Help Play Books -- how to remove default titles?

[sutekh137]

Hey all,

I'm enjoying my A100 so far, but have an annoying issue with Play Books.

Not sure if it is built in for all Acer tablets or just the one I got from GameStop (it was bundled with some nice games...), but there are three "classic" titles in Play Books by default. I want them gone.

No matter how much I remove them from the tablet (both "remove from device" and "remove from library"), they keep re-appearing. If I "Delete Permanently" the titles in Play Books on the Google web site (via my desktop computer), they disappear from there, but still keep re-appearing on the tablet (and then will re-appear in Google Play on my computer screen right before my eyes).

I can't uninstall the Play Books app because it is a system app. And no, I'm not going to root over this, not with ICS coming out in the next couple of weeks (supposedly).

Can anyone tell me how to get rid of these stupid books? In case there is any question about the titles I am talking about (or if others have a similar scenario), the books are "Treasure Island", "Wuthering Heights", and "The Three Musketeers."

Please help me get rid of these books, as I'd like to conserve the A100's decent-but-not-huge 8 GB if internal card space as much as possible.

Thanks in advance for any help regarding this issue!

Thanks!
sutekh137

 

[MSUgEEk]

You can make them unavaiable offline from your tablet, but if you want them gone, follow this:

-From your computer, log in to Google Play Books (www.google.com/books works).
-Click the "MyBooks on Google Play" towards the top of the page
-Under each book you want removed, click the menu button beside the "Read" button and click "Remove from My Library"

 

[sutekh137]

You can make them unavaiable offline from your tablet, but if you want them gone, follow this:

-From your computer, log in to Google Play Books (www.google.com/books works).
-Click the "MyBooks on Google Play" towards the top of the page
-Under each book you want removed, click the menu button beside the "Read" button and click "Remove from My Library"

Thanks for the response, svt.

Your instructions are good, and they work for removing the books from the Google Site side of things. I know this because that is what I did yesterday.

However, that was also the first time I noticed the books reappear on my tablet. *smile* So, sadly, these instructions don't solve my particular problem.

In fact, when I then:

-- Click on "My Orders & Devices" at the bottom of that page you mention...
-- It shows a list of everything "purchased" for my A100 -- and the three books I want to remove are still right there at the top (even though they are gone from "My Books".)
-- On that listing, I even clicked the little triangle next to "Report a problem", select "Delete Forever", and then "DELETE AND LOSE ACCESS".
-- Refresh page, and they remain gone from that list.
-- Fire up my tablet, open Play Books, and BAM, three books are back.
-- Go back to web browser on desktop, refresh Google page, and there are the three books again in the purchase page (though they remain gone from "My Books", at least...)

Just like a bad penny. *smile*

My guess is that because they were "purchased", yet also bundled (free) in with the initial install, Google Play can't get a handle on how to get rid of them. I would have to delete the whole Books app and reinstall clean, probably, to start with a fresh slate. Like I said, I'm not going to root my device just for that.

Thanks for the advice, and I do think it would work for anything other than this odd, initial bundle scenario, but it doesn't stop these three titles from "pulling a Lazarus".

Thanks,
sutekh137

 

[sutekh137]

I am now realizing the odd state for these "initial" titles.

I added another free book to my library ("Kidnapped"). Upon refreshing Play Books on my tablet, the three titles disappeared and "Kidnapped" appeared.

If I remove "Kidnapped" from my library, the three books appear again.

So, they are merely place holders for when the library is empty -- evidently nature abhors a vacuum. *smile*

So, assuming I can find some books I want to read, they will take over the list. Or, I can just find some small, free short story and be taking very little room on my tablet (I don't think the three initial titles every fully downloaded anyway, now that I am analyzing storage more closely...)

Still intriguing, and somewhat irksome, but more under control...

Thanks,
sutekh137

 

[MSUgEEk]

Sorry I wasnt more help. Not really understanding what you are talking about, but glad you're figuring it out. When I remove books from my account on the website, they disappear on my phone. That's what I thought you were wanting.

 

[sutekh137]

Sorry I wasn't more help. Not really understanding what you are talking about, but glad you're figuring it out. When I remove books from my account on the website, they disappear on my phone. That's what I thought you were wanting.

Yep, that IS exactly what I am wanting, and exactly what isn't happening for me (until I add a different book to my library, then the sample titles go away...). *smile*

So, you understand the issue, no worries there, and I appreciate your help! If nothing else, it makes this thread another nice reminder of how folks can deal with media from Google Play...

Thanks,
sutekh137

 

[countryman]

A useful thread, thanks. Annoying that one cannot get rid of these books at all. I will never buy or read a book on my Ace 2 and so would prefer to get rid of these completely. But I have no record in google Play books to delete. Each time I delete from the phone, they come bouncing back in again.

Tad annoying.

 

[Mrhelper]

This is an old thread where the OP was running Honeycomb. It seems possible that by this time your a100 has been updated to ICS (Android 4.0.3). In that case, all you may need to do to resolve the issue is go to Settings > Apps All (tab) and select Google Play Books. You can then Clear data, followed by Uninstall updates. After removing all of the updates, that button will change to a button named Disable. Select the Disable button, and Google Play Books will no longer be an issue.

 

[countryman]

I'm on Gingerbread (I think) and the option for Google Play books isn;t there.

 

[zuben el genub]

I had 3 books listed in the Aldiko reader when I bought my Acer. You have to hunt with a file explorer to find them. I'd delete and they would come back. Apparently they are built into Aldiko. I disabled Aldiko and got another reader where I could tell the reader where I put the books. (Ext. SD)