Quote:
Originally Posted by davidfor
For ADE, I don't know. I don't think it shows the annotations for sideloaded books on the device. It is possible it will for books sent from ADE, but, I don't do that. I pretty much only use ADE to download DRM protected books. I will occasionally send a book from it to the device to check that this works, but that's about all.
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You are right on ADE--just tested. It will sync local sideloaded books to and from devices, but ignores the device annotations.
Would it be reasonable to request a 'migrate-sideloaded-kobo-books-with-annotations-to-new-kobo-device' script or plugin? Or ping Kobo itself to offer this? Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't already provided this. They are a smart company, they built the reader so folks could sideload books obtained elsewhere. You'd think they'd provide an easy, built-in way to synchronize reading data for sideloaded books to a new Kobo device, that's in their best interest.
I mean, I can use that hack when the time comes, but probably a lot of users won't, and all the other big ebook providers make this much easier to do. Also, I'd think a lot of users would like a simple way to BACK UP their reading and annotations data auto-magically in the cloud (even for sideloaded books) so there's no risk of losing it should the current device be lost/damaged.
Right now given the situation with how annotations are so 'device locked' on Kobo, I'm considering doing something I've heard some users here say they do: only put sideloaded books on the Kobo, don't use their cloud and don't use local annotations either. When I want to annotate books and sync between devices, buy them from Google Play or sideload them into their books app, and use that on PC or phone to add annotations. That last part is kind of what I have been doing, for some time. And this approach should work, because I only need to annotate a subset of the books I read, maybe 1/4.
It's a workaround, and I realized something like that was gonna be necessary when I chose the Kobo over a Kindle. But it's fine, I like the device so much better for just relaxed reading and it's easier taking annotations on a PC (typing) or Android device (swiping) than trying to take notes on a clunky e-ink keyboard, anyway. :-) That said, I still think it'd be a win for Kobo's business to provide easier cross-device sideloaded book data migration for users--it'd give users an easier path to upgrade devices and stick with Kobo in the future.