Will upgrading the iOS affect iBooks?

[hockeybuff]

I'm reluctant to upgrade my iPad 1 iOS for fear it might accidentally delete my collection of ebooks. Unfortunately, several new apps that I'm interested in getting all require the upgrade (to 6.1). Any advice or experience to share?

 

[zstairlessone]

I'm reluctant to upgrade my iPad 1 iOS for fear it might accidentally delete my collection of ebooks. Unfortunately, several new apps that I'm interested in getting all require the upgrade (to 6.1). Any advice or experience to share?

All your purchased (free or paid) books are there to re-download for free, and in the same categories as before. Any books, PDFs etc that you installed through iTunes will need to be brought back over but they are still in your iTunes - that's the good news. Any that you downloaded from websites (by selecting "open in iBooks" will be lost if you don't have them backed up, and I don't know if those will even restore during an upgrade).

 

[siennaamelia81]

Try managing your books and library organization separately between your iOS devices.


Try reading the discussions here to find out the solution discussions.apple.com/thread/5376245

 

[hockeybuff]

THANKS, zstairlessone. That was precisely the answer I needed. Virtually all of my books have been downloaded from my public library and therefore I will back off the upgrade for now.

 

[willerz2]

All your purchased (free or paid) books are there to re-download for free, and in the same categories as before. Any books, PDFs etc that you installed through iTunes will need to be brought back over but they are still in your iTunes - that's the good news. Any that you downloaded from websites (by selecting "open in iBooks" will be lost if you don't have them backed up, and I don't know if those will even restore during an upgrade).

To add on to @zstairlessone's excellent answer, iTunes unfortunately does not back up books, as it falls under the "DRM/DMCA/copyright/licensed" category of things that iTunes has no real way of verifying unless you're restoring them through server verification such as iBooks, Amazon Books, Nook, etc. It's possible to rip the books off of your iPad, but unless they're purchased/server-verified, I don't believe that your bookmarks and highlights will be backed up if you backup your device. Someone may have to verify/chime in on that.

 

[twerppoet]

THANKS, zstairlessone. That was precisely the answer I needed. Virtually all of my books have been downloaded from my public library and therefore I will back off the upgrade for now.

Since public libraries can not give, only loan books (even ebooks), and there is no direct way of getting loaned books into iBooks, I'm guessing that you're actually getting public domain books; and that the library is redirecting you to a fee repository like Project Gutenberg.

Project Gutenberg Consortia Center

If that is the case, then you can easily find and re-download your books; either directly from the Gutenberg site or from the iBooks Store. Most of the Gutenberg titles are averrable in the iBooks Store, free and DRM free. Most of the paid ebooks stores include the Gutenberg book library, including Amazon.

For future convenience I recommend backing up your public domain books, either on a computer or in a cloud service. That will make restoring them easier. Your paid for books will almost always be re-downlaodable from the store you purchased them from.

 

[leelai]

I'm reluctant to upgrade my iPad 1 iOS for fear it might accidentally delete my collection of ebooks. Unfortunately, several new apps that I'm interested in getting all require the upgrade (to 6.1). Any advice or experience to share?

An iPad 1 can only be updated to OS 5.1.1

To see what OS your iPad 1 is on, go to Settings - General - About and look for version.

If you are interested in apps which can only run on a higher IOS, I'm afraid you will need to purchase a newer model iPad.