Quote:
Originally Posted by davidfor
I don't know about Amazon, but I don't think Kobo are actively discouraging sideloading. They don't mention it as much on their website now, but they do include instructions on how to use ADE to sideload in the manuals. On the device, they don't treat sideloaded books worse than purchased books. And they do fix bugs related to sideloaded books when they are reported, though probably not as fast a we would like.
But, look at it another way: What advantage does using the file name have?
Most ebook formats have well defined metadata. The device reads that and presents that to the user when they are looking for a book. I do not plan to read the file, "Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files 10 - Small Favor.epub". I plan to read the book, "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher. Or maybe "The next book in the Dresden Files"*. I don't care were it is on the device, just a long as I can see it.
Treating the books this way also allows for flexibility in display. Kobo allows me to see the book in the main library list, the authors list or put it in as many collections as I want (and I really wish there was a Series list** and maybe a tags/genre list). Plus multiple ways of sorting the lists - title, author, series, different dates etc. And a cover image is displayed to grab my eye .
If it was by file name, then it really can only be in one place. Unless I have multiple copies of the book, or start using lots of file system links.
The naturalness of using the metadata in situations like this just makes sense to me.
* And if Butcher would just finish "The next book in the Dresden Files", then I could read it. Of course, I'd still be wanting "The next book in the Dresden Files".
** Come on Kobo, it such a simple thing.
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For me as an old software guy I'm used to looking at computer files listed in alphabetical, by extention or timestamp order. In fact as a workaround when I am reading a series of books I'll often use Calibre to re-name the books by prefacing the file name with their number in the series.