Original Kobo users forgotten?

[zoran]

Originally Posted by jimr

However, I've been amazed at how often they sell only one or two of a three book series though...obvously because of outdated geographical publishing restrictions.

It always puzzles me. Internet and all about was after making
life easier and set information without borders. Imagine sun light,
than stops at the border. Sorry, no light between 2 and 4 pm,
since it is geographically restricted. I do understand that rights
are the point. If I get it correctly, having card from <insert> does
work all around the world? It follows data from the card and not
ip address?

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by jimr

found a perfect, easy to use method of stripping the DRM using unswindle. and converting it into epub using Calibre.

However, I've been amazed at how often they sell only one or two of a three book series though...obvously because of outdated geographical publishing restrictions. Imagine though, how frustrating it is to start a series only to discover that you can't get the final book, or the middle book! That's what finally prompted me to research DRM stripping, not so I can give it away to others, but so I can simply read the darn thing. It's kind of ironic that the publisher's attempts to keep their publishing rights geographically, and digitally protected leads an otherwise legal-minded individual to finally do something considered illegal in order to read the book that we can't buy through proper channels.

Could not agree more with you. This is a common theme and one that the publishers seemingly have no interest in fixing. You think they would have learned from past bad examples.

I rate geo-restrictions as far more insidious than DRM, which really is more an annoyance.

There is a plugin available for Calibre that converts AZW ebooks seamlessly.

[KoboNo]

Originally Posted by sabredog

I like My PRS-300, but I will not recommend a Sony ereader to any person who asked me what ereader to buy. The Sony falls down on cost.

At nearly $200 more than a Ko1 or over $120 more than the K3, it is not a first choice ereader simply due to the cost alone. That is enough to scare a first time ebook reader off buying any form of ereader.

The price is a throwback to the bad old days before the K2 and Kobo were made available to the average Aussie reader.

This new model by Sony is less than $100 than the new Kobo: http://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/wcs/s...52921666257815

Can any one of our Kobo users comment on how the Reader Touch Edition (PRS650BC) compares to a Kobo? I have used it, but not for an extended period and not on a daily basis. It does seem like a solid device.

[baronrus]

Originally Posted by KoboNo

This new model by Sony is less than $100 than the new Kobo: http://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/wcs/s...52921666257815

Can any one of our Kobo users comment on how the Reader Touch Edition (PRS650BC) compares to a Kobo? I have used it, but not for an extended period and not on a daily basis. It does seem like a solid device.

I dont understand why someone who dosent like their device would hang out in the kobo forum to discuss a sony product.

I get that you dont like the kobo and thats fine, get another device and move on no need to hang around here badmouthing the kobo adn talking about other devices

[digital_steve]

Originally Posted by baronrus

Wrong forum you must of gotten lost looking for the sony forum

People are entitled to an opinion, regardless of which forum it's on and the state of the fan base.

Originally Posted by JPenguin

There's nothing wrong with Mary's post, if she's happier with the Sony then that's great. I'd like a PRS-650 but even with the better pricing I'm still probably going to buy a Wifi Kobo instead (largely because I'll be passing my original Kobo to my mom).

Agreed on all fronts.

Originally Posted by KoboNo

Good to hear that people are enjoying their Sony devices. From what I have seen in my brief time using it and from what I've heard, it does seem like a solid device. It is a bit more expensive, but as is the case with Kobo, I guess you get what you pay for. It will be my Kobo replacement in the future and from my experiences with Kobo (as an original user), I will be recommending it over the other devices.

It's hard to recommend the Sony line over the Kobo line if you're talking cost; the Sony line is expensive... fact. More expensive than it should be really.
Some people simply can't afford, or are not willing to pay that sort of amount for a reader when they can get a Kobo that does most of what they want.

Originally Posted by zoran

I could post a link, but it would be removed by moderator.
It is third part software and has 2 instances. The link to
the subsection is on the top of the page. If you don't find,
give me a note.

Err... ok. I don't have a Kindle, so i don't care. Interesting they can be hacked to read epub though.

Originally Posted by sabredog

I like My PRS-300, but I will not recommend a Sony ereader to any person who asked me what ereader to buy. The Sony falls down on cost.

At nearly $200 more than a Ko1 or over $120 more than the K3, it is not a first choice ereader simply due to the cost alone. That is enough to scare a first time ebook reader off buying any form of ereader.

The price is a throwback to the bad old days before the K2 and Kobo were made available to the average Aussie reader.

Totally agree

Originally Posted by baronrus

I dont understand why someone who dosent like their device would hang out in the kobo forum to discuss a sony product.

I get that you dont like the kobo and thats fine, get another device and move on no need to hang around here badmouthing the kobo adn talking about other devices

It's still an ereader forum and everyone has an opinion and likes to make others aware of all the options.
It'd be a sad day if this forum gets locked down to only "i love my kobo" posts.
I personally still post here as i still own a Kobo... and support people with 3 other Kobo devices.

In short, there are better devices than the Kobo... in the same breath, there doesn't seem to be much better devices in the same price range as the Kobo.

Horses for courses.

