I've searched for a similar thread and have not been able to find one.

I will admit to not owning an iPad and because of this, I'm not able to use the iBookstore.

Does anyone know if I CAN use iBooks on my Mac (anything similar to Kindle for Mac?) And if not, does anyone know if there are any moves toward creating something so I can use iBooks on my Mac, via iTunes or any other method?

Good question. I'd like to pass my books on to my daughter so she can read them on her Mac.

I really think it's silly not to make iBooks available on the our Mac's. iTunes is available!

I know it's fairly new and I will just have to be patient, but I'd love to search the iBookstore as well as all the others.

It is possible Apple is working on a version of ibooks for the Mac os as many have requested it however at this time no.

That is the difference between a delivery system designed by a company that is primarily in the business of selling reading material (at least that's the way Amazon started) and a company that is primarily in the business of making electronic hardware.

The other thing I don't understand is why there is a separate iBooks store? The other shortcoming (to me anyway, and I am sure to many others) is that I can only buy iBooks on my iPad. Some people have mentioned that one of the things they don't like about the Kindle app is that you have to leave the app in order to buy stuff. To me, that is an advantage since I can add any book to my library from any computer (in the United States) and add it to my library then download it to my various devices at my leisure.

Until Apple has a PC version and a way to buy material through iTunes (I presume since all of their content is sold through iTunes), they are still a distant second to the Kindle system. Ideally, I would like to see a way to buy books without using iTunes at all, but I do not see that happening.

True, it's a peculiar thing that iBooks is not available for computer.

Fortunately, there isn't that much exclusivity with it that is not available on other reading platforms such as Kindle, Kobo and Stanza. I'm not sure Stanza is available on computer since I hardly ever use mine anymore but Kobo is and their ebooks are slightly cheaper than on iBooks.

In my opinion, the desktop Stanza program is just about worthless (I am not even sure why I have it?), but the iPad app is great because it allows you to acquire content from so many different sources, paid and free.

I would love to access the iBookstore from my MAC. I've always had MACs - love them and it would be the icing on the cake to be able to access the iBookstore.

Deb

Like I said on another thread... you just can't compare a Kindle to an iPad... They are two entirely different things.

Kindles are strictly e-book readers and iPad's are that AND a lot more!

However, I can do pretty much everything (I think) on my computer that I can do on my (dad's) iPad EXCEPT access the Apple Bookstore. But I can access the Kindle store via my computer.

iBooks is not a necessity but it is something I'd LIKE to have access to outside iPad use.

I'm just whining here... I want to get into the iBookstore from my Mac!

It may be that Apple is using iBooks as a way to sell more iPads.