Kepubs vers Epubs

[lohtse]

Sorry if this is a noob question but am quite new to eReaders as always used my Phone,PDA or tablet for books...

Simple questions

what are the advantages of Kepubs over Epubs???

And can you convert epubs to Kepubs?

Thank you

regards
Lohtse

[Nightyume]

Okay, to answer your second question first, yes, you can using calibre.

As to the first question:
store bought kepubs will sync across devices as will the annotations you make in them.
They also provide added reading stats pertaining to how many chapters, length of chapters, how much time to read the current chapter, the next one and the book.

The presentation of kepubs is different than epubs but it's a question of personal preferences.

Books converted to kepubs will provide you with the same layout as storebought kepubs but won't sync and won't provide all the added reading stats (at least with newer firmwares, they could with older ones).

There are also epubs that automatically download/sync to your device, these work the same as kepubs to be honest.

[DNSB]

[QUOTE=lohtse;2683255]what are the advantages of Kepubs over Epubs???

And can you convert epubs to Kepubs?
/QUOTE]

Another advantage of kepub over epub is that the renderer used for the .kepub.epub files is epub3 compliant. So far for me, the main usefulness has been when using non-Latin alphabets especially those are not written in a left to right, top to bottom layout. You can check the IDPF website for more on information on epub3, the overview ( http://www.idpf.org/epub/30/spec/epub30-overview.html ) is a good starting spot.

Jgoguen's plugin for Calibre converts .epub to .kepub.epub on the fly as they are sent to your Kobo reader. These converted files do not offer several of the advantages of Kobo purchased ebooks such as synchronization of reading position and the latest Kobo firmware has removed the extended reading stats though that is not much of a loss since I found them to be fairly useless. As an example, my average time to read a book was 78 minutes but the time to finish the current chapter was shown as 48 minutes

Regards,
David

[6charlong]

I think the presentation of books on a Kindle, and all of them rendering a pages in Adobe ePub--including the Kobo eREaders--look like the old original paperback books. In those days paperbacks were characterized by the use of the cheapest methods possible:

Text was splashed on the page, cramming as much text as possible on small pages with narrow margins on cheap paper.

KePubs on the Kobo readers allow, but don't mandate, a more attractive page, more like that of trade paperbacks. That's especially true of the Aura HD with its larger screen however it's the kePub underneath that makes it possible to give the book pleasing fonts that you can customize to your liking by weighting them and sharpening them as well as sizing them. You can easily import a font of your choice as well.

The Kobo readers give you the title of the current book at the top of the page and they display page numbers as the name of the current chapter and page: "The 6th Test: Garnering Invitations -- Page 3 of 42."

There is more white space in the Kobo readers and why not? you're not having to pay for more paper, are you.

There's lots more. The point is the Kobo-kePub combination makes reading easier and more enjoyable. You can probably tell I am quite partial to kePubs on the Kobo readers.

[Nightyume]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

I think the presentation of books on a Kindle, and all of them rendering a pages in Adobe ePub--including the Kobo eREaders--look like the old original paperback books. In those days paperbacks were characterized by the use of the cheapest methods possible:

Text was splashed on the page, cramming as much text as possible on small pages with narrow margins on cheap paper.

KePubs on the Kobo readers allow, but don't mandate, a more attractive page, more like that of trade paperbacks. That's especially true of the Aura HD with its larger screen however it's the kePub underneath that makes it possible to give the book pleasing fonts that you can customize to your liking by weighting them and sharpening them as well as sizing them. You can easily import a font of your choice as well.

The Kobo readers give you the title of the current book at the top of the page and they display page numbers as the name of the current chapter and page: "The 6th Test: Garnering Invitations -- Page 3 of 42."

There is more white space in the Kobo readers and why not? you're not having to pay for more paper, are you.

You can probably tell I am quite partial to kePubs on the Kobo readers.

I too normally prefer kepubs (though occasionally I would like a text crammed page, it seems right for certain texts somehow...) but it's still a matter of preference. Many on this site have complained about the kepub presentation and want to eliminate the aforementioned white spaces. Like I said, it's a matter of preference.

[anacreon]

One more advantage of kepubs over epubs not mentioned below is easy access to notes with pop-up, if necessary easy going to the notes pages themselves and going back, while with epubs on kobo I found access to notes next to impossible.

[Nightyume]

Originally Posted by anacreon

One more advantage of kepubs over epubs not mentioned below is easy access to notes with pop-up, if necessary easy going to the notes pages themselves and going back, while with epubs on kobo I found access to notes next to impossible.

True, I've only come across footnotes once so it completely slipped my mind but anacreon is right.

[robko]

And once you get 2.10 firmware, ability to double tap on pictures to zoom them (currently kepub only).

[dclauzel]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

KePubs on the Kobo readers allow, but don't mandate, a more attractive page, more like that of trade paperbacks. That's especially true of the Aura HD with its larger screen however it's the kePub underneath that makes it possible to give the book pleasing fonts that you can customize to your liking by weighting them and sharpening them as well as sizing them. You can easily import a font of your choice as well.

