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Originally Posted by jersysman
With a Sony device you should be using the latest version of Sony Reader PC software and not the Kobo Desktop software. Which are you using? The instructions that you linked to does say use the latest version of the Sony software.
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Originally Posted by meeera
Again, don't do that. Not even Kobo's Help section says to use the Kobo Desktop to load your books onto a Sony reader.
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Originally Posted by JSWolf
You do not use Kobo Desktop with a Sony Reader. That's your first mistake. Your second mistake is that you are not using ADE to download the ACSM files.
<snip>
The problem here is that you are not doing the proper steps needed to get these eBooks onto your T1.
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Sorry I was unclear about the exact steps I was using. Between being exhausted and short on time my posts were muddled and unspecific. I was always using the latest version of the Sony (not Kobo) desktop software. I made sure I downloaded the latest version of prior to trying any of the syncing on my original post. I also made sure that the reader itself was updated to the latest firmware. I basically followed their help document (including only using the Sony desktop software) to the letter, but only get an uninformative "failed to download content" error (in the Sony desktop software) on any book that has DRM on it.
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Originally Posted by JSWolf
... If you have ADE and your T1 registered to the same account, you can download all of the ACSM files via ADE and once ADE downloads the ePub, you can then transfer the ePub to your T1. If your T1 is not registered to the same account as ADE, then you cannot view any of the DRMed ePub on your T1 without first stripping the DRM.
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Thanks for the tip. To be honest, I have no idea what an ACSM file is or how to exactly follow these steps, but I'm fairly technical. I'm pretty sure that once I google that a bit I will be able to try it out. I'll post back on my results. Thanks again.
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Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man
I contacted customer support through their website a couple of weeks ago and got a call-back within 2-hours. It wasn't the 5-minutes they promised on the support form, but it certainly wasn't "SLOW", either.
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I had contacted them as well (during my original issue) and they got back to me (via email) within 30 hours. Unfortunately by then I was gone. 30 hours is way too slow (and the email they sent was 100% useless). I'm not sure where they promised 5 minutes. That would have been fantastic. 2 hours would also have been acceptable. When I tried, in the United States, they promise a 48-60 hour turnaround time, and no calls back.
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Originally Posted by samhy
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Thanks for the link! I'll keep it in case I need it again. Where did you find that? I looked everywhere for a link for a live chat. Had this been somewhere I could have found it I would have used it and not bothered the fine people here with my crabby crabby demeanor.
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Originally Posted by RZetlin
I am not clear how you bought the books.
Did you purchase the books through your sony reader or through the kobo webiste?
How are you downloading the books? Is it through the Kobo desktop or on the website?
If you live in North America you can try and contact Kobo with these methods:
Phone: 1-855-732-3662
E-Mail: help@kobobooks.com |
Sorry again for my unclear posts. I had purchased them through the Kobo website and then tried to download them via the Sony desktop reader app.
Unfortunately the phone number you list only plays a recording telling you to go to their website for help (with all the attendant problems I had originally)
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Originally Posted by EowynCarter
So because you had one bad experience, kobo is crap? Ah !
use Adobe digital edition rather than kobo desktop.
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I will give that a shot (ADE), though I tried briefly the fist night and had no luck. That said I was also running out of time and did not dig too deeply into it. I will give it another shot. Thanks.
And it isn't that I had one bad experience that Kobo is crap. It is that *when* someone has a bad experience (which happens with every product everywhere) then there is nowhere official to turn to to try to make the bad experience into a good one. The experience with Kobo + Sony HAS been kind of crappy because of all the technical issues but that isn't the reason I suggest people avoid them. I suggest people avoid them because *when* (not if) you have a technical issue, you will only have substandard help available to you. That isn't one bad experience. It is a promise of a bad experience every single time you have a technical issue.
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Originally Posted by meeera
This forum is about which devices people should buy, not what ebook vendor they should use.
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Noted. That said, if a device that someone is considering is tightly coupled with Kobo then the issues I have been having (i.e. substandard support) might be enough of a reason to skip that device and go with another bit of hardware.
