Does Kobo update your purchased ebooks?

dstinson · 08-13-2016, 06:14 PM

I have seen where iBooks, nook, and Amazon all allow for downloading an updated version of an ebook if changes have been made by the publisher (such as typos, new contents, etc). However, I have found no information as to whether Kobo does the same? It would be nice to have updates if they are available and not need to repurchase the book.

Thanks! (BTW my first post! Go easy on me

)

Cinisajoy · 08-13-2016, 06:21 PM

I have no idea but welcome.

davidfor · 08-13-2016, 08:59 PM

Yes, Kobo do update your books, but they don't send out any sort of notice. The only reason I have noticed is that the cover changed. I have no idea what else changed in the book.

There can also be a difference between the epub version you can download from your library and the kepub version downloaded to the device. The most noticeable is the cover, but I have also seen formatting. I haven't checked for differences in the text.

AnemicOak · 08-14-2016, 01:24 AM

From what Kobo CS told me directly they generally do not push new versions to accounts that have previously purchased a book, it must be requested by the user. Now this differs from what David is saying so maybe things have changed?

I do know that often I've run into corrected/updated versions for sale that have a different URL than the version in my library (maybe it depends on how the publisher pushes the update to Kobo) and the updated version gives me a buy option instead of showing that I already own it (I'm not talking something like a 2nd edition here, but stuff where the author has fixed typos, changed covers, etc.).

dstinson · 08-14-2016, 02:57 AM

Thanks for the answers and the welcome! Probably this is just a minor point, but it would be nice to have the most up to date edition without having to repurchase.

DNSB · 08-14-2016, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dstinson

Thanks for the answers and the welcome! Probably this is just a minor point, but it would be nice to have the most up to date edition without having to repurchase.

The one time a series I was reading were updated with new covers, I had to remove and re-add the books to get the new covers. The errors inside the ebooks were not changed except for one ebook which had a error where a couple of paragraphs had been repeated which was corrected.

JSWolf · 08-14-2016, 07:38 PM

How do you remove and re-add without losing the books?

DNSB · 08-14-2016, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do you remove and re-add without losing the books?

I used the Kobo Desktop App to remove them and then went to purchase them which added them back -- probably could do the same from Kobo's website. The addition back got the updated covers.

davidfor · 08-14-2016, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do you remove and re-add without losing the books?

A factory reset or logging out of the Kobo account on the device should do it.

As I suspect you don't want to do that, long press on the book in the library list, select "Remove" and then choose the option to remove from the device. That will remove the book, but leave a library entry with the status "download". Press on the book and it should start the download. Or queue it if there are others happening.

dstinson · 08-18-2016, 02:11 AM

So I tried deleting and redownloading a book that I knew had received an update on Google Play. The book had been updated to include both a reader guide and interview with the author that are also in the paper version. After redownloading the book to my kobo, however, it was still the same previous version with none of the changes.
Maybe I am nitpicking but I shouldn't have to ask customer service to update the books or go to the trouble of deleting and redownloading the book. If an update is available Kobo should give the most recent version.

davidfor · 08-18-2016, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dstinson

So I tried deleting and redownloading a book that I knew had received an update on Google Play. The book had been updated to include both a reader guide and interview with the author that are also in the paper version. After redownloading the book to my kobo, however, it was still the same previous version with none of the changes.
Maybe I am nitpicking but I shouldn't have to ask customer service to update the books or go to the trouble of deleting and redownloading the book. If an update is available Kobo should give the most recent version.

I'm playing Devil's Advocate here...

Why? You paid for a book and Kobo gave it to you. Why do you deserve a free upgrade to the next edition? You would never consider that for a paper book.

Then there are people who don't want the update. The easer example of why you might no is a movie: "Star Wars" as I saw it at the drive-in (it was called "Star Wars" not "Star Wars IV: A "Star Wars"New Hope"), or as George Lucas has reimaged it. There are examples of exactly this in the book world. The update will probably invalidate all the annotations that someone has made, so forcing it on someone

And for a lot of people it's simple: They have read the book, they don't need it to be updated as they won't read it again.

And of course, maybe Kobo hasn't received the update. Whether they do probably depends on the publisher as much as Kobo. The contract between the publisher and Kobo has to include updates and then the publisher has to actually send Kobo the update version.

Personally, if the update is fixing formatting so that I can read it properly, good. If it's fixing spelling or grammar, good, but I'm not sure if I would have read it in the first place. Other changes, I don't know. I'd have to know what they were.

GeoffR · 08-18-2016, 04:37 AM

Publishers can have a corrected book pushed to reader's Kobo library automatically if they want to, I know because when I complained to a publisher about a particularly bad book I received an updated KePub when I synced (and the updated ePub as available for download in my library) without needing to contact Kobo about it.

I've also had other KePubs updated automatically when I synced, ones that I haven't even read yet and so I hadn't had a chance to complain to the publisher and didn't even know the book needed updating. But in those cases when I downloaded the ePub version it hadn't changed, so I think these must be ones where only the KePub as updated, i.e. perhaps the book was reprocessed to fix problems that occured in Kobo's original conversion from ePub to KePub.

frostschutz · 08-18-2016, 05:37 AM

I like ebook updates. I'd even want a "report bug/typo/errata" feature in every ereader.

Most [printed] books have errors. For paper once printed it's too late to correct any of them, with ebooks it's possible. It's definitely the kind of thing I'd like to see with ebooks.