Uh ? Are you sure of this. I have only ePub (v2 and v3) on my AuraHD (uploaded manually, not via Calibre) and I am able to choose my font for rendering the text, as well as specifying the margins, interlines, sharpness, etc.

The publishing industry is going to the direction of a unique standardised format: ePub3. They probably learn their lesson watching over the fiasco of the musical industry: incompatible formats for the player, non-standard metadata, etc.

For me, the kepub format is a regression. The metadata concerning the user reading are no part of the file format, but must be kept separately. Amazon is forcing a walled environment for the Kindle for locking-in the user, but complains are growing (at least in Europe) over the consumer's rights of interoperability and sharing.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by dclauzel

The publishing industry is going to the direction of a unique standardised format: ePub3. They probably learn their lesson watching over the fiasco of the musical industry: incompatible formats for the player, non-standard metadata, etc.

For me, the kepub format is a regression. The metadata concerning the user reading are no part of the file format, but must be kept separately. Amazon is forcing a walled environment for the Kindle for locking-in the user, but complains are growing (at least in Europe) over the consumer's rights of interoperability and sharing.

I'd find myself disagreeing with you. While the remainder of the ebook publishing industry is moving in the direction of epub3, I think that Amazon is going to continue their proprietary ebook format. Otherwise, oh horrors, I could obtain an ebook from Amazon and read it on a non-Kindle ereader.

As for your comment about a regression, I'm not sure what you were trying to say. User metadata (annotations, reading position, etc) for .kepub.epub ebooks are not stored as part of the ebook file but are stored separately in the database (.epub uses both the database and an .xml file for ADE support). If you purchase .kepub.epub ebooks from Kobo, the annotations, reading position, etc. will be synced across multiple devices running Kobo software. Otherwise, that information remains where it belongs on your device.

Regards,
David

[Nightyume]

Originally Posted by dclauzel

Uh ? Are you sure of this. I have only ePub (v2 and v3) on my AuraHD (uploaded manually, not via Calibre) and I am able to choose my font for rendering the text, as well as specifying the margins, interlines, sharpness, etc.

The publishing industry is going to the direction of a unique standardised format: ePub3. They probably learn their lesson watching over the fiasco of the musical industry: incompatible formats for the player, non-standard metadata, etc.

For me, the kepub format is a regression. The metadata concerning the user reading are no part of the file format, but must be kept separately. Amazon is forcing a walled environment for the Kindle for locking-in the user, but complains are growing (at least in Europe) over the consumer's rights of interoperability and sharing.

Actually, this is a reason I like Kobo, the fact that they actively support epub on their devices (even their phone app will import epubs). Kepubs are also based on epubs, but just with "added functionality". Normally you can choose between epub and kepub if you want. The bad thing is that as I said, you normally can choose. I dislike when I have no choice on format or reading platform. But that's a different story/discussion as it's not a question of what advantages there are but on the hardware and software philosophies behind the different companies and such. If I didn't have the choice of epubs on Kobo I would most likely not like the company so much, it's one of the reasons I dislike Kindle/amazon. But like I said, over 95% of the time we can choose with Kobo (now if they would only fix that last five percent...)

One thing though. I hope that kepubs are updated in parallel with epub3 (otherwise it would most likely become an inferior format).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Nightyume

One thing though. I hope that kepubs are updated in parallel with epub3 (otherwise it would most likely become an inferior format).

Changing the file extension from .epub to .kepub.epub triggers the use of the ACCESS renderer which is epub3 compliant. I suspect this was originally done for selling Kobo ereaders in the Japanese market. Support for language features such as furigana, vertical layouts, etc. would be necessary there.

Regards,
David

[gravespinner]

One of the main reasons I avoid Kindle (beside proprietary formatting) is that all the information about your reading habits are stored at amazon (not just the books but time spent, speed, incomplete, where you quit, and so on). I suspect that the same information is uploaded to Kobo for .kepub books.
/not usually paranoid

[lohtse]

Ok so theres a lot for me to consider with regards to Kepubs....seems may be I should convert a few books and see what I think..

Now my next question is this...Is there an alternative book manager to Calibre as I hate the damn thing...I have a folder I have built over the years with 44000 books in it and calibre will import but it does in it own folder and creates hundreds of flippin folders with various files plus book file... Now My folders arranges as I like it so can find what I want easily with out opening software etc.. with these extra folders and files It takes up spaces that is better used else where..

So is there an alternative to calibre

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by lohtse

Ok so theres a lot for me to consider with regards to Kepubs....seems may be I should convert a few books and see what I think..

Now my next question is this...Is there an alternative book manager to Calibre as I hate the damn thing...I have a folder I have built over the years with 440000 books in it and calibre will import but it does in it own folder and creates hundreds of flippin folders with various files plus book file... Now My folders arranges as I like it so can find what I want easily with out opening software etc.. with these extra folders and files It takes up spaces that is better used else where..

So is there an alternative to calibre

Good heavens ... did I read that correctly ... 4 4 0 0 0 0 books