Aura HD For U.S. Buyers...

[Nil Einne]

Originally Posted by Nil Einne

Ordered mine shipping to my freight forwarder in Oregon on the 16th (US/Canadian time) although it was fairly late in the day. My credit card got charged when I ordered I think. (My CC company doesn't show authorisation holds in the account details and I forgot to check my balance just before ordering but it doesn't seem to have changed unexpectedly and it now shows up as a processed transaction after ~ 3 days.) I got charged in Canadian dollars, I guess this is normal I was never sure but I definitely prefer it because the Canadian dollar is lower (and because it's always a foreign currency transaction to me, it would be better or the same for me even if it was 0.999USD to 1CAD).

Got 2 emails from Kobo just after I ordered, one an invoice, one an order confirmation. Nothing since but they only had 1 working day so far probably and unfortunately Monday seems to be a holiday in most of Canada.

Just a quick update, got an email not long ago from Kobo saying it shipped via Canada Post. Checking the tracking number I get these details.

2013/05/22	06:01	MISSISSAUGA	International item has left Canada		
        	01:23	MISSISSAUGA	Item processed at postal facility		
2013/05/21	18:48	ETOBICOKE	Order information received by Canada Post

The tracking number is also already working in the USPS site, although it only shows 6:01am. I'm not sure if this is a limitation in the USPS tracking or they only received these details (meaning they probably only had the tracking number after this), I had thought Canada Post may share details with USPS as soon as they process it since they must know it's destined for the US. (With items from China or HK I can usually check the NZ Post site not long after the tracking starts working, i.e. before it leaves China or HK.)

So if you're counting, it was about 5 days since I ordered, but since as I said it was fairly late on Thursday that I ordered and Monday is a holiday for the places involved, that means it's shipped on the second or third working day depending on whether you count Saturday (Friday then left Kobo on Tuesday). I wonder if I'd ordered earlier (I noticed the Espresso in stock earlier in the day but then wanted to check a few more thing, also I had never checked on Thursday before then IIRC) whether it would have left Kobo on Friday and perhaps left Canada on Saturday presuming Canada Post processes parcels on Saturday.

Anyway not a big deal considering I already had to wait a long time for the Espresso to go back in to stock because I waited one day too many to order. And either way, personally I'm reasonably satisfied by Kobo's processing time and the way my order had been handled so far. Now just have to wait for it to wind it's way to my Portland, Oregon freight forwarder. I'm glad I didn't have any lost order problems since that may have been annoying to work out considering I don't live in the US and am having it shipped to a freight forwarder. Particularly if my CC was never charged, I would be wondering if they rejected it but failed to tell me. I'm also hoping Kobo gotten more conservative with the packaging too so I don't have to pay too much volumetric weight charges for shipping it to NZ (if it's over 2 kg as one person found, I may try to get my freight forwarder to repackage). So perhaps it's for the better I waited. Of course most important of all would be that my reader is fine and does not require a return since that would be rather annoying to deal with.

[theonna]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Now that it all clean and the books are on the device, how long does it take to add ten books?

2 minutes, good.
But Calibre(me) messed up collections, I wish it would have better instructions... So I have to do it all over again...

Originally Posted by davidfor

It sound like you bought the wrong device. From everything you say, the Kobo devices are not for you. Not having a file browser is well known and even a tiny bit of research would have shown this.

Оf course. It is so much easier to say, in essence, go away, rather than agree that a feature could greatly improve the performance of the device. There are many factors that make or break the decision to buy a device. For Kobo Aura HD- screen resolution and unusual bigger screen. Against Kobo Aura HD - poor software design, poor customer service. For avid readers both important. To how many people are you saying that- Kobo is not for you?

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't think Kobo make any claim to support the languages you mention.

Well, just having a file manager with unicode support would help tremendously, no need to mass transliterate anything or struggle with Calibre settings.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Of course, there is no reason you should not ask for these extra functions. But, don't be surprised when Kobo never give you the file browser. Better language support is probably on the cards, though I have no idea when.

Exactly. I've been reading ebooks for a long time now and it is very frustrating to see how poorly software is thought out and performs on a new device, how obvious features are ignored, it poses a question- does Kobo want a bigger share of ereader market or just trying to get on the band wagon? Because instead of "Kobo is not for you", they should be saying - thank you to all those who paid premium for their readers, when there are plenty to choose from.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by theonna

Exactly. I've been reading ebooks for a long time now and it is very frustrating to see how poorly software is thought out and performs on a new device, how obvious features are ignored, it poses a question- does Kobo want a bigger share of ereader market or just trying to get on the band wagon? Because instead of "Kobo is not for you", they should be saying - thank you to all those who paid premium for their readers, when there are plenty to choose from.

Hmmm... I've now owned more ereaders and ereader applications on computers, phones and tablets than I care to remember -- a triumph of optimism over experience. Many were rapidly orphaned and never even came close to living up to the promises made when I bought them. Language support was at best poor. One which supported multiple languages only did so in the form of pdf files with embedded fonts. Not very fond memories of how it could mangle a pdf file. Much like looking at a Calibre converted pdf where each line becomes a paragraph. Often a line that was too long for the display would disappear off the edge of the screen. Another displayed epubs in a very interesting fashion though it would have made some happy. No margins, no spaces between lines or paragraphs, graphics that were all displayed as thumbnail size. One that displayed Microsoft's .lit format ebooks. Unless they were DRMed in which case it would either not display anything or reset itself.

