Getting Books onto your iOS device with iTunes

[kyteflyer]

Its not as difficult as it seems

I'm using a) a Macintosh and b) Marvin for this mini tutorial, with a few screenies. It seems that regularly, people have difficulty with the concepts and activity involved in achieving their end: ie; getting a book from a directory on the computer into a application they read with. The principles here apply to all applications which have the capacity to have books or documents added via iTunes... not all do.

The very first thing you need to do is to recognise that inside iTunes there are TWO ways of seeing your applications.

1) Apps: as listed under the general heading "Library" in your sidebar.
2) Apps: as listed in the horizontal menu which becomes visible when you click on the name of your device.

It is this second Apps list screen we will be looking at. If you try to drag and drop to your first apps listing, or to the apps listing in the top half of the apps screen for your devices, *nothing will happen*. It is NOT possible to add anything to apps in those locations. You must scroll down the device's app screen until you see a section titled "File Sharing" and then look for the app you need, in that list. If its not there... talk to the dev about adding support for File Share, or get a different app. Don't blame iTunes, it can only show you what the developer allows.

Here's what my screen looks like, with Marvin selected.



Now, to get a book from my computer, whether its in some stray directory, or inside Calibre which most of us seem to use, you must click on "Add" as shown in the bottom of the screen, or you can choose to drag and drop into that screen... when the app is selected as per the screenie. I choose "Add", its just a habit, not a necessity.

Here's what Finder on my Mac looks like, when I am selecting a book.



And here's the book now, in iTunes. This took about 10 seconds.



Marvin doesnt show the book right away.



You need to click the little refresh arrow bottom right, and then, there it is



This applies to Marvin, specifically, but you can use the same principle for Stanza, ShubookSE, Megareader, Blio, Bluefire, eBookMobi, i2Reader, Tomes, ReadMe and probably dozens of others I know nothing about. Some, like Marvin, will require an additional activity within the application on the device to show the new books (eg, Shubook has a kind of install from itunes process) but they will all work in very much the same way.

Using itunes to get your books over is the easiest thing in the world, and if you can't be bothered with Calibre (lots dont) then its probably the easiest way to go about getting your books into your device. If you already use iTunes for music management, and audiobooks, its also the only thing that makes sense.

Caveat: If you use iBooks, you can drag and drop onto the books section in "library" of iTunes, or you can use calibre to send to device (I used to use the latter).. but... this isnt about Calibre, theres a whole forum devoted to that... its about using iTunes and not getting unnerved by the negativity which seems to surround it. I would press you to ignore that, try this out, and then form your own opinion. If you can't make this work, then I have missed a vital step in the howto and would like to know what that is... because it does work, and its easy and quick.

[Faterson]

Great tutorial...

but I can only recommend for folks to avoid iTunes altogether when transferring books to their iPads. There are lots faster, simpler ways.

My method: I let SugarSync mirror all my Calibre folders online. That way, I only need to open the SugarSync app on my iPad, and open any book (any EPUB file) from any Calibre folder right there. You get a choice of e-reader apps: Marvin, Stanza, Bluefire, ShuBook, whatever!

You can also let Dropbox do the same. (By putting your Calibre library inside Dropbox.)

Another quick method (much quicker than iTunes) is just to email any book to yourself. You can then select Marvin, Stanza (etc.) for opening the book from the email attachment.

And finally, starting from Marvin version 1.2, you can also access your Calibre OPDS catalogue directly from Marvin.

Given all these fast, hassle-free, wireless options to get books onto your iPad, I wonder who would go through the torture of physically connecting their iPad to another computer, and then wrestling with iTunes...

But, to each their own.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Given all these fast, hassle-free, wireless options to get books onto your iPad, I wonder who would go through the torture of physically connecting their iPad to another computer, and then wrestling with iTunes...

You don't to connect your iPad to the computer to transfer files with iTunes, you can do it wirelessly.

[Faterson]

Alright... but it's still an intermediate station in the Calibre<->Marvin transfer, and I can't see what's the benefit of using the intermediate station when you can just skip it.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Alright... but it's still an intermediate station in the Calibre<->Marvin transfer, and I can't see what's the benefit of using the intermediate station when you can just skip it.

Your recommended solution is to use SugarSync ... an an intermediate station. (In fact two, once to sync online, and again to transfer from the SugarSync app to Marvin).

[Faterson]

SugarSync is just my preference. By no means do I suggest it for everyone. It's still much quicker than the iTunes method, because it requires no action from the user on the computer where Calibre runs. Any EPUB that shows up in Calibre, automatically also shows up as a download option for you on your iPad, in the SugarSync app.

Dropbox is more suitable than SugarSync for Marvin users, because Dropbox is integrated directly in Marvin. You have a dedicated Dropbox button inside Marvin, and can load dozens of books into Marvin that way, in a breeze. Again, much faster than iTunes. (I only use SugarSync for books instead of Dropbox due to space concerns.)

As to the direct option to access Calibre's OPDS catalogues from inside Marvin... you can't really compare the speed of that type of access to the iTunes method, right?

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Great tutorial...

but I can only recommend for folks to avoid iTunes altogether when transferring books to their iPads. There are lots faster, simpler ways.

They are not faster, and they are not simpler. They add additional steps which are completely unnecessary for the average person.

.... I wonder who would go through the torture of physically connecting their iPad to another computer, and then wrestling with iTunes...

But, to each their own.

Oh for heavens sake, I posted this to get *away* from the negativity. Just stoppit.

Fast and simple is Computer stored book --> itunes -->iPad.

Slower is computer stored book --> Calibre ---> Sugarsync/Dropbox -->ipad. Extra steps to achieve the same end. I choose to use calibre to edit metadata, get the book cover I like and so on... more additional steps. Others dont bother. I use dropbox for storing only because I might want to grab something when away from home, but TBH thats not too likely these days...

There is NO reason not to use iTunes. It works.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

They are not faster, and they are not simpler.

We will need to agree to disagree on this, kyteflyer. iTunes is, hands down, the slowest method from among those listed above in post #2.

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

They add additional steps

Nonsense. What additional step(s), please? For example, if you set up your Calibre library inside Dropbox, then all EPUBs from Calibre are automatically available for download inside Marvin. Within seconds from appearing in Calibre! You don't even need to move your finger. There are 0 (zero) additional steps.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Faterson

We will need to agree to disagree on this, kyteflyer. iTunes is, hands down, the slowest method from those I listed in my previous post #2.

Opinion. Not fact.

Nonsense. What additional step(s), please? For example, if you set up your Calibre library inside Dropbox, then all EPUBs from Calibre are automatically available for download inside Marvin. Within seconds from appearing in Calibre! You don't even need to move your finger. There are 0 (zero) additional steps.

I'd suggest you reread the post I just made, which you quoted from. And stop rolling your eyes, its unbecoming, and its also intimating that I am some kind of idiot... I am not.

This tutorial was intended for people who WANT to use itunes effectively, not for you to use as a platform for your antipathy towards it. I shan't be responding again, this "discussion" is wasting time, and space.

I hope that some people will get some benefit from the mini-tutorial, and ask questions if there is something that isnt clear.

[DaleDe]

Moderator Notice
Faterson, please be more polite and do not take over every thread pushing your way of doing things. You are off topic in this thread. This is a warning

Dale