achinoam01: Pseudo-Sync an eReader with iTunes and iBookstore

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Pseudo-Sync an eReader with iTunes and iBookstore

In this hint, I describe the process I use to sync my Sony PRS-350 eReader with iTunes and the iBookstore. NOTE: this does not circumvent any DRM for iBookstore purchases. For simplicity, this hint assumes that books/PDFs import to the device are DRM-free, or otherwise viewable on your device.

First, some facts:

Sony eReaders, the Kindle, and many other eReaders are mounted to OSX as a regular external volume. The user can drag and drop compatible files and they will appear in the reader's library when ejected.
If the user has not opted to manually mange their files, iTunes stores imported eBooks in the ~/Music/iTunes/Books/ Directory.
The Unix tool rsync can synchronize two directories.
The Unix tool diskutil can mount and eject external volumes.
Many third party tools, such as Hazel can perform script actions when an external volume is mounted/ejec ...