Original Kobo users forgotten?

[Ghoda]

Originally Posted by digital_steve

It is what it is; cheap.
You can praise, excuse and blindly-accept all you like but the fact is they cocked up with the first gen, they're cocking up with the second gen from what i'm reading on here and they're struggling to keep up.
Can i understand their problem? Of course.
Do i accept it as a valid excuse for a business providing a product and service? No.
Hire more people, do what it takes to sort your shit out... if you're going to expand into a industry (and a second device clearly indicates that they want to be a continuing force in the ereader and ebook world) then you have to risk an outlay at some point.

I've been reading these threads daily ever since I bought my Kobo and while it has had its growing pains it is still a fine device - I am keeping mine and recommending them heavily to my friends, even giving a couple as gifts.

[Wet Coast]

Oh dear, and things had just settled down and we were being civil again

[ModReader]

I think someone needs to take a timeout and read a book. Or an ebook that is.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by digital_steve

Although when i suggested this as a firmware update possibility, i was told that i should edit things in Sigil, convert and pimp in Calibre and then put on the device... all requiring a DRM strip.

If it was me, my intentions were the best. You asked for help and I
offered one.

So you have the kobo software and or/ade to download the file, DRM strip, another program to edit, another program to clean up and transfer. All for the sake of using the devices real estate.

No, you don't. You could leave it as it is any time.

So the solution is either to lobby the publishers to do things right (i'll bet they'll listen), have a margin cut feature in the kobo firmware (i would've thought this was viable) or waste shedloads of time editing and hacking your books.

All 3 options are fine with me. An amount of time and effort differs, from
the very first to the very third. Imagine when you will move publisher to
hire new workers to read. Firmware upgrade looks like future option. Last
one is under our hands. We could tweak it as we like, without a mistake.
Line still to the right? Something in css. No toc? Etc...

To be frank, it is a real pain to get newspapers on the kobo 1 without
wifi. It simply goes beyond logic. The reader was made that way to be
cheap and competitive. To read new issue of <insert>, you have to con-
nect device to usb adapter first and <insert your own words>. Not simple.
With wifi it could be simple. There is no poll if people like text or pictures
in newspapers. If text, no problemos. Someone could compile lynx to
read text or alike. Someone has any idea, without cursing?

[viviena]

Originally Posted by digital_steve

So the solution is either to lobby the publishers to do things right (i'll bet they'll listen), have a margin cut feature in the kobo firmware (i would've thought this was viable) or waste shedloads of time editing and hacking your books.

Best solution's lobbying the publishers, despite the convenience of having a firmware solution. Sure, the margin-cut feature on ereaders such as the Sonys is worth having on the Kobo, but it doesn't work for every EPUB (to my great frustration). There's some crazily convoluted coding in some EPUBs that thwarts margin-cuts and which the average reader wouldn't (and shouldn't) expect to fix. I'm placing the blame on publishers and their desire to as closely replicate the reading-on-paper experience as possible.

[digital_steve]

Originally Posted by Ghoda

I've been reading these threads daily ever since I bought my Kobo and while it has had its growing pains it is still a fine device - I am keeping mine and recommending them heavily to my friends, even giving a couple as gifts.

... umm congrats? I'm not sure where anyone, including myself, said that anyone should get rid of their Kobo or not recommend them to anyone.
I bought 3 for family and myself and can attribute another 3 sales to me recommending the device and showing it off to people.
So, err, who wins? I'm a bit lost if this was an argument, point, or an exercise for your fingers.

Zoran - I wasn't pointing fingers about who proposed what solution. As for the rest of your post, i can't really comment because i miss the gist of what you say half the time as you're not from an english-speaking background; that's my problem, not yours mate.

Viviena - I agree it's the ideal solution, but it is also the solution that is least likely to get an outcome. A margin cut feature on the Kobo would be the best the end-user could expect in my opinion.
BTW, which files have you had trouble with re: the margin cut on Sony? I've yet to come across one (but i haven't had it for long, so i'm sure i will eventually).

