library in the Kindle app and I want to “future proof” my book purchases. I’m locked into the Apple ecosystem if I buy my books with Apple Books. I can’t imagine ever leaving the Apple ecosystem but I’d rather not have something as important to me as my books locked into a single platform. At least with Kindle, I can access my books from any device if ever needed.

Also, Amazon seems to have a more extensive selection, at least the last time I checked, and the prices overall seem better.

72

They are epubs. You can back them up, convert them to other formats with Calibre, put them on Kindles, etc.

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73

I didn’t realize that, thanks. Would it be possible for me to do that in reverse with my existing Kindle books and send them to Apple Books?

74

Yes but you will need to remove the amazon drm first. Calibre will do it with the approriate plug-ins. Once the drm is removed, you can convert it to epub and read on any device.

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75

I confirm that this works. I did this with all the books I bought though Amazon

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76

If it’s not too much trouble, and I certainly do not mean to presumptuous, would you mind telling me what plug-ins I would need in order to do this? I’m quite interested in the possibility of moving all of my kindle books over to Apple Books. Based on what you’ve shared with me it seems that I’m not risking anything.

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78

Thanks, much appreciated. :+1:t3:

79

No problem. Just keep in mind that this voodoo is always in flux as amazon is changing its drm and formats in newer books, but your older books should be fine.

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80

I don’t recall EVER seeing different prices between Apple Books and Amazon. Frankly, I thought they were probably fix-pricing or something.

81

at least the special price on Apple Books and Amazon are promoting different books, so some times I take advantage of that but I must admit I have preference on Kindle books if price difference is not that much

One reason is that I cannot get Readwise to work on Apple books, no luck ever

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82

I’ve used it on multiple Macs and it always works. I just installed it again last week on a new system, and it synced perfectly on first run. I’d contact the developers as there must be something installed on your Mac that’s interfering.

83

I moved to an “e-ink” reader.

  • Better for reading (less eye strain, e-Paper beats LCD displays)
  • Battery lasts “forever” because of e-Ink/e-Paper
  • No comics, just books. Color/images would be better on an iPad, but I don’t need them
  • So, for me, Apple Books not an option
  • e-Reader ist also weatherproof and cheaper than an iPad, so I don’t have to worry about it (theroretically I could read in the bathtub, but only used it on the beach)
84

in the beginning, all Kindle books were $9.99… nobody was buying books from Apple so if the news stories were true, they colluded with publishers to force amazon to raise their prices… google it as its been many years but I believe that was the gist of it.