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6charlong · 03-21-2014, 02:24 PM

Many of the points in this thread are well made and often repeated but I have to disagree with some. I dug out my Sony eReaders and compared them to my Kobo Aura HD. The early Sonys were built like tanks: solid metal cases and buttons that pressed hard enough that you knew they would never wear out. The newer PRS series though, not so much. My PRS T1 is no better made than my Kobo Aura HD (frankly, it seems flimsy by comparison).

It's obvious that Sony did the honorable thing when they arranged to protect their customers by sending their books to the other American ePub vendor. I disagree with the criticism of sloppy construction of the Kobos and I also disagree with the sometimes expressed notion that kePub formatted books are not good. To me, it is the opposite, they are the first presentation of an eBook on an eInk screen that really duplicates the best practices of traditional publishing. I have many ePub books and many kePubs, and it is apparent that some publishers do better than others when they publish, but you have to blame the publishing house for that. When the publisher does their job right the resulting kePub is fabulous.

Kobo sells their books in plain vanilla ePub OR in kePub format although to get the kePub version you need an eReader capable of rendering kePub, which means a Kobo reader. I'm excited to discover whether my old Sony books will be available for download to my Aura HD in kePub form.

I'm seeing a lot of anxiety about this change but honestly, it's misplaced: Kobo is a great company. Their newest and best eReaders, the Auras, are state of the art--presently a generation ahead of Kindle. Their eBook store and customer support haven't had 20 years of honing like Amazon's but Kobo's customer support keeps getting better.

No need to fret. Wait a bit and see how this develops. You have an upgrade path if you chose to use it, and if so, you may find that your old library just got better.

03-21-2014, 02:24 PM	#14
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	Many of the points in this thread are well made and often repeated but I have to disagree with some. I dug out my Sony eReaders and compared them to my Kobo Aura HD. The early Sonys were built like tanks: solid metal cases and buttons that pressed hard enough that you knew they would never wear out. The newer PRS series though, not so much. My PRS T1 is no better made than my Kobo Aura HD (frankly, it seems flimsy by comparison). It's obvious that Sony did the honorable thing when they arranged to protect their customers by sending their books to the other American ePub vendor. I disagree with the criticism of sloppy construction of the Kobos and I also disagree with the sometimes expressed notion that kePub formatted books are not good. To me, it is the opposite, they are the first presentation of an eBook on an eInk screen that really duplicates the best practices of traditional publishing. I have many ePub books and many kePubs, and it is apparent that some publishers do better than others when they publish, but you have to blame the publishing house for that. When the publisher does their job right the resulting kePub is fabulous. Kobo sells their books in plain vanilla ePub OR in kePub format although to get the kePub version you need an eReader capable of rendering kePub, which means a Kobo reader. I'm excited to discover whether my old Sony books will be available for download to my Aura HD in kePub form. I'm seeing a lot of anxiety about this change but honestly, it's misplaced: Kobo is a great company. Their newest and best eReaders, the Auras, are state of the art--presently a generation ahead of Kindle. Their eBook store and customer support haven't had 20 years of honing like Amazon's but Kobo's customer support keeps getting better. No need to fret. Wait a bit and see how this develops. You have an upgrade path if you chose to use it, and if so, you may find that your old library just got better. Last edited by 6charlong; 03-21-2014 at 02:32 PM.