# Question re: ibook store



## jaspertyler (Feb 13, 2009)

So, on one of the forums I visit (maybe even this one haha) someone mentioned that there are a ton of free books currently in the ibookstore.  Are these public domain books?

Impatiently waiting for "late April"


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## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

I'm sure they are, just like when the Nook came out and they counted all the free boooks online when they enumerated how many books were available for it. There is no end to the amount of free and Project Gutenberg ebooks that you can get legally. All Apple has to do is wrap their special DRM around (if it's allowed) and put it in the Apple store. The big difference between the Kindle and iBooks is you're literally and legally limited to ONLY the books that Apple has in its store with iBooks. With my Kindle, as long as the Kindle can read it, I can drop it in a folder and my reader will read it. I'm not limited to only what Amazon offers on their site, or what has Amazon's special DRM wrapper. For an ebook reader, that's an important distinction, in my opinion.


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## Magenta (Jun 6, 2009)

jaspertyler said:


> So, on one of the forums I visit (maybe even this one haha) someone mentioned that there are a ton of free books currently in the ibookstore. Are these public domain books?
> 
> Impatiently waiting for "late April"


yes, the are public domaine books. those I downloaded specifically stated such and referenced the gutenberg project


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## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

iBooks can read DRM-free pub so you're not limited to the iBook store.


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## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

How can you get the books into the ibooks app? Is it like your music folder with iTunes where you can sync which files you want on your iPad, or is it more like the Kindle where you can drag and drop into a folder?


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## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

To get your own content into the iBook app, you drag-and-drop a DRM-free epub file into iTunes.  It will get copied over of the iPad when you sync. I haven't found a wireless solution yet, but I'm looking!!!


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## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

Thanks for the info, tlrowley. Sorry for the late reply/thanks. It's good to know for my friends who have an iPad and want to read more but "aren't sure how to do it."


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## profsusan (May 7, 2009)

Yes, you can download free books in ePub format from Gutenberg.org to your iTunes Books folder, then sync them to your iPad's iBooks app. The free books listed in the iBookstore is just a fraction of what you can find on Gutenberg. iBooks formats them beautifully.


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## Bren S. (May 10, 2009)

"The big difference between the Kindle and iBooks is you're literally and legally limited to ONLY the books that Apple has in its store with iBooks. " <<is NOT correct.

ty tlrowley for clearing that up.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

suicidepact said:


> The big difference between the Kindle and iBooks is you're literally and legally limited to ONLY the books that Apple has in its store with iBooks.


Where did you get that idea?

Mike


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

On my Mac I set up a smart folder to include all epub books I own. Mostly baen.com

Dragged them all into iTunes and boom they were in ibooks

Won't work for DRM books of course


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