Interview w/Kobo CEO

[The_Enobee]

This is a very interesting interview with Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn. He goes into a lot of detail around ereader use cases, development, integrations, and how Kobo values the consumer's ability to access their books and take them to other devices.

Tamblyn comes on about halfway through the video (the segments are well marked if you hover over the progress bar).

https://www.theverge.com/the-vergeca...ndle-vergecast

[Cactus Chef]

Interesting interview. I liked his stated support for taking books in and out of the ecosystem, although it still kinda danced around the DRM issue. Which I suppose I understand--he can't risk upsetting his publishers.

I guess that's the closest we'll ever get to an explicit wink or nod from Kobo that they're not gonna do the cat-and-mouse game like Amazon of changing the DRM every time someone breaks it? I dunno.

I do wish the host had asked about cloud syncing for sideloaded books, since that's the number one thing that holds back adoption from Kindle refugees, IMO.

[The_Enobee]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

I guess that's the closest we'll ever get to an explicit wink or nod from Kobo that they're not gonna do the cat-and-mouse game like Amazon of changing the DRM every time someone breaks it? I dunno.

That is my hope, that they're committed to maintaining file access, and once a DRM system is in place that will be that.

I'm a bit nervous, with Adobe ADE no longer being developed, that recent changes such as netgalley moving away from ADE will cause Kobo to look at a new system that won't be so user friendly. Time will tell, but nice to see that file access and usage across device types is something they're thinking about.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

I do wish the host had asked about cloud syncing for sideloaded books, since that's the number one thing that holds back adoption from Kindle refugees, IMO.

I doubt that; it's more likely that Kindle exclusive titles even for purchase is the #1 issue.

1. Sync doesn't matter if you only read on one device.

2. Sync doesn't matter if you can remember which book and something close to your location for search.

3. Sync doesn't work for ebooks not in Amazon library. Send to Kindle wastes bandwidth and gives Amazon a copy.

4. Sync doesn't work on current device if the prior device wasn't recently online and synced.

5. Sync doesn't work unless all the devices have Internet access at appropriate times.

6. I know loads of people that have Kindle ereaders or app, and none sync or use Send To Kindle.

[JSWolf]

I have never synced on Kobo or Kindle and I probably never will.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I doubt that; it's more likely that Kindle exclusive titles even for purchase is the #1 issue.

1. Sync doesn't matter if you only read on one device.

2. Sync doesn't matter if you can remember which book and something close to your location for search.

3. Sync doesn't work for ebooks not in Amazon library. Send to Kindle wastes bandwidth and gives Amazon a copy.

4. Sync doesn't work on current device if the prior device wasn't recently online and synced.

5. Sync doesn't work unless all the devices have Internet access at appropriate times.

6. I know loads of people that have Kindle ereaders or app, and none sync or use Send To Kindle.

I know plenty of people that use it and it's a really common reason why someone won't switch. You can see it on this site and reddit. A lot of people like reading at home on the Kindle and maybe squeezing in a page or two using the app on their phone while waiting in line for coffee or some other place they have a brief moment.

And wastes bandwidth?

What year is it? 1995? Even with my crummy data plan I would not care about uploading a 1MB book or two. And at home, random coffee shops, etc. there's basically no limit.

[rantanplan]

The koreader sync server only stores one record per document. So essentially, the data that is stored for one document is literally byte-sized:

CREATE TABLE users (
  id BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  username TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL,
  password TEXT
);

CREATE TABLE progresses (
  id BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  user_id BIGINT NOT NULL,
  document TEXT NOT NULL,
  progress TEXT NOT NULL,
  percentage REAL NOT NULL,
  device TEXT NOT NULL,
  device_id TEXT NOT NULL,
  timestamp BIGINT NOT NULL,
  FOREIGN KEY (user_id)
     REFERENCES users(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
  UNIQUE (user_id, document)
);

[TheSmitty]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I doubt that; it's more likely that Kindle exclusive titles even for purchase is the #1 issue.

For me, this is a big issue. There are a few authors I enjoy that I cannot buy anywhere but Amazon. The other inconvenience of buying books from Kobo is the lack of whispersync, in other words the syncing of reading location between the ebook and the audiobook. I use this ability a lot because I commute a total of 2 hours each day for work. I can manager to work around it particularly if chapters are small and I stop reading/listening at those chapter breaks.

