The Kobo DRM-free epub fiasco

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by darryl

That means a file association was probably created by the installer, which makes my tongue in cheek comment about Windows Users and file associations irrelevant as the link is created for them on installing ADE.

I find this whole discussion quite amusing, as we are talking about very trivial differences indeed. Just a bit of harmless fun.

Irrelevant for this case, but I do agree that most Windows users probably can't do it.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

Barbour Publishing's The KJV Study Bible is an EPUB3. When I bought it, it was kepub-only and had no download link. Something like a month ago, someone here reported that they started getting download links and when I checked, there was an ADE link. Here's the package element from the OPF file:

<package xmlns="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf" unique-identifier="ISBN" version="3.0" xml:lang="en">

What browser did you use? It seems like Safari can but most can't in one example in this thread.

[pssquirrel]

Originally Posted by BrodieKobo

Yes Kobo is and should be offering epub3 for direct download.

Thanks! That's excellent news!

Our plan as far as I've been told is to continue supporting purchase and download of ebooks for use on non-kobo eReaders (as long as publishers allow downloading of course, as there are some cases where we are not allowed).

Interesting. When a publisher prohibits downloading, is it for all their books or just selected titles?

[Jane12]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

Barbour Publishing's The KJV Study Bible is an EPUB3. When I bought it, it was kepub-only and had no download link. Something like a month ago, someone here reported that they started getting download links and when I checked, there was an ADE link.

Thanks Difflugia! Did you test the ADE link? As of right now, the product page still shows no download options for this book. Looks like Kobo still has some kinks to work out.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

That's the first I've ever heard anyone mention that a publisher can disallow the direct downloading of their titles. Is BrodieKobo saying that publishers can request that their book(s) only be made available in kepub for Kobo devices?

This is what B&N told us when they discontinued direct downloads. Publishers required greater "security." Whether that is true or not ...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by darryl

If you have a Kindle on your account the process is:

1. Download file from Amazon to Computer.
2. Load into Calibre.
3. Load drm-free copy to device.

With ADE:

1. Download acsm file to Computer.
2. Load acsm file into Digital Editions, which then downloads the ebook file.
3. Load into Calibre.
4. Load drm-free copy to device.

It was pointed out to me on another thread that the direct download to your computer option from Amazon is not available unless you have a Kindle on your account. In this case, the first step becomes to open your Kindle for PC application, which will sync and download your EBook file to your Kindle for PC application. Otherwise the steps are the same. You don't need to download both an .acsm file and an epub file. Granted, not a significant difference but a difference nevertheless.

Actually, it is slightly more difficult with Amazon then with ADE. If you do not own a Kindle, you have to run Kindle for PC and then download the eBook(s) which is more difficult then just downloading the acsm file which can be downloaded via the web browser and have ADE auto-run so ADE run, downloads the eBook using the acsm file. With Amazon, once you are in Kindle for PC, you have to sync before you can download the eBook. I just thing ADE is easier. It may not be much easier, but it is easier. And then finding a specific ePub eBook is easier because you have filenames that make sense. If you are looking for the newwest downloads, then you sort by date and that's not a problem. So ADE wins yet again in finding a specific eBook.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Fbone

This is what B&N told us when they discontinued direct downloads. Publishers required greater "security." Whether that is true or not ...

It's gotta be B.S. The same publishers allow Google to provide direct downloads of the exact same titles using the old "inferior" security.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Fbone

This is what B&N told us when they discontinued direct downloads. Publishers required greater "security." Whether that is true or not ...

And isn't there something special security-wise about magazines (at Kobo and Amazon?) I'm not a subscriber, but I recall the thread about it and the changing security causing issues with the way some people transferred and read their magazines.

[Byrdie]

Note to Kobo (and Amazon and every other book store out there): Any publisher who prohibits downloading is a publisher from whom I will not buy.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It's gotta be B.S. The same publishers allow Google to provide direct downloads of the exact same titles using the old "inferior" security.

Google uses ADE. Doesn't the latest version attempt to increase "security" somehow? I remember people here complaining about it but I forgot the details.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

What browser did you use? It seems like Safari can but most can't in one example in this thread.

