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Originally Posted by fastrobot
Yeah -- KOBO *might* refund it without a complaint, and If my bank account bounces, the bank *might* choose not to charge me a fee; but I don't like to do things the stupid way and rely on other people's generosity when they don't have to be nice and sometimes aren't.
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Well, you are probably actually relying on them following the law in your area and the agreement they have with you. My experience with Kobo is they are willing to help.
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Besides, I've tried useing the kobo "help" dialog online to ask how to solve the problem, and noted that it doesn't even work with firefox web browsers. It will never allow you to "submit" the finalized report, but instead wants you to call long distance out of country to a help line that is forever on hold. eg: Customer service *sucks*.
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That's not my experience. I have submitted several problems using Firefox with no problems. And my dealing with Kobo have been good. Yes, they work from a script and that caused an extra cycle of responses, but I got what I wanted each time.
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And if KOBO is such a great company, why aren't they in full compliance with the GNU-GPL on their software's source code in the first place ? Or are you not really reading what I've been asking about in this thread ?
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That I can't say and it isn't something I'm directly interested in. I know people have built the kernel in the past, so I assumed everything they needed to release was a released. But, it's not something I have any interest in investigating.
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The credit card is a side issue, but no -- there is provably no security for the credit card:
In order to read a book on the KOBO AuraHD or on the KOBO GLO, you have to be logged in. If you are logged in, then the password has already been used. In order to let my kids read books that I buy -- therefore -- I must have *used* the password on the KOBO already or they can't even read the books I've downloaded. So -- you're wrong: They can access the KOBO store unless I log out. And if I log out, they can't read the books I've downloaded. It's a stupid design.
It's true no one can "Get" the password by just having the KOBO in their hands -- but that's irrelevant. They have access to the KOBO store if the reader is logged in, and the kobo store doesn't require you to input your password a second time in order to buy a book. You just click "buy book now" on the KOBO -- and the credit card is charged.
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When you sign in the the device, a token is generated. If this is wrong, then the account is not accessible. Changing the password elsewhere should invalidate the token. That would prevent the thief from buying books with the device and your account and downloading any books that you purchase.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way. I tested on one of my devices with a different account and changing the password does not invalidate the access from the device. When I found this, the first thing I did was to report it as a bug to Kobo. Hopefully they will see that it is a problem and fix it.
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I have bought several KOBO's. They are all the same -- they ship -- in a state that refuses to let you log in until AFTER the firmware is upgraded to the latest version. The WIFI setup does not work, but will generally enter an infinite loop of reboots.
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Well, I have no idea what you are doing wrong. I also have bought several Kobo devices. Usually I plug them into my laptop to do the update so that I can use the keyboard. But, I deliberately didn't do this with my Aura H2O and Glo HD. Both setup without errors.
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The only way to get it to work, generally, is to download the firmware to linux; and to manually copy the file in the hidden .kobo directory on the device. There are several threads on mobile read which describe the process, so I'm not the only one who has the problem. After rebooting, the device will upgrade, and the store can be accessed after logging in. Sometimes, more steps are required.
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No, all those descriptions of sideloading firmware is because people don't want to wait for the new release or want to avoid using a real Kobo account.
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Once the device HAS been logged in, future upgrades seem to work fine on the KOBO using WIFI.
If's only the first upgrade, out of the box, that I have found needs manual assistance on the Kobo Touch, Glo, and AuraHD.
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Which is not my experience with three Touches, four Glos, an Aura H2O and a Glo HD (some bought for other people). That includes the many factory resets on my devices as I do experiments.
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I only buy books through the KOBO itself because the website will not let you download the book directly to a PC or computer unless you install the KOBO desktop on a windows machine or a Mac.
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You really need to look at the site. Next time you are the, go your library. That's done by clicking on your name and choosing "My Library". All the books you have bought will be listed. Most will have a download button. If the book is DRM free, you can download it directly.
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Your ONLY choice as a linux OS user is to not use a PC and "sync" the KOBO directly, and that only works after logging in the KOBO device. I have used linux for 15 years, I see no reason to start buying windows or mac OS now just because KOBO is lazy and benefits from Linux, but won't give back to the community they take from.
eg: KOBO does not support linux operating systems when it comes to their desktop software. Therefore, a linux user can purchase all the books they want by a web browswer -- but without windows software, or a mac, or a wifi-linked KOBO, they can not download it.
In addition, Wine does not run the newer KOBO desktop software,and KOBO does not support the old desktop software. Therefore, KOBO generally screws Linux OS users with an impossible set of demands.
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You are right, Kobo do not support Linux. And it is a pity as I would be surprised if porting the desktop application to Linux would be hard. But, with the number of linux distros out there, supporting them all would be a pain.
But, you don't need the Kobo desktop application. As I said above, you can download the DRM free books directly. For DRM protected you need ADE. Unfortunately, Adobe doesn't support Linux (NOT Kobo's fault). But, the older versions of ADE will run in Wine, or at least I have seen reports it does. I am not sure if you need ADE 1.7 or 2.0, but either will work to download the books.
And of course, there is a very simple solution: Don't buy books from Kobo. If you can't work out how to get them onto the device, buy from somewhere else that does let you download the books and sideload them.