Regards,
David

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by theonna

2 minutes, good.
But Calibre(me) messed up collections, I wish it would have better instructions... So I have to do it all over again...

Have a look at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=193184 before you try the shelves again. If anything isn't clear ask.

[theonna]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Have a look at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=193184 before you try the shelves again. If anything isn't clear ask.

Thank you, that is the topic I was using.
Created custom column, edited plugin to create shelves with #myshelves, series, made sure metadata had set to auto, put the right string into the plugboard, manually went along and added shelf data by bulk editing groups of books. Finally put those books on Kobo Aura HD, waited another couple hours( only1.8k books this time) 30 min deleting, 67 uploading, 40 after disconnecting from computer, only to see no shelves that I created...
If someone thinks it is the best way to manage bookshelves, they are nuts.
I run Mac 10.8.3, Calibre 0.9.31.
I know that I can use Aura much faster just a few books at a time, but I am still willing to do the whole thing- having large collection of books on it with proper shelves. So what did I miss?

[PeterT]

Try it with a smaller selection of books maybe? I don't see why you would try 1800 books for the initial load...

[PeterT]

Also do remember there is no need to delete / reload books to change the shelves they are one.

Change the shelves / tags whatever in calibre and then reattach your device. Books will be reshelved during the automatic metadata processing when the device is plugged in.

[theonna]

davidfor and PeterT- thank you both.
It finally worked. There are three Kobo drivers in my Calibre, I was just configuring KOBOTOUCH, but after I mirrored settings for KOBO and KOBOEXTENDED, my collections finally were set.
That leaves me with one question, is there any way to set a script or something to automatically make shelves on Kobo either from one or two tags- like authors or genres using Calibre or from folders, using something else, there are tools like that for Kindle?
Aurora HD can hold about 3 to 4 thousand books, if only there was a way to automate bookshelf management.
And Thank You Again.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by theonna

davidfor and PeterT- thank you both.
It finally worked. There are three Kobo drivers in my Calibre, I was just configuring KOBOTOUCH, but after I mirrored settings for KOBO and KOBOEXTENDED, my collections finally were set.

If you have the KOBOEXTENDED driver installed and it is enabled, then you will be using that. The options for the other drivers are ignored. The KOBO driver is for the older devices. The KOBOTOUCH is for the current devices (Touch, Glo, Mini and AuraHD). The KOBOEXTENDED adds the ability to epubs to the devices as kepubs.

That leaves me with one question, is there any way to set a script or something to automatically make shelves on Kobo either from one or two tags- like authors or genres using Calibre or from folders, using something else, there are tools like that for Kindle?

You can use just about any column for creating shelve. So, you can use authors or tags. The examples used in the thread are just that, examples. I find a custom column that I can assign whatever I want to is useful. And a lot of people wanted shelves for series, so that is why those were used.

Aurora HD can hold about 3 to 4 thousand books, if only there was a way to automate bookshelf management.

It has been discussed and I think a couple of scripts or links have been posted. A search should find them.

[Naomi Batac]

Originally Posted by 93terp

For those in the U.S. ordering the Kobo Aura HD -

So I had a very strange issue with my Kobo Aura HD purchase & am passing along info in case someone else in the U.S. is having a similar experience.

1. Pre-ordered Aura HD last Thursday (18 April) with existing Kobo account. Received 1 email for new order from Kobo, with confirmation #.
2. Checked credit card on Saturday (20 April) - no charge, no pre-authorization, no nothing! Hmmm...weird, considering I had read in another string on MR that other U.S. customers had received shipping notices and that their credit cards had been charged.
3. Placed 2nd order for Aura HD Saturday (20 April) with existing Kobo account. Received 1 email for new order from Kobo, with confirmation #.
4. Checked credit card on Sunday (21 April) - no charge, no pre-authorization, no nothing for either order!
5. Conducted online chat with Kobo customer support on Sunday (21 April). Kobo can't find any record in their system of either order! They are escalating issue to Tier 2 support to investigate.
6. Checked credit card on Monday (22 April) - no charge, no pre-authorization, no nothing for either order! By 6pm EST, no word back from Kobo Tier 2 support on the issue.
7. I called Kobo North American support - very long story short (they still couldn't see any indication of either order from last week at the time I placed the call), I set up a completely new account, with different email address than the one I used for my original account and voila! I received 2 emails immediately from Kobo - the new order email & invoice email. And even better, I kept the Kobo customer rep on the phone while I set up the new account and re-ordered - she confirmed that they can now see the 3rd order in their system!

Very weird! I can only surmise that since my original Kobo account that I used for the 1st 2 orders is over 3 years old with only 1 ebook purchase, that that has something to do with the problem???

Soooo, hopefully I will be getting my shipping email now soon! :

Hopefully this is isolated to just me and not a broader issue with Kobo's U.S. ordering system.

Thank you for sharing the information.

[Ken Maltby]

The two orders I made from the heart of Texas (San Antonio) were both shipped from
Canada (by shipped, I mean Mailed) and arrived without problems. It took forever, but
so has anything I have gotten that came through the mail system. The ordering through
their web site went without a hitch, considering Canada runs on banker's hours, only.

Luck;
Ken