Personal Books on iOS
Comments
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Are there plans to support reading Personal Books on iOS?
Yes, but no time tables. The primary issue is syncing of personal books. Unless Logos were to utilize a third party service (such as dropbox), or charge users a service fee, this could be an expensive endeavor. Bob has said that syncing of personal books IS coming, but no time tables have been made public.
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I know what Alabama says is true, and I believe Bob and the team are trying to find a reliable solution that makes sense for their business. I do hope they get it worked out sooner rather than later. Not only would it be nice to have PB's sync between computers (desktop to laptop, etc); having them sync between platforms (PC / Mac to IOS / Android) would be huge.
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Are there plans to support reading Personal Books on iOS?
Yes, but no time tables. The primary issue is syncing of personal books. Unless Logos were to utilize a third party service (such as dropbox), or charge users a service fee, this could be an expensive endeavor. Bob has said that syncing of personal books IS coming, but no time tables have been made public.
What if Logos added a LOCAL sync to mobile device commend that did all of the work on your computer without going through the Logos servers? You attach your mobile device as a USB device and execute Sync Mobile. Then we could do it ourselves, not as convent but gets the job done, no Logos server space used, no copyright problems.
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What if Logos added a LOCAL sync to mobile device commend that did all of the work on your computer without going through the Logos servers?
Personally, I wouldn't prefer that solution. There aren't many apps that work that way on iOS, and only "geeks" would really know what to do. IMO, I think working with dropbox and/or iCloud is the way to go.
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[quote user="Don Awalt"]
Are there plans to support reading Personal Books on iOS? Thank you.
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A direct response from the team representative:http://community.logos.com/forums/t/66838.aspx?PageIndex=2
Blessings in Christ.
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What if Logos added a LOCAL sync to mobile device commend that did all of the work on your computer without going through the Logos servers?
Personally, I wouldn't prefer that solution. There aren't many apps that work that way on iOS, and only "geeks" would really know what to do. IMO, I think working with dropbox and/or iCloud is the way to go.
Please review http://community.logos.com/forums/p/72434/504321.aspx#504321
"There aren't many apps that work that way on iOS, and only "geeks" would really know what to do""
what if the instructions were: plug in mobile device to USB port; start Logos; in the command box enter 'Sync USB'; with Logos recognizing your device type? - no geeks needed [except at Logos dev.]
""Personally, I wouldn't prefer that solution"" You and X million other Logos users with or planing to get mobile devices including me. But what if there is a blocking issue? [server issues?; copyright issues?] Do we say ""that way or no way"" or do we say ""but if it can not be that way what about ----""
""There aren't many apps that work that way on iOS,"" that means that there is at least one.
And Logos does not want to do it that way [they want PBB to sync just like notes [etc.] ] but can we leave options open?
What are we asking? 'Please use the cloud to get PBB on my mobile' OR 'Please get PBB on my mobile' ?
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what if the instructions were: plug in mobile device to USB port; start Logos; in the command box enter 'Sync USB'; with Logos recognizing your device type? - no geeks needed [except at Logos dev.]
iOS doesn't work that way. You cannot side load anything. Apple is very controlling about their wonderful, closed system.
that means that there is at least one.
Do you know of any? I don't. I <think> I remember someone, somewhere, sometime talking about adding data to an app via iTunes… Which is the closest to "side loading" as iOS <may> get, and is a horrible way to do anything.
what if there is a blocking issue? [server issues?; copyright issues?] Do we say ""that way or no way"" or do we say ""but if it can not be that way what about ----""
How would dropbox not solve that problem?
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Are there plans to support reading Personal Books on iOS? Thank you.
Yes. We are actively working on this. (Sorry, no date predictions available...)
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Thank you Bob.
Blessings in Christ.
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what if the instructions were: plug in mobile device to USB port; start Logos; in the command box enter 'Sync USB'; with Logos recognizing your device type? - no geeks needed [except at Logos dev.]
iOS doesn't work that way. You cannot side load anything. Apple is very controlling about their wonderful, closed system.
Actually not true. iTunes has what Apple terms as "File Sharing" built in, which allows you to install app-native resources to apps on your i-device. The feature is publisher dependent, so not every program has it, and it is a little geeky to get started, but once turned on is simple drag and drop.
I have 5 apps that use it now on my iPod, including the two "big" eBook retailers.
"As any translator will attest, a literal translation is no translation at all."
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I have 5 apps that use it now on my iPod, including the two "big" eBook retailers.
Which ones? (I believe you, I just have never come across any… or didn't know about the feature.
