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sophiek · 06-30-2011, 08:53 AM

Being another rude Canadian, I have to weigh in. I bought the original Kobo the day it was released over a year ago. Technologically challenged, taming and others helped me get up and running. My husband purchased a K3 at the same time so we could compare the 2. At the time no question- the K3 was a superior product. However, when my Kobo had problems, Indigo replaced it no questions asked. When my husband had problems with his Kindle, there was no recourse other than to return it to the U.S. and wait. Also, because we are in Canada, my husband could not purchase the most recent Baldacci book (and others) from Amazon, but I have had no problems purchasing any books through Kobo.

Fast forward a year, and on the day the Kobo Touch was released I bought 2- one for hubby and one for myself. I was impressed out of the box but the most recent firmware upgrade has blown me away. We are basic users. We love new releases (books) and don't want to mess around with DRM or anything else- we just download and read. No sideloads of PDF's or anything of the sort. Although these boards are full of people complaining about PDF's and books loaded via SD cards, I suspect the majority of the target market for the KTouch are more like we are. I LOOOOVE my Ktouch, and am so appreciative of the responsiveness of the Kobo team and people like taming and Tim Legge who are there to help out people like me.

I only have one thing remaining on my wishlist (probably should be on another thread)- I wish there was a way to have more than one library on the Kobo desktop, or at least a way to load books from the desktop to the Kobo one book at a time. I painstakingly loaded my husband's Kobo with titles from my library (the hard way- removed all of the 'I'm Reading' and bookmarked all of the titles for him and synced his Kobo; then reset them all back to my books), then he pressed the sync button on his Kobo, wondering what it was for. (I had to start over again). Once loaded this is not a huge issue as long as firmware updates are done via Wifi however if I purchase a book then want to share it with him, the only way I can get it on his Kobo is to sync the whole 'I'm Reading' (I think???). It would also be nice if the single-use discount codes recognized individual Kobos rather than accounts. Because we share an account we can't each take advantage of single-use discounts.

These are minor inconveniences that for the most part I know I can get around using ADE (except the discount), but silly me, I like the original covers.

At the end of the day, all I really wanted to say is that I love my Kobo Touch and I suspect most purchasers (who probably don't even know about these boards) feel the same. I have purchased over 60 books through Kobo in the last year, again, a pattern more suited to the reason the Kobo was released- to make money (nothing wrong with that). Most of the people complaining are looking for ways to deal with their own documents and books downloaded for free or from elsewhere. Although these people represent a portion of the Kobo market, I suspect Kobo's key concern is to sell hardware to support their own book sales, and I think they have done a fine job at this.

Tomorrow is July 1st- happy Canada Day everyone!

06-30-2011, 08:53 AM	#50
sophiek Member Posts: 21 Karma: 374 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Kobo	Being another rude Canadian, I have to weigh in. I bought the original Kobo the day it was released over a year ago. Technologically challenged, taming and others helped me get up and running. My husband purchased a K3 at the same time so we could compare the 2. At the time no question- the K3 was a superior product. However, when my Kobo had problems, Indigo replaced it no questions asked. When my husband had problems with his Kindle, there was no recourse other than to return it to the U.S. and wait. Also, because we are in Canada, my husband could not purchase the most recent Baldacci book (and others) from Amazon, but I have had no problems purchasing any books through Kobo. Fast forward a year, and on the day the Kobo Touch was released I bought 2- one for hubby and one for myself. I was impressed out of the box but the most recent firmware upgrade has blown me away. We are basic users. We love new releases (books) and don't want to mess around with DRM or anything else- we just download and read. No sideloads of PDF's or anything of the sort. Although these boards are full of people complaining about PDF's and books loaded via SD cards, I suspect the majority of the target market for the KTouch are more like we are. I LOOOOVE my Ktouch, and am so appreciative of the responsiveness of the Kobo team and people like taming and Tim Legge who are there to help out people like me. I only have one thing remaining on my wishlist (probably should be on another thread)- I wish there was a way to have more than one library on the Kobo desktop, or at least a way to load books from the desktop to the Kobo one book at a time. I painstakingly loaded my husband's Kobo with titles from my library (the hard way- removed all of the 'I'm Reading' and bookmarked all of the titles for him and synced his Kobo; then reset them all back to my books), then he pressed the sync button on his Kobo, wondering what it was for. (I had to start over again). Once loaded this is not a huge issue as long as firmware updates are done via Wifi however if I purchase a book then want to share it with him, the only way I can get it on his Kobo is to sync the whole 'I'm Reading' (I think???). It would also be nice if the single-use discount codes recognized individual Kobos rather than accounts. Because we share an account we can't each take advantage of single-use discounts. These are minor inconveniences that for the most part I know I can get around using ADE (except the discount), but silly me, I like the original covers. At the end of the day, all I really wanted to say is that I love my Kobo Touch and I suspect most purchasers (who probably don't even know about these boards) feel the same. I have purchased over 60 books through Kobo in the last year, again, a pattern more suited to the reason the Kobo was released- to make money (nothing wrong with that). Most of the people complaining are looking for ways to deal with their own documents and books downloaded for free or from elsewhere. Although these people represent a portion of the Kobo market, I suspect Kobo's key concern is to sell hardware to support their own book sales, and I think they have done a fine job at this. Tomorrow is July 1st- happy Canada Day everyone!