I'm using Firefox 35.0.1 in Linux.

Originally Posted by Jane12

Thanks Difflugia! Did you test the ADE link? As of right now, the product page still shows no download options for this book. Looks like Kobo still has some kinks to work out.

I did (again just now, in fact).

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Google uses ADE. Doesn't the latest version attempt to increase "security" somehow? I remember people here complaining about it but I forgot the details.

Yes they use ADE. But at least so far, they've not made the switch to require the newer adobe content server's "hardened security" that had everyone freaked so out. They (Google) are still serving up downloadable, ADE DRMed epubs with the same level of security that B&N claims publishers forced them to abandon ... for security reasons. *shrug*

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by Fbone

This is what B&N told us when they discontinued direct downloads. Publishers required greater "security." Whether that is true or not ...

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It's gotta be B.S. The same publishers allow Google to provide direct downloads of the exact same titles using the old "inferior" security.

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

And isn't there something special security-wise about magazines (at Kobo and Amazon?) I'm not a subscriber, but I recall the thread about it and the changing security causing issues with the way some people transferred and read their magazines.

I'm guessing that there are a few different "security" issues here.

For the B&N thing, I'm guessing that the publishers don't consider ADE to be a "direct download", since it goes through another application. The technical hurdle is minor, but if the publishers are trying to draw a line in the sand to "fight piracy", that's as rational a place as any other. The NOOK application downloads the same files as the direct download, but it puts them in an application-specific directory, so it's now effectively the same as ADE. I wondered at the time why B&N didn't do more than they did to "upgrade" their security, but maybe this is the exact set of changes that was demanded: the method of key generation is no longer public knowledge and there are no direct downloads in the strict sense.

With the Kobo thing, I'm guessing that all of the following are true:

• Publishers may opt-out of ADE/DRM-free downloads, nominally for security reasons
• Some epub3 books still can't be downloaded
• Some books (epub3 or otherwise) should have a download available, but don't

Given Kobo's track record, the customer service people probably have no idea which of those is true for any given book. As long as Kobo has some books that are in the "opt-out" list, it's probably the CS rep's assumption that any book without a download is in that list. Given the state of Kobo's catalog, it also seems likely to me that there are publishers that at one time may have opted-out, but have changed policies (or been bought by other publishers) and those changes aren't reflected in the current Kobo catalog. As others have lamented, I've bought books that were undeliverable by any means. Customer service refunded my money, but those books are still for sale and, I'm assuming, still just as undeliverable.

[DiapDealer]

It's a fair point that B&Ns "direct downloads" could conceivably be considered "less secure" than the ACSM download/ACS fulfillment process that most other epub retailers use. And that from a strict "security" sense, B&Ns changes have seemed to put their security "on par" with the other retailers.

Ignoring for the moment, of course, the fact that all the direct downloads are actually still available on B&N's servers. Only the hyperlinks to those files have been removed in users' libraries. That's how TamperMonkey is able to simply recreate the missing links to files that are still very much available (and technically just as insecure as they were for users whose keys remain unchanged).

Changing their key generation wholesale and leaving the download links in place would have been more "secure" than removing the links and only changing some (including new) users keys.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

With the Kobo thing, I'm guessing that all of the following are true:

• Publishers may opt-out of ADE/DRM-free downloads, nominally for security reasons
• Some epub3 books still can't be downloaded
• Some books (epub3 or otherwise) should have a download available, but don't

Given Kobo's track record, the customer service people probably have no idea which of those is true for any given book. As long as Kobo has some books that are in the "opt-out" list, it's probably the CS rep's assumption that any book without a download is in that list. Given the state of Kobo's catalog, it also seems likely to me that there are publishers that at one time may have opted-out, but have changed policies (or been bought by other publishers) and those changes aren't reflected in the current Kobo catalog. As others have lamented, I've bought books that were undeliverable by any means. Customer service refunded my money, but those books are still for sale and, I'm assuming, still just as undeliverable.

Any publisher that has drm free books that they won't let you download for security reasons must have Dissociative identity disorder.