Need help with iBook library catalog on Apple mobile devices

[Tirtha Sarkar]

In iBooks on my Macbook (13" 2009) I have 2000 books, which I catalog according to my own system;

1. I set the Author Name in the format:
[year_of_birth - year_of_death] Lastname, Firstname Middlename

2. I set the Book Title in the format:
[year_of_publication] Bookname

3. The books are sorted on the Author Name and the Book Title.

For books that allow their metadata to be overwritten, the above information becomes part of the metadata.

For all books, including those that do not allow their metadata to be overwritten - understandably, for DRM protection, the above information is stored in an iBook library setting file.

As a result - I can SEE all my books cataloged exactly the way I want them to be cataloged. I am happy with iBooks on macbook! But here’s the problem syncing books on my macbook with my mobile devices.

Initially, I had my iBooks library on my local drive. When I tried to sync my local library with my devices (iPad and iPhone) two problems arose:

Problem #1. Some of the books just couldn't be synced, and they just wouldn't move to my devices; reason unknown.

Problem #2. The books allowed metadata update according to my catalog format showed up in my catalog format; but those that did not, showed up in their original format.

Result - the library showed up completely unorganized, and with books missing.

Then I moved my library to iCloud (hoping that would help).

When I tried to access iBooks from my devices, now it showed all books, so Problem# 1 seems to have been resolved. However, the cataloging had still not been transferred from my macbook to the device.


So, now I have three questions:

Question #1: It is perfectly understandable why books with DRM protection won't allow metadata update. But why does iBooks not sync the library setting from the macbook to the device, so that the books would show up catalogued according to the user preference on the device?

Question #2: When the library is in my local drive, why does iBooks not transfer some of the books to the device?

Question #3: If I now decide to move my iBook library from iCloud back to my local drive, all 2000 books, preserving my library catalog, what is the easiest way to do so?

Note:

I want a solution in iBooks. I have verified that even calibre cannot update metadata on DRM protected books.

 

[Tirtha Sarkar]

Finally found the issue!

iBooks on both OSX and iOS use fb.opf for metadata display by default.

When you manually update iBook metadata on OSX it uses the iTunesMetadata.plist for metadata display.

But when you transfer your ebook to your device, the device keeps using fb.opf!

I would call this an iBooks bug. Both iOS and OSX should display metadata from the same file.