Books on iPad aren't exactly the same as books on iMac

[Howard Brazee]

I went to read a book on my iPad using the books app that I can find and read in my books app on my iMac.

It couldn't find it. I also couldn't find it on my iPhone. I went to iTunes and iTunes only sees 4 books. I unchecked syncing these 4 books, restarted iTunes and synchronized, but that didn't change anything.

I counted books on my iPad and found 918 books. I counted books on my iMac and found 905 books. A couple of dozen were duplicates.

My iPad has almost 128 GB free. Both apps use the same mac userID.

Other books that I have added to my iMac lately are seen on my iPad.

What is causing these differences? Why does iTunes only show 4 books? How do I get that book visible on my iPad.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

I would check the iBooks app and see how many are there. Maybe it has to do with iBooks only showing downloaded books instead of showing iCloud Books? Did you buy any directly on the iPad that haven't been downloaded on the iMac?

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

Last night, I deleted the duplicates on my Mac. Re-counting my iPad I saw 14 more duplicates, counting 856 books. Re-counting my Mac, I saw some of those duplicates and two more with a count of 876. I will delete the duplicates again. It's just too much work counting my iPhone, as each row only has 2 books.

I have never purchased books on my iPhone or iPad, and I stopped buying books from Apple a long time ago, when the Calibre plug-in to remove DRM stopped working for Apple books. Instead, I buy books elsewhere then open them with the Books app on my Mac.

If I can't remove DRM, I won't buy the book. Something I hadn't noticed before last night is that most of the books on all three devices have the cloud icon.

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks.

The cloud icon means they haven't been downloaded to your Mac/iOS device. Maybe some of the books have been removed from the iBooks Store?

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

The books I was interested in weren't purchased by the iBooks store. So I don't know where in the cloud they are stored. But I resolved my problem. I clicked on the cloud on my iMac's book, it downloaded on my Mac — and later showed up in my iPad!?!?!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hmmm...it sounds like the Cloud vs. downloaded had something to do with it.

So, the issue is now resolved?

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

I can live with this. I suppose it is related to iTunes, and I think iTunes is way to buggy to be fixed. Please replace it Apple!

 

[Cory Cooper]

C