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Originally Posted by meeera
If these books have an ADE DRM epub download option, there's no obvious reason the OP wouldn't be able to grab them with ADE, strip them, and load them onto their PRS-T1 with Calibre, if they can't get anything else working in the limited timeframe. Kobo Desktop software is not required, and nor is Sony Reader software, though we still have no idea what the OP has actually tried.
But it appears at this stage that they didn't actually come here to ask for help, so.... *shrug*. I hope they enjoy their rage more than they would have enjoyed their books. Plenty of people here would have helped, given half a chance; that's been my experience of mobileread, anyhow.
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I had considered using Calibre but there just wasn't enough time for me to figure it out (as well as any anciliary software I may or may not need to go along with it). That said, I think it will be my preferred method going forward. Just stripping the books of DRM and then reading them wherever and whenever I like is compelling enough a reason to spend the few moments learning Calibre and ADE. In fact, in light of the complete lack of help that Kobo offers, I may have no other choice if I want to actually read the books I paid for.
With regard to my rage, I didn't enjoy it that evening. I did, however, have it with a nice leftover salad the next morning and it was simply delicious.
And I agree, the people in this community have been awesome.
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Why is it people are creating threads with disparaging titles? Then the problem gets solved and the OP just looks like a bitter person. This really should stop. Just say you have a problem, not that something sucks or is !@#$%ed or such.
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The problem isn't the technical issues (though they are the impetus for the problem). The problem is that Kobo has an anemic and substandard help process here in the U.S. That was my original issue. That is why I am suggesting that people avoid Kobo. If you rely on them for your ebooks and you have a problem, you will not be able to get anything remotely resembling decent support, much less timely support. This isn't something that the excellent community here can solve.
The fact that Kobo (and Sony) cannot seem to program their way out of a cardboard box is annoying. The fact that half of my wife's books purchased prior to the transition to Kobo don't open since the transition (even after contacting Kobo support and trying their suggestions) is annoying. The fact that even now, two of my paid for books will not open due to DRM issues is annoying. The fact that I cannot purchase additional books overseas is annoying. The fact that they let you buy two copies of the same book during the same purchase without a warning is annoying.
There are a litany of technical and usability issues (way more than I think any consumer facing product should have) which combine to make the experience with them (Sony and Kobo) annoying.
But that wasn't what I was complaining about. I am used to technical issues with technical products. I wish Sony (and Kobo) were better at their jobs, but I am not the kind of person who gets upset about technical problems. I can dig into them and, with help, usually fix them.
But the fact that an inherently technical company (which any e-reader and ebook store is) does not have either a phone number for technical support or live chat is a serious problem. It is, in fact, THE problem I originally pointed out. I'm not talking about 24 hour support. During business hours is fine. There just needs to be *some* support that is live. Or at the very least support that has a turn-around time (during business hours) of less than an hour.
But offering a technical service and then having a 48-60 hour turnaround for email support is untenable. After I emailed Kobo, they got back to me in about 30 hours (which is 18 hours "faster" than their minimum time so I guess perhaps I should be impressed now). It was too late to help me as I was already away from my computer. But even had it gotten to me in 20 hours (which was the amount of time I had) it would have been completely wasted because all they did was email me a copy of the instructions I already had read online. This is why email support for technical issues is a complete waste of time. Without any sort of interactivity there was no way for me to indicate to them that I had already read the instructions that they so laboriously forwarded to me almost a day and a half after I asked for help.
I am not a bitter person (though I have a wrinkled, frowny kind of face and eat a lot of Kale which may lead to a bitter kind of taste) but I WAS bitter that my purchases didn't work and that Kobo does not offer any reasonable way of contacting them to rectify the problem. My original post was full of vitriol that came from the realization that Kobo was not going to be able to help me in a timely manner after I had just spent over $200 with them. I wished I had been more measured when I wrote it originally, but I still stand 100% behind the gist of my original post and subject (if maybe not the tone). I fully and completely recommend that, until such time Kobo can demonstrate that it is able to provide adequate, timely support for their products, people should avoid them (and any devices that are closely coupled with their service).
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Originally Posted by meeera
Phone and live chat support is generally available as an option, but the support here is usually better for general questions that don't require the company's direct input.
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