The Kobo DRM-free epub fiasco - Page 7

Lynx-lynx · 02-06-2015, 06:17 PM

Difflugia I'm wondering if you'd like to start a thread in the General Discussions sub-forum (that is, this sub-forum) explaining about the Google ebook site. I think that, like the other book seller sites, there's a bit to get across to understand how the site explains things and how it works etc.

A number of the posts in this thread have related to that topic and could be moved into the new thread as well.

I think that a greater audience of MR members would benefit from the dedicated thread than just those of us who are participating in this thread.

Anyway, up to you .... but I know that I've benefited greatly by what you've said/explained so far.

(Maybe the title of the thread could be something like: Buying Google Books - a Guide [or whatever])

joblack · 02-06-2015, 06:24 PM

My Kobo still cannot zoom pictures from 'normal' epubs. Kobo sucks ... hard.

BearMountainBooks · 02-06-2015, 06:25 PM

I'd love to see a google thread!

darryl · 02-06-2015, 07:10 PM

@Lynx-lynx. I also found Difflugia's insight helpful, and agree a Google thread would be useful. I will make the observation though, that I don't see any general "how to buy from Amazon" type threads. Perhaps this explains why the others are playing catch-up.

PeterT · 02-06-2015, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joblack

My Kobo still cannot zoom pictures from 'normal' epubs. Kobo sucks ... hard.

You of course make the fatal assumption that the pictures are higher resolution and can be displayed larger without gross errors caused by magnification.

Also tis strange that you don't even list a Kobo among your eReaders.

BearMountainBooks · 02-06-2015, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darryl

@Lynx-lynx. I also found Difflugia's insight helpful, and agree a Google thread would be useful. I will make the observation though, that I don't see any general "how to buy from Amazon" type threads. Perhaps this explains why the others are playing catch-up.

Well, we could always make the google thread "Google book bargains and discussions!"

Jane12 · 02-06-2015, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane12

... Is it safe to assume everything is available as an ADE-compatible epub as long as it says "best for: ereader" and "features: flowing text"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Difflugia

I think "flowing text" is Google-speak for epub and the other option, "scanned pages" is PDF. If you use the Google Books interface and mouse over the "BUY EBOOK" button, you'l get one of three popups:

This is an epub.

This is a PDF.

This is both.

While I haven't bought that many books from Google, I've only seen the above three possibilities and they've (so far) always correlated to epub, PDF and both respectively.

Thank you so much for this!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Difflugia

... I meant the web interface at books.google.com rather than the app or play.google.com.

You can also find this info at the bottom of the each play.google.com product page under "Additional Info" (see screenshot). No mouse-hovering required

joblack · 02-07-2015, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

You of course make the fatal assumption that the pictures are higher resolution and can be displayed larger without gross errors caused by magnification.

Also tis strange that you don't even list a Kobo among your eReaders.

No I don't make that assumption. It's not possible to zoom pictures in epubs (for instance officially bought ones from oreilly.com) to see them in full (e.g. graphics in e-books). It should be possible if I would convert my epubs to 'kpubs'. Great 'usability'.

A feature which the cheapest Kindle is able to do.

The Kobo support didn't care about the problem. For me the Kobo Aura HD is essential electronic waste. And my last device from Kobo.

I haven't listed the Kobo Aura HD because it was an embarrassing experience. And I have other E-Book Readers (Paperwhite 2, Onyx M96, Kindle Basic) which aren't listed either for other reasons.

I accept your apology.

PeterT · 02-07-2015, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joblack

No I don't make that assumption. It's not possible to zoom pictures in epubs (for instance officially bought ones from oreilly.com) to see them in full (e.g. graphics in e-books). It should be possible if I would convert my epubs to 'kpubs'. Great 'usability'.

A feature which the cheapest kindle can do. The Kobo support didn't care about the problem.

