To read ebooks on your iPad, you need to install the free iBooks app, which you can download from the App Store. The iBooks app can display only those ebooks stored in the EPUB file format. If you have any ebooks stored on your computer that are already stored in the EPUB file format, you can import them into iTunes just like your music and videos. If you have ebooks stored in another file format, such as Portable Document Format (PDF), then you must convert those files into the EPUB file format before importing them into iTunes and transferring them to your iPad.
Before you can start reading ebooks on your iPad, you need to download and install the free iBooks app, which allows you to read EPUB files stored on your iPad. To install the iBooks app, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap App Store. The App Store screen appears, as shown in Figure 19-1.
Tap in the Search field in the upper-right corner of the screen. The virtual keyboard appears at the bottom of the screen.
Type iBooks, and tap Search. The iBooks icon appears on the screen.
Tap FREE next to the iBooks app. The FREE button turns into an INSTALL APP button.
Tap INSTALL APP. A dialog may appear, asking that you type your iTunes account password. After you type your password, the iPad downloads and installs the iBooks app.
After you have an audiobook or ebook stored on your computer, you'll need to import it into iTunes. To import a file into iTunes, follow these steps:
Note
Alternatively, you can simply drag your files from Finder or Windows Explorer directly into iTunes.
Once you have some ebooks or audiobooks in iTunes on your computer, you can transfer them to your iPad. To transfer your files, follow these steps:
Connect your iPad to your computer using the USB cable.
Run iTunes on your computer.
Click the name of your iPad in the Devices category.
Click the Books tab. The Books screen appears, listing all your stored EPUB books, as shown in Figure 19-2.
Check (or uncheck) the Sync Books checkbox.
Click the All books or Selected books radio button. (If you choose the Selected books radio button, you'll be able to select EPUB books individually.)
(Optional) If you chose the Selected books radio button, check the checkboxes of the books you want to transfer.
(Optional) Check (or uncheck) the Sync Audiobooks checkbox, and click the All audiobooks or Selected audiobooks radio button. (If you choose the Selected audiobooks radio button, you'll be able to select audiobooks individually.)
Click Apply to start synchronizing your EPUB files and audiobooks with your iPad.
If you have non-EPUB files (such as PDF or Microsoft Word .doc/.docx files) that you want to store and read on your iPad, you have two choices. First, you can convert the file to the EPUB file format. Some websites that offer free EPUB conversion are 2EPUB (http://www.2epub.com/), EPUB 2 Go (http://www.epub2go.com/), and ePubConverter (http://www.epubconverter.org/).
Note
Converting any file into another file format, such as a PDF file into the EPUB file format, may not always be accurate. This could mean text is formatted incorrectly or pictures may be missing.
If you'd rather not hassle with converting files, you can download free EPUB books from sites such as ePubBooks.com (http://www.epubbooks.com/), Web Books Publishing (http://www.web-books.com/), and Google Books (http://books.google.com/). Many classic books are freely available for download because they are in the public domain.