Unfortunately it doesn't really seem part of the concept, there is no interface for an ebook author to update their work and have it propagated through all sales channels.

So it doesn't seem to work for ebooks the same way it does for software, but maybe it should. Of course the ebook reader could be nice and ask whether you want to download the updated version or not.

I think I've seen a page on Smashwords in the past that even let you download old versions of books - so it had a history like Wikipedia pages - but I can't find it anymore so either it was removed or I remember wrong.

Cinisajoy · 08-18-2016, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dstinson

So I tried deleting and redownloading a book that I knew had received an update on Google Play. The book had been updated to include both a reader guide and interview with the author that are also in the paper version. After redownloading the book to my kobo, however, it was still the same previous version with none of the changes.
Maybe I am nitpicking but I shouldn't have to ask customer service to update the books or go to the trouble of deleting and redownloading the book. If an update is available Kobo should give the most recent version.

I see you said updated at Google Play.
That doesn't mean Kobo got the updated version.
Silly question: was this a paid or free book?
Big publisher or small publisher?

JSWolf · 08-18-2016, 11:34 AM

Kobo used to not update you purchased eBooks. I'll double check this. I can download a book from Kobo and the same from Overdrive and see if they are the same or if the one from Kobo is older.

08-13-2016, 06:14 PM	#1
dstinson "But it's a dry heat!" Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Device: Kobo H20 , Kindle Voyage	Does Kobo update your purchased ebooks? I have seen where iBooks, nook, and Amazon all allow for downloading an updated version of an ebook if changes have been made by the publisher (such as typos, new contents, etc). However, I have found no information as to whether Kobo does the same? It would be nice to have updates if they are available and not need to repurchase the book. Thanks! (BTW my first post! Go easy on me)

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08-13-2016, 06:21 PM	#2
Cinisajoy Just a Yellow Smiley. Posts: 19,161 Karma: 83862859 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Texas Device: K4, K5, fire, kobo, galaxy	I have no idea but welcome.

08-13-2016, 08:59 PM	#3
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Yes, Kobo do update your books, but they don't send out any sort of notice. The only reason I have noticed is that the cover changed. I have no idea what else changed in the book. There can also be a difference between the epub version you can download from your library and the kepub version downloaded to the device. The most noticeable is the cover, but I have also seen formatting. I haven't checked for differences in the text.

08-14-2016, 01:24 AM	#4
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	From what Kobo CS told me directly they generally do not push new versions to accounts that have previously purchased a book, it must be requested by the user. Now this differs from what David is saying so maybe things have changed? I do know that often I've run into corrected/updated versions for sale that have a different URL than the version in my library (maybe it depends on how the publisher pushes the update to Kobo) and the updated version gives me a buy option instead of showing that I already own it (I'm not talking something like a 2nd edition here, but stuff where the author has fixed typos, changed covers, etc.).

08-14-2016, 02:57 AM	#5
dstinson "But it's a dry heat!" Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Device: Kobo H20 , Kindle Voyage	Thanks for the answers and the welcome! Probably this is just a minor point, but it would be nice to have the most up to date edition without having to repurchase.

08-14-2016, 07:38 PM	#7
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,740 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	How do you remove and re-add without losing the books?

08-18-2016, 02:11 AM	#10
dstinson "But it's a dry heat!" Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Device: Kobo H20 , Kindle Voyage	So I tried deleting and redownloading a book that I knew had received an update on Google Play. The book had been updated to include both a reader guide and interview with the author that are also in the paper version. After redownloading the book to my kobo, however, it was still the same previous version with none of the changes. Maybe I am nitpicking but I shouldn't have to ask customer service to update the books or go to the trouble of deleting and redownloading the book. If an update is available Kobo should give the most recent version.

08-18-2016, 04:37 AM	#12
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	Publishers can have a corrected book pushed to reader's Kobo library automatically if they want to, I know because when I complained to a publisher about a particularly bad book I received an updated KePub when I synced (and the updated ePub as available for download in my library) without needing to contact Kobo about it. I've also had other KePubs updated automatically when I synced, ones that I haven't even read yet and so I hadn't had a chance to complain to the publisher and didn't even know the book needed updating. But in those cases when I downloaded the ePub version it hadn't changed, so I think these must be ones where only the KePub as updated, i.e. perhaps the book was reprocessed to fix problems that occured in Kobo's original conversion from ePub to KePub.

08-18-2016, 05:37 AM	#13
frostschutz Linux User Posts: 2,282 Karma: 6123806 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Device: none	I like ebook updates. I'd even want a "report bug/typo/errata" feature in every ereader. Most [printed] books have errors. For paper once printed it's too late to correct any of them, with ebooks it's possible. It's definitely the kind of thing I'd like to see with ebooks. Unfortunately it doesn't really seem part of the concept, there is no interface for an ebook author to update their work and have it propagated through all sales channels. So it doesn't seem to work for ebooks the same way it does for software, but maybe it should. Of course the ebook reader could be nice and ask whether you want to download the updated version or not. I think I've seen a page on Smashwords in the past that even let you download old versions of books - so it had a history like Wikipedia pages - but I can't find it anymore so either it was removed or I remember wrong.

08-18-2016, 11:34 AM	#15
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,740 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Kobo used to not update you purchased eBooks. I'll double check this. I can download a book from Kobo and the same from Overdrive and see if they are the same or if the one from Kobo is older.

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