Read epub book purchased from iTunes on Windows

I have purchased a book through iTunes, it is formatted as an epub. Is there anyway I can read it in a Windows PC?

Solution 1:

Depends on whether it's protected by DRM or not. If it's not DRM protected, you can use free software like Calibre. You can also read the ePub books in Firefox using the EPUBReader extension and in Chrome using the MagicScroll eBook Reader extension.

To know if your eBook is DRM protected (fixed the description to correctly say "DRM" instead of "copyright"):

1. Open iTunes.
2. Select the target ebook.
3. Choose File.
4. Choose Get Info.
5. Look at the “Media Kind” field.
   • If it says “book,” it is a web download.
   • If it says “purchased book,” it’s a DRM free iBook purchase/download.
   • If it says “protected book,” it has a DRM attached.

Solution 2:

To read ebooks on a PC, it's best buy them from one of the stores which provides a free ereader app for that platform, probably Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Googlebooks, or Sony.

There is no indication Apple will join that group (it took 3 years to extend iBooks from iOS to OS X), but there are some publishers, like O'Reilly, who sell unprotected books on the iBookstore, and these can be read on a PC with the apps described by M K.

Solution 3:

You can open your epub files with any of these programs:

• EPUB Reader
• Adobe Digital Editions Home (recommended)
• Okular

You can read which one is best for you.

Solution 4:

On a Windows7 machine I right-clicked the ibook in the iTunes application window and COPIED it via the pop-up menu onto my Windows desktop (you could copy it into any folder of your choosing). I then changed the extension of the copied file, which is a .ibooks-file, to .epub (just simply renaming the extension of the file name). I then could open the renamed file with the Calibre E-book viewer as well as with Adobe Digital Editions. Give it a try!