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Old 10-30-2010, 09:39 PM   #9
ATDrake
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Posts: 11,517
Karma: 33048258
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Roundworld
Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia
Quote:
Originally Posted by stodge View Post
Now, I remember reading that the Kobo supports more formats (and DRM?) so I believe I can download from Amazon (and other places) and copy across to the Kobo. But I can't download from Chapters/Indigo and read the books on the Kindle. Is this correct?
It's actually closer to the other way around. Kobo supports both DRM-free and Adobe-DRM-ed versions of the open ePub and PDF formats (which libraries also use), Kindle supports Amazon's proprietary Mobipocket and Topaz, along with non-DRM PDF.

While both can be stripped and converted to load on the reader of your choice, Amazon's formats are a lot harder to deal with, both in terms of the exact hardware/software setup you need to begin with*, and certain limitations in the formats themselves which can lead to occasional display oddities that usually need to be manually fixed.

One consideration for Canadian buyers is that the Kobo store charges in Canadian dollars, and regularly puts out discount coupons which Canadians can generally use on just about any of their books.

The Amazon store charges in US dollars (you can use gift certificates to minimize the CC foreign currency fees if you stock up when the exchange rate is good) and the discounts tend to be irregular and haphazard in comparison, although sometimes there are better deals because of a publisher promo or whatnot.

I think perhaps you may want to consider the Sony, if the screen and PDF are very important to you and you're willing to give up wireless. It's a bit pricier, but there might be holiday discounts or other deals.

And since it also supports ADE-DRM ePubs and PDFs, you can shop from Kobo and borrow from the library (assuming yours carries e-books), which may be enough of a value-add to offset the higher cost.

* Especially tricky for PPC Mac and Linux users.

ETA: Ooh, from Fanatic to Guru in just one post!
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