[KoboNo]

Originally Posted by baronrus

I dont understand why someone who dosent like their device would hang out in the kobo forum to discuss a sony product.

I get that you dont like the kobo and thats fine, get another device and move on no need to hang around here badmouthing the kobo adn talking about other devices

I like my original Kobo device and I use it quite regularly. I was asking about another device, which to me, seems to be superior. This is not because I want to 'badmouth' the Kobo, but simply because its failures have opened my eyes to other devices. What I don't understand is why you expect members of these boards to hug their Kobo and post only loving posts.

[sabredog]

No, I do not think that is what he is saying.

However you initially came on to this forum all fired up, critical and therefore established somewhat a negative image.

[baronrus]

Originally Posted by KoboNo

I like my original Kobo device and I use it quite regularly. I was asking about another device, which to me, seems to be superior. This is not because I want to 'badmouth' the Kobo, but simply because its failures have opened my eyes to other devices. What I don't understand is why you expect members of these boards to hug their Kobo and post only loving posts.

sorry if I misinterpreted your intention but if your name is KoboNo and you have been exceptionaly critical of the device and you are discussing other devices what are we supposed to think?

Besides who said that I expect members to only post positive comments. I never said that at all.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by JCKobo

I'm sorry about the radio silence - we've been putting the finishing touches on a few updates and had to neglect our MobileRead friends for a few days, and I'm just catching up now.

We definitely haven't forgotten our original Kobo Reader users. You guys put us on the map, and we will never forget you.

We made sure as we built the Kobo Wireless Reader that all the great features we added there could be available to owners of the Kobo Reader shortly after we shipped the Kobo Wireless Reader.

We had actually planned to do a firmware release for the Kobo Reader before the Kobo Wireless Reader shipped, but found some pretty serious performance issues that put that on hold at the time. The only thing that is worse than shipping late is shipping broken, and I wouldn't want to put all of our long time customers through that.

We've since addressed them and are starting a closed beta this week with the new firmware.

The update is coming soon - bare with us just a little bit longer.

So...it's been another month. Any news on a release date? I may have missed a post made after this one, but I can't find anything.

[taming]

I can give a bit of an update on the beta group. The Kobo team has worked hard to get things taken care of, and there has been a huge amount of progress. No one was really satisfied with the loading times/chapter changes so Kobo has been working on that feature. We will have another beta version that addresses that in the next day or two.

The beta testing is always a challenge, because you fix one thing and then have to retest everything--and on multiple systems, often with changes to both the desktop and the firmware. Sometimes, fixing one thing seems to break something else <sigh>.

The Kobo team is totally committed to making this update as fool proof as possible. It's really coming together.

[anidel]

As you've learned, probably it'll be best to follow a very simple principle: never say WHEN something will be released. Just say "when it's ready".

[zoran]

Originally Posted by taming

The beta testing is always a challenge, because you fix one thing and then have to retest everything--and on multiple systems, often with changes to both the desktop and the firmware. Sometimes, fixing one thing seems to break something else <sigh>.

There was something called "kiss" in open source, for "keep it
simple, stupid". I'm aware they change functions and make them
incompatible one to another. The best would be to have them
as "black box". You know the income, you know the outcome,
you do not care what happened inside.
If it would be me, I'd take one approach from the very start and
keep it working in all occasions. One part of app changes, it does
not bother basic functions. Imagine people having 3 different
apps to sync their books. What a hell. Those guys and girls are
ones complaining on the forum.
I avoid desktop apps and still have no problem.

[3d0g]

I'm not fully following what you're trying to say zoran (open source and KISS have never had any correlation), but just to slightly clarify taming's post, the beta is largely down to performance issues. I've been reading extensively on my original kobo with the latest beta release and it's quite usable.

As the kobo devs have said here, the new WiFi kobo added a lot of new features and a much stronger processor to support them. Getting as many of those features back-ported to the lower-powered original kobo is a very non KISS challenge.

For original kobo owners I'll say, keep hanging in there. None of us on the beta team know the actual release date, but progress is definitely being made at a quick pace.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by 3d0g

the beta is largely down to performance issues. I've been reading extensively on my original kobo with the latest beta release and it's quite usable.

If not a secret, what's new there? Further, what features are having
performance issue?

[roguefan99]

Originally Posted by 3d0g

For original kobo owners I'll say, keep hanging in there. None of us on the beta team know the actual release date, but progress is definitely being made at a quick pace.

I would say there is no way the beta team could know when the release date is because they have to do bug fixes on any problems they have, thus when the bugs are flushed they can get around to a release. Like I daid eariler you know something is up because its all gone quiet, and when it goes quiet you know they are working hard.

As for whats in it, I'm guessing that Kobo doesn't wish to make it public incase something has to be removed towards the end of testing for some reason. They have made people unhappy in the past saying that they are testing things and people EXPECT them to be in there when the firmware is released, but they were removed for some reason.

Good to hear speed is an issue thats being addressed, especially chapter turns thats something I'm happy to hear about. I'm just hoping the big red guy at Kobo brings us a nice new firmware to destroy, I mean install, over the holidays.