Kobo Firmware 2.6.1

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by davidfor

OK, it generates the images on demand. But, it does this without hanging the interface. You could go to the next page before all the images were generated. I'm not sure I can see how this is different for the tiles.

Never mind you just don't understand the point.

regards

jack

[John F]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

If they ever would pull an update, I'm sure they would at least have the brains to remove the direct download in that event. But the 2.6.1 download is still active.

Do you have a link?

[Willa]

Originally Posted by John F

Do you have a link?

At the bottom of the first post

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=185660

[John F]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

If they ever would pull an update, I'm sure they would at least have the brains to remove the direct download in that event. But the 2.6.1 download is still active.

Originally Posted by Willa

At the bottom of the first post

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=185660

Thanks. But I thought those links aren't "official" links. I can see kobo leaving the links for internal use. I thought Kobo only supported updates through the Desktop app and Wifi.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by John F

Thanks. But I thought those links aren't "official" links. I can see kobo leaving the links for internal use. I thought Kobo only supported updates through the Desktop app and Wifi.

That is correct. Those are link people have determined by sniffing the traffic during the download. Kobo do not publish these links in a public place. They have pulled the update before, or at least stopped rolling it out. I don't remember whether they pulled the files or just changed whatever on the server so the desktop app or device didn't find an update.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by jackastor

Never mind you just don't understand the point.

Then explain it.

As far as I can see, the updated library tile displays with three generic covers. Then, after a short period of time, it gets updated to show the actual covers of the three books. Unless the device is also generating all the covers for the new books that are not displayed on the new home screen or in that tile, I don't see how that is different from how the old home screen work. For that, it displayed up to five generic covers and then replaced them with the generated covers. In both cases, the generation was happening in a background thread because the screen was not locked.

So, what am I not getting?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by guma

Assuming you are speaking for KOBO here: From a customer perspective this point of view is just plain not acceptable. epub2 is the current standard and should work properly. Even if epub3 comes along at some point in the future many people will still have epub2 files they want to read.

As is shown by the ACCESS renderer on the Kobo ereaders being able to display an epub2 file simply by renaming it to .kepub.epub, an epub3 compliant renderer is able to display epub2 ebooks. Given that money and developer time are finite resources, Kobo is likely to feel that they are better served by concentrating on the future. The only good reason I see for Kobo keeping the Adobe RMSDK code in place is to handle Adept DRMed books either purchased or through a library loan.

Regards,
David

[14nc310t]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Gone.

[taming]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The only good reason I see for Kobo keeping the Adobe RMSDK code in place is to handle Adept DRMed books either purchased or through a library loan.

Then again, Overdrive may not keep Adobe DRM. It seems to me to depend on the ubiquity of whatever drm all those readmium folks decide on/develop. If they come up with something the industry supports, and if that product does not have to run (at considerable cost) through the Adobe servers, we may see a change.

Google is using the readmium scheme for it's epub3 chrome extension. ACCESS, Aldiko, Bluefire Productions, Baker & Taylor, Benetech, Bokbasen, DAISY Consortium, Datalogics, De Marque, DILICOM, eBook.de, Eden Livre (a joint venture of Gallimard, La Martinière and Flammarion), Editis, Evident Point, Feedbooks, Firebrand Technologies, Hachette Livre, IDPF, Izneo, Kobo, LIA (by Italian Publishers Association), Mantano, Numilog, Rakuten, Sony Corporation, TXTR, and Vibal Publishing House are readmium members (http://readium.org/membership).

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As is shown by the ACCESS renderer on the Kobo ereaders being able to display an epub2 file simply by renaming it to .kepub.epub, an epub3 compliant renderer is able to display epub2 ebooks. Given that money and developer time are finite resources, Kobo is likely to feel that they are better served by concentrating on the future. The only good reason I see for Kobo keeping the Adobe RMSDK code in place is to handle Adept DRMed books either purchased or through a library loan.

Regards,
David

I think Kobo should support epub2 because they sell them. If the ACESS renderer supports them as they were intended to be displayed by the author then that is probably good enough, still if I called Kobo and asked them how to get page numbers instead of chapter numbers, for example, and they said buy a different reader, I would not be impressed.

Another reason is to assuage the fears of the paranoid and uninformed.
As we know many won't buy a kindle because it does not support epub and limits their choice of venders. While we may know epub and kepub are much the same, many will not.

While Kobo is doing well in the marketplace right now, they may not have the resources to stick it out with the kepub thing as Amazon has done with the kindle formats. Kobo would be foolish to stop selling epubs, as many owners of other readers purchase books from them and the chances of the other ereader makers supporting kepubs is IMO nil.

Maybe if Kobo stops supplying both kepub and epub formats as a single purchase they will save the 22 cents Adobe fee, which is probably their long term goal, then there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

If I was a betting woman, which sometimes I am, I would give kepubs a fairly limited life span as a popular format even among Kobo ereader owners, but time will tell.

