Format: How important is knowing the format before purchase

[samy2]

Originally Posted by witchkitten

Heaven is Paved with Oreos only comes as a kepub.

if so, than kobo is cheating.

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[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Sorry, but if heaven is paved with some sort of biscuit, it's going to be Tim Tams

Yummmmo ..... see you there

Prior to this week, I fully trusted ebook vendors to provide me with the most logical format; EPUB in Kobo, MOBI in Amazon, et cetera. I didn't pay it much mind - until, as I've recently posted about, I purchased a book which (despite having numerous devices listed) I cannot download as an Adobe-encrypted EPUB. This book is useless to me, and I paid about $12 for it. Due to Kobo's sub-par customer service, I cannot see myself progressing very far with a request for a refund. I care about format disclosure; I care about my wallet.

[Lynx-lynx]

Seraphine I've now asked Kobo to give me the epub version of the O'Reilly book I bought on Sunday, and they issued me in kepub format.

See if they'll give you the epub format.

BTW I haven't had a response back re that request which I sent a good 36 hours ago.

[samhy]

Although I think knowing the format before the purchase should be common sense and expected from every seller, I would like to point that of the about 80 ebooks that I've bought at Kobo *all of them* came as epub as well as kepub. The epub file being downloaded with ADE or directly from other web sites if it's DRM-free.

However it seems like many people have experienced trouble recently, ending up with only a kepub ebook. Could that be related to the transition to the new web site? Something like an issue with the database? Because I can't remember that many issues being reporter here before.
Anyway, I hope that Kobo will get their act together soon so we can go back to shopping without having to worry about technicalities.

[artig]

The format is very important to me, and until yesterday I was getting the old format Kobo website, using Opera. Today it has changed, so I am no longer able to determine the format before buying. So no more buying from Kobo until it's fixed. Despite the 50% coupon.

Although I may have a (temporary?) fix. The NZ Whitcoulls ebook site is presumably still derived from the Kobo site, and it shows the formats available, but only for ebooks available in NZ. http://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/ebooks/ebooks/45/

Does Kobo have resellers in other countries with their own websites?

Alternatively, IE9 is still showing the old Kobo web format. At least for the time being.

[correction: IE9 is showing a mix of old and new web format. In search results and in book descriptions some books show download format, others do not. For example searching for Gasston, Peter Gasston's book CSS3 shows epub format, but his The Modern Web does not show any format. And Whitcoulls only shows the CSS3 book. Aaaargh!]

[Katsunami]

Knowing the format is absolutely necessary. I only buy EPUBs; the only exception is when I buy an AZW3 at Amazon, if they are either the only ones to have the book, or are so much cheaper than any EPUB seller that it would be robbing my own wallet to buy the book somewhere else.

If I cannot know beforehand if I'm going to get an EPUB, KEPUB or PDF, then I don't buy anything.

EDIT: Weirdness. If you go to the "Free eBook" section, it actually says:

"Add to library"
"Adobe DRM EPUB" or "Download EPUB"

If I select a book that needs to be bought, it doesn't display the format.

So what's so difficult in getting this feature up and running? They just need to make all of their books free, and we can see the format.

[Lynx-lynx]

I've been wondering if this thread should be in the General Sub-section because it seems to me that knowing what the format of an ebook is prior to purchase is relevant to all purchasers of ebooks (and not just Kobo)

However, a reason for keeping this thread in the Kobo device sub-forum is that Kobo reps who come a wandering are more than not likely to come across it, whereas in the General Section they wouldn't realise such a thread/poll was taking place because of their decision to remove format and DRM info from their latest website update.

What do you think?

[Katsunami]

Keep it in this subforum. AFAIK, it's an issue only for Kobo, at this time.

All other vendors I know of only supply EPUB, or clearly state if it is a PDF. Amazon only provides MOBI or AZW3 (depending on how old the book is, I think), both intended solely for the Kindle. Both can be readily converted to EPUB after de-DRM-ing.

[taming]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

I've been wondering if this thread should be in the General Sub-section because it seems to me that knowing what the format of an ebook is prior to purchase is relevant to all purchasers of ebooks (and not just Kobo)
What do you think?

You may also want to look at the posting guidelines for the site. There is a lot of good information regarding where to post, the MR positions on duplicate postings etc. It's against the rules to publicly call someone out on posting "violations". Mods take care of it when it happens.

[samy2]

Look at this book:
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Lord-...PXQ/page1.html

Can you see:

Download options: Adobe DRM EPUB

On the "eBook Information"?? If so maybe you just have too look if there's written this text.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by samy2

Look at this book:
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Lord-...PXQ/page1.html

Can you see:

On the "eBook Information"?? If so maybe you just have too look if there's written this text.

Huh.... I've been checking some books, and that text is there with all of them.

Has it been there all along, with nobody noticing (can't believe it), or has it been added recently?

[taming]

It has not been there, and still isn't, on the US or Canadian sites. Maybe they are trying it out in the Netherlands first. Stranger things have happened. I've been writing to Kobo web team folks for awhile about this, and a few days ago (before this poll was established) one of the folks I was conversing with mentioned that I was not the only one complaining about it .

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Huh.... I've been checking some books, and that text is there with all of them.

Has it been there all along, with nobody noticing (can't believe it), or has it been added recently?

It's not available on the UK site.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

It's not available on the UK site.

Indeed. The UK site is completely different (and 4% more expensive). For one book, it actually says: "Preview is already in your library". It's not. I've deleted it yesterday, and it's not in the trash either.

edit: I've set my country to the US. The series of 5 books I bought a few days ago, are much more expensive there: $12.99 (€9.75), compared to €4.95 - 5.80, without the promo code.

Another series is cheaper in the US however: $6.59 (€4.95) compared to €6.04, also without the promo code. Using the promo code brings those books down to $3.29 / €2.54 in the US. This makes them 58% cheaper compared to buying them in The Netherlands without a promo code. (Something which almost every "normal" person would do...)

Pity that Kobo does not have two books in that last series. It started as a trilogy, but was later expanded to a quintet. Fortunately, FeedBooks.com has those for €4.50. That's still cheaper than the regular Kobo US price (by about $0.69).