I do buy books from Kobo but sometimes it still is cheaper to buy from Amazon because of the additional tax Kobo charges me (some city tax) that Amazon does not. It does not add up to much but it is annoying.

As for the interview, I found it enjoyable and refreshing to hear what the CEO had to say.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I doubt that; it's more likely that Kindle exclusive titles even for purchase is the #1 issue.

6. I know loads of people that have Kindle ereaders or app, and none sync or use Send To Kindle.

And I know plenty that do?

I don't know why this forum in particular seems unwilling to acknowledge that something is a valid use-case for other users, merely because it's not a use-case for you. Look at the Kobo subreddit if for some reason you doubt the claim. By far the most common question is "Why can't I email books to my Kobo?" or "I loaded a book into the Kobo app on my phone, why isn't it showing up on my Kobo ereader?" or some other flavor of this. I wrote an entire friggin' FAQ capturing these questions, because I was tired of seeing the same question show up over and over, and it's still the most common question/complaint.

If they're coming from Amazon, they've come to take email-to-Kindle and cloud-sync as a given, and they're disappointed when they find that Kobo doesn't support it. Simply trying to deflect that it's somehow not a valid complaint does nothing to assuage their disappointment.

[kandwo]

Did they ask why there's not Libra BW?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

And I know plenty that do?

I don't know why this forum in particular seems unwilling to acknowledge that something is a valid use-case for other users, merely because it's not a use-case for you. Look at the Kobo subreddit if for some reason you doubt the claim. By far the most common question is "Why can't I email books to my Kobo?".

But that doesn't alter the fact that for the majority, the issue is Kindle Exclusive titles/authors.

Of course many people want or use sync. I'm only pointing out that many don't and the majority of Kindle users don't come to MR, and only read on their phone.

Ultimately which is more of a deal breaker? Not having the content, or not syncing? Sync is largely Amazon PR. Anyone can still read their books without it.

I appreciate that sync is very important to some people (or maybe many, but not the majority outside MR), but if Amazon ceased it tomorrow they'd still be able to read their books.

"Kobo subreddit" isn't representative of Kobo users and not at all of Kindle Users.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Quoth

But that doesn't alter the fact that for the majority, the issue is Kindle Exclusive titles/authors.

Of course many people want or use sync. I'm only pointing out that many don't and the majority of Kindle users don't come to MR, and only read on their phone.

Ultimately which is more of a deal breaker? Not having the content, or not syncing? Sync is largely Amazon PR. Anyone can still read their books without it.

I appreciate that sync is very important to some people (or maybe many, but not the majority outside MR), but if Amazon ceased it tomorrow they'd still be able to read their books.

"Kobo subreddit" isn't representative of Kobo users and not at all of Kindle Users.

How do you know that's the majority?

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Quoth

"Kobo subreddit" isn't representative of Kobo users and not at all of Kindle Users.

But MR is? Give me a break!

Originally Posted by Quoth

But that doesn't alter the fact that for the majority, the issue is Kindle Exclusive titles/authors.

From where exactly do you derive your authority on this? I am at least upfront that my data is largely based on feedback from the Kobo sub. Yours is...what?

As an aside, I sure as heck don't remember Kindle Exclusives being one of the selectable feature requests on the Kobo survey. Do you? But I do remember "syncing progress on side-loaded books" and "email to device" being features. That suggests, to me, that these are the ones people are asking for.

[The_Enobee]

Originally Posted by TheSmitty

As for the interview, I found it enjoyable and refreshing to hear what the CEO had to say.

Right? It was really cool to see someone (at the C-level especially) have an understanding and concern for the reading experience, the different types of reading experiences, and how there is still opportunity to improve. Tamblyn seems like he'd run a pretty cool workplace too.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by The_Enobee

Right? It was really cool to see someone (at the C-level especially) have an understanding and concern for the reading experience, the different types of reading experiences, and how there is still opportunity to improve. Tamblyn seems like he'd run a pretty cool workplace too.

I think he's been the head or near the top since before Kobo was called Kobo.