MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Which stores make it cumbersome to get the files on my hands?

bgalbrecht · 01-06-2018, 05:50 PM

If you have a Kindle device (not the Kindle app for PC/Mac or smartphone), I believe you can download ebooks via a browser for sideloading via USB, or you can download with the Kindle app for PC/Mac.

B&N requires downloading from either their unsupported Nook for PC app that runs on Windows 7, or on the Windows store Nook app for Windows 8.x/10. On my Windows 7 machine, I have to reinstall the Nook app in order for it to download recently purchased books, the Windows store Nook app works fine for me.

Kobo and Google Play both require some version of Adobe Digital Editions to download DRMd books from their website, but books without DRM can be downloaded directly with a browser. Kobo allows download from ADE 1.7, but I think Google Play might require a more recent version. One thing to consider about Kobo is that if you buy from them regularly, their VIP program has a 10% discount on some non-Agency pricing publishers, the potential for free books from the non-Agency pricing publishers, and a price matching policy that gives you store credit bringing the price of an ebook to 90% of a cheaper retailer's price. Kobo is probably also the easiest major retailer to purchase ebooks only available in other countries.

If you're using Windows and want to import everything into Calibre, it's trivial to do so once you've created a Windows Explorer shortcut to the default download path for every retailer.

In my personal opinion, the retailers you never want to buy books from are the ones that only allow you to read their books in their own application for Windows/Mac or smartphones. Examples of this are bookshout.com and glose.com. If they ever shut down, and don't sell their customer base to someone else, your books will be gone. Even if they do sell their customer base and claim to transfer your books, in my experience, some books will be lost in the the migration. Either they are not available because the publishers lost the rights to the ebook, or their databases are faulty, or the transfer was handled ineptly.

In the US, you can get gift cards for Amazon, B&N and Google Play, but not Kobo. I know some people here at MobileRead use services that give them gift cards in exchange for viewing some/all of their browser or web-purchasing history.

01-06-2018, 05:50 PM	#10
bgalbrecht Wizard Posts: 1,806 Karma: 13399999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: US Device: Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Clara HD, Kindle 4	If you have a Kindle device (not the Kindle app for PC/Mac or smartphone), I believe you can download ebooks via a browser for sideloading via USB, or you can download with the Kindle app for PC/Mac. B&N requires downloading from either their unsupported Nook for PC app that runs on Windows 7, or on the Windows store Nook app for Windows 8.x/10. On my Windows 7 machine, I have to reinstall the Nook app in order for it to download recently purchased books, the Windows store Nook app works fine for me. Kobo and Google Play both require some version of Adobe Digital Editions to download DRMd books from their website, but books without DRM can be downloaded directly with a browser. Kobo allows download from ADE 1.7, but I think Google Play might require a more recent version. One thing to consider about Kobo is that if you buy from them regularly, their VIP program has a 10% discount on some non-Agency pricing publishers, the potential for free books from the non-Agency pricing publishers, and a price matching policy that gives you store credit bringing the price of an ebook to 90% of a cheaper retailer's price. Kobo is probably also the easiest major retailer to purchase ebooks only available in other countries. If you're using Windows and want to import everything into Calibre, it's trivial to do so once you've created a Windows Explorer shortcut to the default download path for every retailer. In my personal opinion, the retailers you never want to buy books from are the ones that only allow you to read their books in their own application for Windows/Mac or smartphones. Examples of this are bookshout.com and glose.com. If they ever shut down, and don't sell their customer base to someone else, your books will be gone. Even if they do sell their customer base and claim to transfer your books, in my experience, some books will be lost in the the migration. Either they are not available because the publishers lost the rights to the ebook, or their databases are faulty, or the transfer was handled ineptly. In the US, you can get gift cards for Amazon, B&N and Google Play, but not Kobo. I know some people here at MobileRead use services that give them gift cards in exchange for viewing some/all of their browser or web-purchasing history. Last edited by bgalbrecht; 01-06-2018 at 05:56 PM.