Actually not true. iTunes has what Apple terms as "File Sharing" built in, which allows you to install app-native resources to apps on your i-device. The feature is publisher dependent, so not every program has it, and it is a little geeky to get started, but once turned on is simple drag and drop.
I mentioned that above… and that is was geeky… but it all goes through iTunes, right? So you wouldn't run a command from Logos, or would you? In any case, I don't think it is worth Logos time. If they choose to go another route other than their own servers, it would be best to use a reliable cloud based service such as DropBox or iCloud.
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I have 5 apps that use it now on my iPod, including the two "big" eBook retailers.
Which ones? (I believe you, I just have never come across any… or didn't know about the feature.
There's Kindle, Nook, PocketBible, PlainText among others that all allow it.
I mentioned that above… and that is was geeky… but it all goes through iTunes, right? So you wouldn't run a command from Logos, or would you?
No, you would need to know the location of your personal book file and drag and drop it to iTunes.
I don't think it is worth Logos time.
That could be argued. I took a quick look at the iOS developer library, and all it takes is one key to turn on file sharing in an app, and then users can drop files into the app (the app also has be able to recognize when files have been added, and know what to do with them as well, which is where the complexity of the programming comes in to play). To use the currently available cloud services, and allow users to access personal books from there would be near identical to what must be done to implement file sharing.
But what Logos is planing to provide is not unlike making apples equal oranges (no pun intended). They are seeking to sync personal books across each user's multiple computers, and at the same time syncing them to multiple platform mobile devices. A daunting task by any measure,
"As any translator will attest, a literal translation is no translation at all."
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Logos has made Personal Books on mobile devices far more complicated than it needs to be. One should be able to sync personal books simply through iTunes. It shouldn't really involve having them on Logos servers. Dozens of other apps allow users to add books similarly - even Apple's iBooks, for goodness sake.
It is time Logos got this done. No, it is past time.
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0 -
Are there plans to support reading Personal Books on iOS? Thank you.
Yes. We are actively working on this. (Sorry, no date predictions available...)
Thank you Bob for the hope. I would encourage you to give it a priority since any resources in the minor languages are possible only in the PBB way. Having them on all the platforms is a must.
Bohuslav
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Is there an update RE: Reading Personal Books on iOS?
Thanx,
Bob Diebel
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It is currently on hold as per https://community.logos.com/forums/p/126859/848584.aspx#848584
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It is currently on hold as per https://community.logos.com/forums/p/126859/848584.aspx#848584
Yeah, when I read what Bob said at that link when he first posted it, I gave up all hope for this feature. I was holding my breath for a long time hoping for Personal Books to come to iOS... but not anymore. I've moved on. Sadly.
right now, based on present use cases and number of users, it's at the very bottom of our priority list.
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I was very disappointed when I read this post back in 2017. It was time to replace my aging iPad and I desperately wanted to use Personal Books on the platform. I purchased a Macbook Air to satisfy my Logos / electronic Bible study needs. It's been working, but I'm still hoping to upgrade to an iPad Pro some day. BookBuilder on PocketBible has been a saving grace. Can someone help me understand if there is a technical reason why accessing Personal Books on the iPad Pro is not possible. After all, Personal Books can be shared on different PCs own by an individual. How much more does it take to extend that capability to the iPad Pro?
Next, I'm wondering what Logos will do if / when Apple makes a Macbook running on the ARM (A-Series) CPU? Will they implement the desktop or mobile version of Logos? That may depend on the OS version Apple chooses to use: MacOS vs iPadOS. Will they extend Personal Books to that platform? With Microsoft and Samsung introducing PCs running on an ARM chip, the future of ARM chips and Logos will be interesting. Comments?
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Can someone help me understand if there is a technical reason why accessing Personal Books on the iPad Pro is not possible. After all, Personal Books can be shared on different PCs own by an individual. How much more does it take to extend that capability to the iPad Pro?
Next, I'm wondering what Logos will do if / when Apple makes a Macbook running on the ARM (A-Series) CPU? Will they implement the desktop or mobile version of Logos? That may depend on the OS version Apple chooses to use: MacOS vs iPadOS. Will they extend Personal Books to that platform? With Microsoft and Samsung introducing PCs running on an ARM chip, the future of ARM chips and Logos will be interesting. Comments?
Ben, I don't think there is a technical limitation for Faithlife's decision not to allow personal books on mobile, or at least I can't remember reading it. The reasons Bob has given include mostly financial and competitive reasons. There are likely potential legal reasons as well because if a user ripped off copyrighted material and created a personal book with it, then Faithlife would be storing it on their servers.
To your second question, I don't think I have read anything on that yet. It is an interesting question and one that could have technical implications. Someone with more technical knowledge will need to chime in on that.
