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Old 09-20-2013, 03:06 PM   #76
witchkitten
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Posts: 46
Karma: 12026
Join Date: Jul 2013
Device: Nook Simple Touch
The Blackberry method of telling whether or not a book is available as an epub isn't perfect. It seems that the absence of Blackberry support means that the book does not have an Adobe DRM file. Instead, it might be kepub only, DRM-Free epub (at least in one example), and perhaps other files types. Whether these file formats really don't work on Blackberry, I can't say since I don't own a Blackberry, however, it seems that Kobo's new site is marking it this way. Also, this method does not work in countries where Blackberry devices aren't supported on any book.

Although my sample size has been small, I've checked the Blackberry method against the Preview method for all books that didn't have an Adobe DRM epub and in all cases Blackberry wasn't supported. Also, for all books I've checked, if Blackberry was supported then the book was available as an Adobe DRM epub. Unless someone finds an exception, it means that if you see that Blackberry is supported you can be reasonably sure that there is an Adobe DRM option, however, you shouldn't rule out books that don't support Blackberry because they may be DRM-free epubs or some other acceptable file type (use the preview checking method in these cases to be sure). If someone has an example of a book that has Blackberry support but does not include an epub version then I'd like to know because that would make this method of checking completely unreliable. (Note: I'm not sure how Kobo handles PDF only books because I can't find a book that is available only as a PDF.)

Regardless, it's ridiculous that we have to go through multiple steps (the preview checking method) or use a cryptic code (the Blackberry method) to tell what file format a book is available in. It should be clearly printed on the book info webpage to avoid confusion.
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