Helen

[taming]

I wish I were smarter, or at least had more to go on. When Kobo moved to the ACCESS front end--a different everything requiring a different renderer--in support of the move toward an epub3 compliant format and reading experience, no old kepubs required any change on our end. I have no idea what eventually will hapen with Adobe. They may let the readmium folks do all of the heavy lifting on epub3 and one day it will all miraculously work with Adobe ADE.

OTOH, there may be a new scheme supported industry wide that leaves Adobe out of the picture without making people using ADE do anything at all.

Or not. It could be a holy mess. If so, it won't be a Kobo only mess.

If some sort of drm scheme is widely adopted that is widely supported across device manufacturers, vendors (including Overdrive) , and publishers, Kobo may have no use for kepubs as we know them. They could become whatever that new interoperable format ends up being--and it could be a seemless as the conversion to the ACCESS front end was for people like us.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I think Kobo should support epub2 because they sell them. If the ACESS renderer supports them as they were intended to be displayed by the author then that is probably good enough, still if I called Kobo and asked them how to get page numbers instead of chapter numbers, for example, and they said buy a different reader, I would not be impressed.

I suspect that if would be fairly simple for Kobo to keep the .epub and .kepub.epub file types using the same renderer but changing the menu bars depending on the file type.

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Another reason is to assuage the fears of the paranoid and uninformed.
As we know many won't buy a kindle because it does not support epub and limits their choice of venders. While we may know epub and kepub are much the same, many will not.

All the epub3 renderers I've tried will also handle epub2. The only issue is with DRMed epubs. At this time, I don't see any way of handling Adobe's ADEPT DRM without having to include the entire Adobe RMDSK package.

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

While Kobo is doing well in the marketplace right now, they may not have the resources to stick it out with the kepub thing as Amazon has done with the kindle formats. Kobo would be foolish to stop selling epubs, as many owners of other readers purchase books from them and the chances of the other ereader makers supporting kepubs is IMO nil.

I can't see Kobo dropping the epub format any time soon. After all, epub3 is a superset of epub2. .kepub.epub is basically just a way of distinguishing Kobo's epub ebooks with some epub3 features from epub2 ebooks. I've fed some of the non-DRMed .kepub.epub files to Azardi and it seems to be quite happy with them.

Regards,
David

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I suspect that if would be fairly simple for Kobo to keep the .epub and .kepub.epub file types using the same renderer but changing the menu bars depending on the file type.



All the epub3 renderers I've tried will also handle epub2. The only issue is with DRMed epubs. At this time, I don't see any way of handling Adobe's ADEPT DRM without having to include the entire Adobe RMDSK package.



I can't see Kobo dropping the epub format any time soon. After all, epub3 is a superset of epub2. .kepub.epub is basically just a way of distinguishing Kobo's epub ebooks with some epub3 features from epub2 ebooks. I've fed some of the non-DRMed .kepub.epub files to Azardi and it seems to be quite happy with them.

Regards,
David

I agree with what you are saying, I just don't see the point. Saving money doesn,t seem to be the point. Taking over the epub DRM supplying market and making money, seems unlikely, selling more books because they are kepub could be it, but unless you own a Kobo and truly love it you are not looking to buy kepubs, and the convenient online store is already a big incentive for Kobo owners to buy from Kobo.

And Kobo has pretty well shown us with 2.52, to the dismay of many, that epubs can have the same features as kepubs on Kobo readers. Maybe they didn't have all the features, but I am sure they could do it if they wanted to.

Perhaps it is all a nefarious plot to make Sony et. al start supplying features, and then Kobo will jump in with a sleek clean featureless ereader and wipe them of the map

Helen

[Anak]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I suspect that if would be fairly simple for Kobo to keep the .epub and .kepub.epub file types using the same renderer but changing the menu bars depending on the file type.



All the epub3 renderers I've tried will also handle epub2. The only issue is with DRMed epubs. At this time, I don't see any way of handling Adobe's ADEPT DRM without having to include the entire Adobe RMDSK package.



I can't see Kobo dropping the epub format any time soon. After all, epub3 is a superset of epub2. .kepub.epub is basically just a way of distinguishing Kobo's epub ebooks with some epub3 features from epub2 ebooks. I've fed some of the non-DRMed .kepub.epub files to Azardi and it seems to be quite happy with them.

Regards,
David

Well, I'm not worried about kepubs. The kepub format is just a Kobo gimmick to tie customers to its ecosystem.
I'm sure, when publishers start introducing epub3 complient books, a vendor independent DRM will emerge that is widely adopted by publishers around the world. And it will become the de facto DRM standard. Like Adobes ADEPT has become for epub2.

[guma]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Given that money and developer time are finite resources, Kobo is likely to feel that they are better served by concentrating on the future.

It's just unfortunate that their customers are living in the present and might plan for a KOBO-free future when they feel that the current experience with KOBO devices is somewhat disappointing ....