I was really happy with Kobo until...

[taming]

Kobo has made a huge commitment to having books available in the currency of the buyer. If you go to the Kobo site, you will only see the books that are available in your country. No getting half way through buying the book only to be told it is not available to you. If rights to sell the book are there--Kobo will list the book for sale. They also have frequent coupon sales.

In short, I think you have confused why you bought the reader and shop at Kobo Books with the reason other people have done so.

[mamasue]

Originally Posted by taming

Kobo has made a huge commitment to having books available in the currency of the buyer. If you go to the Kobo site, you will only see the books that are available in your country. No getting half way through buying the book only to be told it is not available to you. If rights to sell the book are there--Kobo will list the book for sale.

I agree with this comment 100%.

It's heartbreaking (when a newbie & wondering WTF??? huh???) to get to checkout ... thinking all the while that you at last have a book you've wanted to read for a-g-e-s ... only to find it's geographically restricted.

Knowing that all the books I can actually see while I'm browsing on kobobooks are available to me is way less frustrating.

Having said that, I long for the day when publishers will make more books to available to Aust/NZ.

I feel like the naughty girl at school - made to go sit in the corner and wait!

[dos]

Just use a proxy to get the books you want no matter what region you're in?

Kinda similar to "Just download the ePub, strip the DRM, reformat in Calibre, upload to device".

[taming]

I am an old fuddy duddy. I like legal.

[mamasue]

Originally Posted by taming

I am an old fuddy duddy. I like legal.

so do I.

(edited to add) and so AM I!!! rofl

look at what's happened in the music industry

[dos]

Originally Posted by taming

I am an old fuddy duddy. I like legal.

Not quite sure of the legality of it but if you're using a proxy to access another region's store you're still paying for the book, the computers just think you're an American (or whatever).

[Canorka]

This happens with Slaughterhouse-Five too. One one occasion there's simply a few lines of centred text. Comes up as blank space in the native format version. Then there's a one page image later on; again, blank space. The ePub version is perfect.

This place is great, I've gotten so much help around here for jumping through nagging Kobo software loops.

[taming]

I guess it is a matter of perspective. I know that for some sites (Kobo Books is one) it is against the user agreement to fake an address and that they can close my account for a transgression of their rules. I know that as a Canadian, I am only supposed to purchase books that can legally be sold in Canada while I am sitting in my den in Alberta.

From the terms of use:

(i) in consideration of your use of the Service, you represent that you are of the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which you reside, or 13 years old or older up to the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which you reside with the express written consent of your parent or legal guardian, and are not a person barred from receiving services under the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada or other applicable jurisdiction.You also agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by any registration form(s) on the Service, including your geographical location and billing address (the "Registration Data"); and (b) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, Kobo has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service (or any portion thereof);

and..

D. You may not obscure or misrepresent your geographical location, forge headers, use proxies, use IP spoofing or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any message or transmittal you send on or through the Service. You may not pretend that you are, or that you represent, someone else, or impersonate any other individual or entity.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by dos

I think some of you guys are misunderstanding me here. I know that the Kobo hardware is capable of displaying graphics. I know that the ePub version of books display graphics. My gripe is not with the reader hardware (which I kinda love) but with the Kobo proprietary e-book format, which is a completely different file than the ePub.

K, you are right. Personally, I misunderstood your original complaint. Anyway,
as far as I know, the db is kind of xml. I was lazy to explore it, since I like
epubs and format them the way I want. Xml is something I adore as a method
to store and deliver information, for small amount and no frills. Still, it could
be used and is used for presentation the same way as html.

Instead, one has to go through all kinds of stuff to get a format that doesn't run as well on the Kobo (ePubs are noticeably slower, take longer to load, don't display covers on load, usually have poorer formatting etc) working just to get the "correct" reading experience. At this point you might as well warez the things.

Depends on the particular book. If one uses axe to make a fine art, the result
is not for Louvre. Original tagging might differ the source from html output.
Also, css file helps to give all books formatted similar. No leeway. One knows
how to do that correctly or does not.

[mamasue]

a bit like having a sock puppet a/c, isn't it?

[CazMar]

Originally Posted by karunaji

....To make it official I now tell how appalled I am with the current state of e-book format rendering. I understand that many traditional print finesses are unnecessary or impossible in e-readers due to freely selectable font size or screen area changes, or limitations due to memory and processor constraints of e-readers. However, there are many simple and critical features that are being ignored by current ebook moguls. Centered block text is one of them, another is "keep x lines together". I won't go into details for better indexing and dictionary support.

........
It is even more shocking that such books are coming from respectable publishers like Penguin Publishing and others. Are they predicting their forthcoming demise in e-book age, so they no longer care about their reputation and rush to make a quick buck in their remaining time?

I actually wrote to the people at Borders in Australia (who distribute the Kobo and sell the books for it) as I was also not impressed by the formatting of ebooks. I was most surprised (considering how book sellers usually don't pay much attention to their customers ) at how promptly they replied and what a detailed response they gave. I rather got the impression that the guy replying was also not happy with the product the publishers were putting out and was determined to make sure things were improved. Keep complaining directly to the sellers and they will start to listen. Point out to them how well some of the free sites format their books and they will listen even more! I was lucky in having the University of Adelaide's excellent free book site to quote as a good example of simple, accurate formatting. (http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ if you are interested.)

[zoran]

Originally Posted by CazMar

(http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ if you are interested.)

Nice, nice!
Aristotle I was looking for. All translations to my lingo are not readable.
I will try English version. Contrary, I'm not sure how English goes for
Chekhov. A lot of lost and forgotten masterpieces!

[karunaji]

Originally Posted by dos

I think some of you guys are misunderstanding me here. .. My gripe is not with the reader hardware (which I kinda love) but with the Kobo proprietary e-book format, which is a completely different file than the ePub.

Hmm, I really didn't pay necessary attention but I also have some books from Kobo that I bought with my friend's address (who initially sent me the Kobo reader) and I think that there were some strange empty places in these books. I will now re-DRM and convert all my books to see what I have missed. Thanks for your clarifying this again.

[taming]

Hey Dos--I think folks on page one of this thread understood exactly what you were saying about the Kobo format, but where you went (and for me at least, how you got there) took us all "off point" as the discussion progressed.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by dos

Kobo seems to be happy just cruising along with something that "mostly works" as long as the money from their eBook stores keeps rolling in. This is depressing considering it seems like they have some talented people designing the stuff who just aren't being utilized in the right way (fix the bugs BEFORE wasting those resources rolling out a new product!). As is usually the case the problem is probably with management.

I apologize if I misunderstood, but it seems to me that this is a complaint against the reader itself. Maybe I'm not reading it in the right context.