Harry Potter books

[estelle58]

I received an email from Kobo saying that the Harry Potter books are available from Kobo via Pottermore. I wasn't able to link my Kobo account to Pottermore. Have you been able to get the books from Kobo?

[Irish Lion]

I'm not a Kobo customer, so forgive me if I'm speaking rubbish, but can't you just buy them from Pottermore and put them on your device? Or are you speaking of a lending library akin to what Amazon Prime has done?

[PeterT]

I think the idea is that if you perform the linkage, that you can then get the books in either the Adobe based ePub format, or the Kobo DRM based format we often call KePub, that can then be read by any of the Kobo applications on any platform, and not just via ePub readers.

[Irish Lion]

Ah, if the goal is to get the books with Kobo's DRM on it, I doubt that is possible. If Pottermore has even resisted Amazon on that front, I can't see why they'd strike up that type of deal with other sellers.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Irish Lion

Ah, if the goal is to get the books with Kobo's DRM on it, I doubt that is possible. If Pottermore has even resisted Amazon on that front, I can't see why they'd strike up that type of deal with other sellers.

Why do you say that? If you link your Pottermore account with Amazon, you download the books from Amazon with Amazon's DRM. Can you explain why you believe that the same thing couldn't happen with Kobo?

[Irish Lion]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why do you say that? If you link your Pottermore account with Amazon, you download the books from Amazon with Amazon's DRM. Can you explain why you believe that the same thing couldn't happen with Kobo?

Looks like I was laboring under a misapprehension of how the Amazon/Pottermore linkage works. My understanding was that even though Amazon will link you to Pottermore, you can only purchase the books DRM-free.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Irish Lion

Looks like I was laboring under a misapprehension of how the Amazon/Pottermore linkage works. My understanding was that even though Amazon will link you to Pottermore, you can only purchase the books DRM-free.

If you download the book direct from Pottermore, it's DRM-free. If you link to Amazon, and then download from Amazon, it has DRM. I don't see why the same couldn't done with Kobo, too.

[lecoeur]

There's a full article in today's Bookseller, link as follows.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/ko...r-e-books.html
Interesting that the Pottermore chief supremo says that Kobo is 'an increasingly powerful player.'
Seems though, that they still can't reach an agreement with Apple.

[estelle58]

Originally Posted by Irish Lion

I'm not a Kobo customer, so forgive me if I'm speaking rubbish, but can't you just buy them from Pottermore and put them on your device?

Yes, I did that without problems but I want to get them via Kobo so I can synk my bookmarks and use Pulse on my Vox

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by estelle58

Yes, I did that without problems but I want to get them via Kobo so I can synk my bookmarks and use Pulse on my Vox

The other reason to link to a bookstore is so that you can download to multiple devices, without it counting against your download count at Pottermore.

[Sharkus]

Originally Posted by lecoeur

Seems though, that they still can't reach an agreement with Apple.

What exactly do you mean? The whole removal of the store on iOS thing?
If so then it's not just Kobo. Amazon and B&N did the same thing.
I'm trying to think of any eReading app on iOS that actually uses In App Purchase, even iBooks doesn't use it, well, the API that everyone else has to use. From memory it bounces you to the iTunes store app, from where you purchase.

[Sharkus]

As others have said, you create a Pottermore account, purchase the books, and when you go to "My Books" you have the option to link your Kobo account. The idea is that we then add the entry to your Kobo library, so the book becomes available to any Kobo app / device that can read your Library.

The Harry Potter books are certainly DRM free. I'm specifically looking at the iOS app and I don't see any form of encryption on the files (for obvious reasons I'm not going to say where I'm looking and what I'm looking for). There will be some digital watermarking applied, which is how Pottermore can track where any pirated copies of the book come from.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Sharkus

The Harry Potter books are certainly DRM free. I'm specifically looking at the iOS app and I don't see any form of encryption on the files (for obvious reasons I'm not going to say where I'm looking and what I'm looking for). There will be some digital watermarking applied, which is how Pottermore can track where any pirated copies of the book come from.

Correct they are free of traditional DRM when downloaded directly from Pottermore and instead are watermarked (socially DRM'd). They do however have traditional DRM when downloaded from linked retailer accounts.

[lessthanyouthink]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Correct they are free of traditional DRM when downloaded directly from Pottermore and instead are watermarked (socially DRM'd). They do however have traditional DRM when downloaded from linked retailer accounts.

But not from Kobo

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by lessthanyouthink

But not from Kobo

The Kepub's aren't DRM'd or it lets you download a regular ePub that's not DRM'd? Since Pottermore insisted the other places use DRM it seems odd Kobo wouldn't have to as well.