Using iTunes For Your Non-DRM PDF eBooks Library

OK, since you asked me so nicely here we go!

As you all know Apple now has iBooks and with this they added the ability in iTunes to keep your Non-DRM ePub and PDF files properly sorted and archived on your computer and this my friends is hella handy if you ask me since Apple has made sure that iTunes can be easily backed up and/or archived in various assorted ways to keep your data (music or ebooks) safe as possible.

Let me show you how I run this type of iTunes library functionality for use with my handy dandy iPad and iBooks. But others may find it helpful too.

Oh My God! Here is an assortment of non-DRM PDF files I want to add to iTunes.
First I open iTunes as above and then I select these assorted non-DRM PDF files and then drag and drop them into iTunes. Like so…

And that does it folks these non-DRM PDF files are now copied and residing in iTunes LIKE MAGIC!
Um unfortunately all you see is the file names.
Yeah, iTunes does not even know meta data wise what author wrote these.
*sigh*

Well suck it up people let’s make this right…
Right click on a selected non-DRM PDF eBook.

Select at the top Get Info
Then select the Info tab at the top of the box that shows up next.

And here we are with the first major step to becoming good iTunes librarians.
See, all iTunes is telling you in this screen is it knows only the file name.
Now let’s open the PDF eBook we want to add to iTunes in Preview or Adobe or some reader and start filling in the missing information.

You will see doing all this that some categories are obvious while others are labeled more for music so here is what I choose and why…

Name: This should just be the name of the book in my opinion and iTunes will use this also as the name of the file.

Artist: This should be the name of the author and iTunes seems to use it like that so that is how I roll using this category.

Year: Yes, I fill this out, I don’t really know why I fill this out. Maybe someday I will enjoy seeing when the book came out… I don’t know.

Composer: I like knowing the publisher so I use this category for that information so I can look it up in iTunes if I want to search by publisher for some reason.

Grouping: OK I use this for the series information and where the book lands in the series because iTunes does not really have a place for that information. In this example I filled it out “Devils On Horseback 1″.

But we are not done yet. Down at the bottom see where it says Genre click that blue button next to it…

Select custom from the Genre list.

Copy and Paste the Grouping info (In this example Devils On Horseback 1) and stick it into the Genre box.

The reason you are doing this will become apparent on an iPad or in the iBooks app because this information is what gets shown next the the “book title” and “author” in the PDF listings and you can sort by this.

Now you are all done click OK.

If you look to the right hand side of the iTunes Books listing you should now see your author so click on that and behold your skills.

Tags: iPad