Borders "software"

[rischa]

OK so I just picked up my Kobo from Borders last night. After reading this forum constantly while I've been waiting for it to come in, I feel pretty well informed. I decided to still get the Kobo because I only want to read books, I don't require any other features... and mainly because I had a $100 Borders gift voucher someone had given me and I figured I may as well give it a go.

Here's a question for any other Aussie Kobo owners out there: am I missing something, or does the Borders software really really suck? I couldn't see anything in there about actually managing the books on my device. There doesn't seem to be an I'm Reading list like I've heard there is in the Kobo Desktop Application, so I have no way to remove books from the I'm Reading list on my device except for the slow boring method of clicking all the way to the end of the book! Crazy!

I've decided to ignore the Borders software and I've been putting books on with Calibre, that seems great. But I'm just a bit concerned for when the firmware update comes out, because I didn't see any function in the Borders app for checking for updates or anything.

[PeterT]

Any chance you could take some screen prints for us Kobo desktop clients to see?

[PeterT]

No need.. I just installed the s/w; Identical to the Kobo one; save for branding.

Most of the management of Kobo format books (as opposed to ePub format) is done via the web site.

[mylesau]

Originally Posted by rischa

Here's a question for any other Aussie Kobo owners out there: am I missing something, or does the Borders software really really suck?

You got it in one

Originally Posted by rischa

I've decided to ignore the Borders software and I've been putting books on with Calibre, that seems great. But I'm just a bit concerned for when the firmware update comes out, because I didn't see any function in the Borders app for checking for updates or anything.

If you keep watching this forum I'm sure you'll know when a new firmware comes out. Then it should just be a matter of loading up the Borders software to do the update (probably triggered by browsing the bookshop or updating your library) - I suspect it will likely be just a matter of copying the correctly named firmware file onto the Kobo and rebooting to start the upgrade process (typical of this type of device).

Keep an eye on the progress with the Kobo plug-in for Calibre, timlegge is doing a great job of making it more useful.

[artificial]

Originally Posted by rischa

There doesn't seem to be an I'm Reading list like I've heard there is in the Kobo Desktop Application, so I have no way to remove books from the I'm Reading list on my device except for the slow boring method of clicking all the way to the end of the book! Crazy!

I've decided to ignore the Borders software and I've been putting books on with Calibre, that seems great.

Yep, it sucks. At first I too wondered if the Borders software was somehow different to the Canadian Kobo software, since it seems devoid of any functionality for managing my ebooks. It seems like nothing more than a front-end for the Borders store.

I haven't bought a book from Borders, so I can't speak to how useful the software is in that context, but for managing non-Borders ePubs it is entirely useless.

Stick with Calibre for managing your non-DRM books, and once you see on this forum that firmware has been released fire up the desktop software to grab the update.

[roguefan99]

Its awful IMHO, glad Calibre is out there, gives me the options of buying from elsewhere if I wish (plus grabbing magazines too!)

[tech_au]

A guy at work bought a Kobo reader and I pretty much told him just to install Adobe Digital Editions to purchase ebooks and forget the Borders app. He doesn't want to muck around with conversion , de-drming and stuff like that so calibre is out for him.

[MeganJoan]

The Borders app is seriously useless. I was excepting something more along the lines of iTunes. You know, with functionality and stuff!

The Borders app is so completely useless that when I accidental bought a book from the Kobo store rather than the Borders store it would even let me load it. I was almost in tears with frustration until I read pretty much this entire forum in one night and got Calibre set up. Now I've deleted majority of the preloaded books and added my own without any problem. Love it!

Now I honestly doubt that the Borders up will be updated in any way to make it better than Calibre any time in the near future.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by MeganJoan

The Borders app is seriously useless. I was excepting something more along the lines of iTunes. You know, with functionality and stuff!

The Borders app is so completely useless that when I accidental bought a book from the Kobo store rather than the Borders store it would even let me load it. I was almost in tears with frustration until I read pretty much this entire forum in one night and got Calibre set up. Now I've deleted majority of the preloaded books and added my own without any problem. Love it!

Now I honestly doubt that the Borders up will be updated in any way to make it better than Calibre any time in the near future.

Now I am not a Kobo owner, but I was reading on the Borders website about the software where it suggests you DO NOT log out of the software, just close the application. Apparently if you log out next time you run the software it will need to connect to Borders and re-download all your books again. If that is true, pretty poor software IMHO.

[Stinger]

Now I am not a Kobo owner, but I was reading on the Borders website about the software where it suggests you DO NOT log out of the software, just close the application. Apparently if you log out next time you run the software it will need to connect to Borders and re-download all your books again. If that is true, pretty poor software IMHO.

Makes sense. Any books that you download locally with the app are stored within the local SQlite database; no individual DRM'd epubs. And keeping with the utter simplicity and uselessness of the app, it doesn't have any multi-user support. The fact that it seems to nuke the local dbase when you log out is just icing on this rather foul cake eh?

[roguefan99]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Now I am not a Kobo owner, but I was reading on the Borders website about the software where it suggests you DO NOT log out of the software, just close the application. Apparently if you log out next time you run the software it will need to connect to Borders and re-download all your books again. If that is true, pretty poor software IMHO.

Definately is true, initially they stated everytime you run the software that it would download the books again, and that you should have an "unlimited" plan if you were planning to use the software. I critisied them for this actions as in Australian "unlimited" plans dont really exist (I dont have much choice where I live as its Bigpond or nothing), and then they changed their tune to this. I replied saying that this is poor actions as if someone got hold of your computer then there is a security risk of staying logged in. No reply to that. Personally the only reason I put the borders software on my computer was to "register" my kobo (and possibly get firmware updates if/when they happen), and I seriously doubt I will every use it again (I'll just buy direct from the website or elsewhere and use ADE if I have to have DRMed stuff).

[Zac]

Originally Posted by rischa

OK so I just picked up my Kobo from Borders last night. After reading this forum constantly while I've been waiting for it to come in, I feel pretty well informed. I decided to still get the Kobo because I only want to read books, I don't require any other features... and mainly because I had a $100 Borders gift voucher someone had given me and I figured I may as well give it a go.

Here's a question for any other Aussie Kobo owners out there: am I missing something, or does the Borders software really really suck? I couldn't see anything in there about actually managing the books on my device. There doesn't seem to be an I'm Reading list like I've heard there is in the Kobo Desktop Application, so I have no way to remove books from the I'm Reading list on my device except for the slow boring method of clicking all the way to the end of the book! Crazy!

I've decided to ignore the Borders software and I've been putting books on with Calibre, that seems great. But I'm just a bit concerned for when the firmware update comes out, because I didn't see any function in the Borders app for checking for updates or anything.

You need to download Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). Once installed, click on the "library" tab and then "authorize computer".

You will be able to add/remove only purchased or acquired epub books as well as PDF documents using ADE. The one hundred free books can be removed if you are comfortable with using other tools...which I am not!

You mentioned the difficulty of putting back books into the book section and that remains one of the issues that hopefully can be addressed by a software upgrade.