As for the rest of the 'civil' and 'read a book' wad; what's this all about? If it's directed at me then i'll say that i'm allowed to express my opinions as much as the next person... feel free not to read them.
Unless there was something i missed (i noticed someone's post was edited, so i obviously missed something)

[zoran]

Originally Posted by digital_steve

Zoran - I wasn't pointing fingers about who proposed what solution.

No problemos. The very idea is fine, so there's a reason to mention it again.

As for the rest of your post, i can't really comment because i miss the gist of what you say half the time as you're not from an english-speaking background; that's my problem, not yours mate.

Even my mom misses the point what I'm talking about from time to time.
Regarding no english speaking folks, there would be no kobo reader without
Linus, who is from Finland. Canadians might recall Marshall McLuhan, who
invented the idiom "global village". Cultures are closer today, spite lingo
barrier. So, you could read first sentence from my post. It is all there.

[digital_steve]

Originally Posted by zoran

Even my mom misses the point what I'm talking about from time to time.
Regarding no english speaking folks, there would be no kobo reader without
Linus, who is from Finland. Canadians might recall Marshall McLuhan, who
invented the idiom "global village". Cultures are closer today, spite lingo
barrier. So, you could read first sentence from my post. It is all there.

As i said mate, it's my problem... not yours
I just need to be more attentive when reading forums

[viviena]

Originally Posted by digital_steve

Viviena - I agree it's the ideal solution, but it is also the solution that is least likely to get an outcome. A margin cut feature on the Kobo would be the best the end-user could expect in my opinion.
BTW, which files have you had trouble with re: the margin cut on Sony? I've yet to come across one (but i haven't had it for long, so i'm sure i will eventually).

Regarding the book which didn't work with Sony's margin-cuts, it was some time ago and I don't recall its title, but it was purchased from KoboBooks. The margins were ridiculous, and encoded in two different places -- twice the fun hunting them out! The coding was seemingly as convoluted as possible, and drove me nuts until I picked up a tip here on MR to easily eliminate the offending margin settings.

To be fair though, that was the worst book I've encountered by far (to top it all, it had been poorly proofread). Most of the other EPUBs I've bought from KoboBooks I've had no problems with, or if I did, they were at least easily rectified.

[digital_steve]

I've only had a couple of shockers from KoboBooks... which is pretty good, since i've basically got all my books there thus far

[Mememememe]

Regarding ePubs with margin issues ...

The publishers aren't trying to force bad margins on you. They likely don't know there are margin issues -- or didn't when they created the file(s) in question.

Some ePubs view perfectly fine on some readers, but look wonky in others. We adjusted our margins when we saw that they looked too big in Kobo. (This was before we actually launched our books in ePub format, so none of the big margins ever went out.)

If publishers know there is an issue with margins on Kobo, it's a simple matter to change style sheets to allow for margins that work on all devices. I've never had a problem, anyway.

By and large I find that the formatting in ePub files from publishers is vastly superior to the modified formatting Kobo supplies through their desktop app (I loathe the fact that Kobo takes it upon themselves to reformat, often screwing up books in the process -- and dropping images, too). But most publishers are new to ePub and are learning as they go. They're open to tips on how to improve what they do. Really -- they don't want to create a bad reading experience.

Which publishers' books are giving you trouble? If they're Canadian publishers, I'm sometimes in contact with the people who handle ePubs at other companies, so I could mention the issue to them.

[dantaipan]

I updated my desktop app and now I am having all kinds of problems - failed to decrypt messages and desktop app crashing on sync. Could it be that the latest desktop app isn't playing well with the original Kobo with dated firmware?

[taming]

How dated? It seems to need 1.4 of the firmware.

[dantaipan]

There was another desktop update and it seems to have resolved itself

[kiwipippa]

OK, "soon" seems to be dragging on now.... Does anyone have an update on when the new firmware for the original kobo will be coming out? Any chance on seeing it by Christmas? Facebook showed an original kobo with a newspaper on it (16 Nov), but no date for delivery.

I want to buy myself a treat for xmas and it's either going to be a kindle (if kobo doesn't upgrade), or a phone....The kindle is starting to look attractive...