I haven't listed the Kobo Aura HD because it was an embarrassing experience. And I have other E-Book Readers (Paperwhite 2, Onyx M96, Kindle Basic) which aren't listed either.

I accept your apology.

You'll be waiting a long time

joblack · 02-07-2015, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

You'll be waiting a long time

Your behavior explains itself. Obviously you're out of serious arguments. Let's leave it at that.

doubleshuffle · 02-07-2015, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marrella

They seem to have fixed it, since I just added it to my library and was able to download it. My Kobo account is set to Germany.

This is weird. I use the German store too, and I still can't download it.

shalym · 02-07-2015, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

You of course make the fatal assumption that the pictures are higher resolution and can be displayed larger without gross errors caused by magnification.

Also tis strange that you don't even list a Kobo among your eReaders.

Peter, instead of accusing the person of making assumptions or implying that they're lying, maybe you could discuss your experience with zooming pictures in epubs as opposed to kepubs. Are you able to do so? I'm interested to hear your experience.

Shari

Marrella · 02-07-2015, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

This is weird. I use the German store too, and I still can't download it.

Now, this is really weird.

It just downloaded fine to my hard drive like all the other Tor books I have purchased from Kobo. Maybe it's a browser issue? Just an idea, though not very likely. I am using Safari on a Mac.

Byrdie · 02-07-2015, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marrella

They seem to have fixed it, since I just added it to my library and was able to download it. My Kobo account is set to Germany.

I have already "bought" it from Amazon, but it is always nice to have the epub as well.

Not fixed in Canada, I still cannot download it except via the Kobo desktop app. Then I had to go dig it out of the kepub folder, add .epub to the insane string of numbers that serves as the filename instead of a proper title and load it into Calibre to get a proper book.
This for something that is non-DRMed. And here I thought no DRM was supposed to mean I could put the darn thing wherever I liked to read it once I bought it. Just like a real (a.k.a. paper) book.

Boy was I mistaken!

jackie_w · 02-07-2015, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byrdie

And here I thought no DRM was supposed to mean I could put the darn thing wherever I liked to read it once I bought it. Just like a real (a.k.a. paper) book.

Boy was I mistaken!

It sounds to me like you were able to put it in calibre which is exactly where you wanted it. What's the problem?

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02-06-2015, 06:17 PM	#91
Lynx-lynx Treachery of images ... Posts: 4,116 Karma: 92523791 Join Date: May 2012 Location: Australia Device: Sony 650, Kobo Glo, H2O, Aura One, Forma, Libra 2, Libra Colour	Difflugia I'm wondering if you'd like to start a thread in the General Discussions sub-forum (that is, this sub-forum) explaining about the Google ebook site. I think that, like the other book seller sites, there's a bit to get across to understand how the site explains things and how it works etc. A number of the posts in this thread have related to that topic and could be moved into the new thread as well. I think that a greater audience of MR members would benefit from the dedicated thread than just those of us who are participating in this thread. Anyway, up to you .... but I know that I've benefited greatly by what you've said/explained so far. (Maybe the title of the thread could be something like: Buying Google Books - a Guide [or whatever])

02-06-2015, 06:24 PM	#92
joblack Wizard Posts: 1,751 Karma: 4382688 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Somewhere on earth Device: Onyx Boox Tab X C	My Kobo still cannot zoom pictures from 'normal' epubs. Kobo sucks ... hard.

02-06-2015, 06:25 PM	#93
BearMountainBooks Maria Schneider Posts: 3,746 Karma: 26439330 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Near Austin, Texas Device: 3g Kindle Keyboard	I'd love to see a google thread!

02-06-2015, 07:10 PM	#94
darryl Wizard Posts: 3,108 Karma: 60231510 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura H2O, Kindle Oasis, Huwei Ascend Mate 7	@Lynx-lynx. I also found Difflugia's insight helpful, and agree a Google thread would be useful. I will make the observation though, that I don't see any general "how to buy from Amazon" type threads. Perhaps this explains why the others are playing catch-up.