iBooks 1.1 doesn't deliver what Apple promises

Seriously: flip vs. swipe? Slow news day, huh?

Well as of today, Apple has changed the language, it now reads:

All your PDFs. Right where you want them.

The iBooks app now works with your PDF documents — user guides, business proposals, project plans, and more. You add PDFs to iBooks in two ways: select a PDF from an email message on your iPad and open it in the iBooks app, where it appears on your bookshelf. Or add a PDF to your iTunes library on your Mac or PC and sync it to your iPad. In iBooks, you can tap a button to switch between viewing your iBooks titles and PDFs. Tap a PDF to read it and it fills the screen just like an ebook. You can swipe through pages, add bookmarks, or zoom in for a closer look.

Most PDF's are images, not actual text files, and can't be read or identified by Apple's iBooks.. However, if you use any professional PDF editor, you can simply use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to turn the images into texts and actual lines (making them readable and searchable)..

I tried this when iBooks fist came out, and it worked fine.. It took ages to make the initial load, but it worked and got highlighted and bookmarked.. However, i couldn't "flip" any page, just your regular old swipe right and left..

Cannot highlight or annotate PDFs either. I think the reviewer got it right.

My goal was to use this for work docs on my iPod touch.

Re Good Reader, the reflow idea is actually very good. I just wish they would add annotation capabilities.

But what I really miss is Cerience Repligo that I had on my old pocket pc.

I agree with TUAW 100%. Apple made this out to be much more than it is. To say it 'lacks features' is being generous.

I really don't understand why you can't simply add PDF files the way you add files in iWork for iPad. Very slick interface that would work beautifully!

Apple really dropped the ball on this one and needs to correct the matter immediately!

I have to say, I'm disappointed in Apple's implementation of PDF support in iBooks 1.1. We are used to holding Apple to the highest standards and expecting nothing but polish and perfection - and well with this release of iBooks, we got fizzle.

Case in point:
1. The PDF reading experience is not the same as reading eBooks? Why have this inconsistency when Apple truly nailed the functionality with eBooks.

2. PDF covers are replaced with generic text based covers in an unattractive mundane graphic. There is a workaround to this if you hunt in the forums, but it's a pain!

3. No matter what the behind-the-scenes tensions and antipathies exist between Apple and Abode, the PDF standard is universal and ubiquitous. I'm willing to bet that more people prefer and are familiar with PDFs over the ePUB format. Therefore Apple should have made every effort to ensure PDF support is robust, the interface is beautiful, and the experience is perfect!

I truly hope Apple heeds the community's outcries and criticisms and revamps the PDF support functionality in iBooks.

I can't open PDF from email either, as mail app previews them.... Nothing I do allows me to open them in any other app. Nor can I add PDF via iTunes, I just get the ø symbol, and I've tried a lot of different PDFs.
The onlynway I can get a PDF into ibooks is via dropbox or a web page.

I was hoping on syncing some of my PDF eBooks into iBooks today so I could read them over the coming holidays. While they did transfer, the experience was less than ideal.

The problem isn't that you can't turn pages with a nice flipping action, it's that the PDF appears as a set of connected images that you can only swipe through and you have to zoom in to read the text. It's not fun having to continually move the page around to read. Imagine trying to read a book using the "Photos" app. That's what it feels like.

Chuck in the massive performance problems (e.g. more than 10 seconds to rotate the screen) and it makes for a very sub-par reading experience.

Call me old school but remember the days when a software or computer didn't do something the way you liked it and we would just code it, script it, hack it, mod it or figure out a work around.

People ar too lazy these days.

Besides it works on proper PDFs not the Photocopied book or mags put out to pdf that are jacked from some torrent site somewhere.

Workaround... yes even if you stole it:
PDFPen Pro will OCR your PDF then replaced the photo version on you ipad/phone with the one you just OCR'd done highlights!

im sure Apple will add the missing features soon . currently, im getting free epub books from with Project Gutenberg to my ipad. http://www.ipadintouch.com/getting-free-epub-books-on-your-ipad/