Problem with a series with multipul books

Question

Especially within the Science Fiction and Fantasy categories, there are a number of multi-book series. Within the Kindle these books are identified by their position within the series. For example Title, book 2 of 9 for X series. The iBook store gives us no information on the correct order or even if a book is part of a series. I wondered if others have found this same problem and if Apple is aware of this limitation. I really prefer reading my ebooks within the iBook application, but an finding myself using the Kindle to get these books so I can read them in order. I hope this is something Apple will address. Ray

Answer 1

Within the Kindle these books are identified by their position within the series.
The Kindle reader is a dedicated eBook reader. iTunes, which manages the iPad, is not.
I wondered if others have found this same problem and if Apple is aware of this limitation.
I have no problems here. Since iTunes does not read the actual ePUB metadata and the iBooks Store does not appear to include the data in the book file title in either the manner or Kindle AZW or Sony ePUB files, I enter the missing metadata in iTunes and re-sync the volume back to the iPad which is how I assumed Apple planned things in order to keep DRM'd book data independent from the iTunes management free entry functions.
For example Title, book 2 of 9 for X series. The iBook store gives us no information on the correct order or even if a book is part of a series.
In most cases I know how many books are in each series I download/covert and so do not worry about the "# of #" identification but do want my books in proper order (i.e., by author, by series, by volume within the series). I also like to include the publication data and genre but not a description since all of the books in my library are for my exclusive use.
To accomplish this, I use a number of iTunes "Sort" entries:
For instance, I want the Author name displayed on a line in "First Last" order, but want the names to appear in a "Last, First" list order. Therefore, I enter the Author's name as I want it displayed (e.g., "Isaac Asimov") in the "Artist" entry block, but enter the name in the "Sort Artist" entry as I want it ordered in the author's list (e.g., "Asimov, Isaac").
In a similar manner I use the title of the book in the "Name" block because this is what I want displayed in the iPad Library listing, but I want the titles listed in the order in which they come in the series. To accomplish this I enter a series name and sequence number in the "Sort Name" field to order the titles in their proper order. (E.g., Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn would be sort-named "Lije Baley 1", "Lije Baley 2" and "Lije Baley 3" for the purpose of identifying the "Lije Baley & R. Daneel Olivaw" series of novels.
iTunes also automatically enters my book titles in the "Album" field. While I am not currently using this for anything, I normally add the series name (without a sequence number identification) to the "Sort Album" field as a secondary series ID in case I ever wish to use it as a series search field.