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Bill, Thanks for the feedback. What's the difference between copyrighted material on a desktop / laptop verses a phone / tablet running a mobile OS? The lines are really blurred. Checkout the following article for more details about Apple potentially using ARM CPUs in Macbooks.
https://9to5mac.com/2019/02/21/mac-marzipan-arm-next-year-maybe/
This source has been fairly accurate with leaks and rumors over the years. Apple will most likely adopt this technology if it proves successful in the industry. It has huge financial implications for Apple.
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Ben, I don't think there is a technical limitation for Faithlife's decision not to allow personal books on mobile, or at least I can't remember reading it. The reasons Bob has given include mostly financial and competitive reasons. There are likely potential legal reasons as well because if a user ripped off copyrighted material and created a personal book with it, then Faithlife would be storing it on their servers.
As Faithlife finds more and more PBB resources that maybe a violation of Copyrights we might expect them to stop uploading our PBBs to their servers and force us to rebuild the PBB on each machine we have. Not saying the they will but that they might.
As for technical limitations: we can use the same scan function to load PBB or Logos files from another computer to load up a new machine. The files seem to be identical. They only have to build a scan function into the mobile devices. They chose not to mostly for Copyright reasons.
[[my guess would be that most PBB users have spent over $10,000 on Logos books and are thus in the top percentage of Logos users]]
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I think I remember technical issues as well as potential copyright vios: on desktop, we build our own indexes, whereas on mobile the indexes are built by Faithlife. There are about 30k books in the Logos catalog - the PBs of only a couple hundred users would surpass this number, and the PBs tend to be large and complex (bibles in Asian scripts, Mark Barnes' wikipedia clone, compilations of "my own commentary to the bible" and year-long sermon archives). This requires a technical solution that allows them to at least build only one central PB version of a certain document, possibly introduce quotas etc.
Those aspects should be solvable, but back then under an ownership model, PB as a functionality was only a cost factor. And even fully out-of-copyright books might be perceived as cutting into future revenue of FL, should they one day decide to publish the book that was offered as PB before. I would expect most existing PBs to be Public Domain books.
The "copyright vio" thing was - as I remember it - a trigger event for Bob when he found that many PB users had a PB of a very popular book by an ultra-reformed author which was not available through FL at the time, but could be obtained from sources such as CCEL. I'm not even sure whether this book and others are "real" copyright violations on the part of users who could claim fair use, format change from a legit copy or other such arguments, but it may cut into business plans making such a book available, or just into the atmosphere of talks with a reluctant publisher, should this publisher's negotiators point to the existence of the PB.
But anyway, my understanding would be that should FL see a possibility to make PB from a cost factor to something that is contributing, they would re-evaluate the mobile availability. In Libronix times, people had to pay for the PB compiler. I could imagine a subscription (maybe even "metered" in terms of number or size) for mobile PB use, or PB "NextGen" becoming part of FL Connect.
But assuming FL doesn't change anything regarding PBs - PBs on the desktop may be sufficient: When a pad device runs native desktop OS, the issue will be gone anyway. On the other hand, with ever increasing power of mobile devices and constant connectivity, it becomes a real scenario to run a desktop version of Logos at home and just remotely use this thing from a tablet.
Have joy in the Lord!
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What if Logos added a LOCAL sync to mobile device commend that did all of the work on your computer without going through the Logos servers?
Personally, I wouldn't prefer that solution. There aren't many apps that work that way on iOS, and only "geeks" would really know what to do. IMO, I think working with dropbox and/or iCloud is the way to go.
Question: it you have two [or more] text editing programs on an iOS device can they all edit the same file or can they only edit files loaded by iTunes into the sandbox of the edit program assigned to the file? [[that is can file A be used by X, Y, and Z. or can X only use files given to X by iTunes and Y only use files given to Y by iTunes. and the same for Z]] [[and Yes, I know that Logos indexing is not done on the mobile device]]
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Bill, Thanks for the feedback. What's the difference between copyrighted material on a desktop / laptop verses a phone / tablet running a mobile OS? The lines are really blurred.
The difference is that FL do not own these devices.
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...just [cut] into the atmosphere of talks with a reluctant publisher, should this publisher's negotiators point to the existence of the PB.
Probably the most likely scenario.
Just means having to buy an up-spec Windows tablet or use a laptop.
One of our teaching elders brings his ThinkPad laptop up to the podium when he's giving his sermons.
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Is there an update RE: Reading Personal Books on iOS?
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Is there an update RE: Reading Personal Books on iOS?
No update - no plans I am aware of
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