KoSync: Upload e-books directly to your Kobo e-reader (BETA)

[gshzn]

Originally Posted by Dirk-71

Syncing from Calibre Web could be an option. I use Calibre Web on my Synology NAS...this is self hosted and safe.

Ah yes, Calibre-web is definitely an alternative to this, with their kobo endpoints. Although I don't find the whole flow around the tool as user-friendly as I would like it to be, having to adjust the API endpoint in the configuration - but that's just a personal opinion.

Ultimately, I would like for everyone to be able to install KoSync on their devices and securely without having to do editing/copying files to a hidden folder - that's part of the grand vision.

[JSWolf]

calibre-web is broken. It plays tricks with the database and because of this it's broken because calibre 9 changed the database and remove some unused fields.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

calibre-web is broken. It plays tricks with the database and because of this it's broken because calibre 9 changed the database and remove some unused fields.

It’s already fixed, not even a day after release so whatever.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

calibre-web is broken. It plays tricks with the database and because of this it's broken because calibre 9 changed the database and remove some unused fields.

It's not broken. It's been fixed. You also don't really need to use Calibre & Calibre-Web at the same time on the same database so the Calibre version is essentially moot.

[Dirk-71]

I have put some effort to get Kobo Sync working with Calibre-Web. My experience I have made led to a german tutorial I have written for the setup.

My conclusion is: Calibre-Web is a good choice to sync books wirelessly. But it is not the right choice if you want to sync hundreds of books - this will lead to sync errors. I don't sync more than 60 books with CW.

What's also nice: the sync of the reading-status. I have 4 Kobo Readers and that's a welcome feature for more comfort handling multiple readers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dirk-71

I have put some effort to get Kobo Sync working with Calibre-Web. My experience I have made led to a german tutorial I have written for the setup.

My conclusion is: Calibre-Web is a good choice to sync books wirelessly. But it is not the right choice if you want to sync hundreds of books - this will lead to sync errors. I don't sync more than 60 books with CW.

What's also nice: the sync of the reading-status. I have 4 Kobo Readers and that's a welcome feature for more comfort handling multiple readers.

The images won't translate.

[MGlitch]

I’m just struggling with a few things

1) “get new ebooks wherever you can connect to the internet”

Literally already a fundamental feature of the ereader. Even allowing for non kobo sources this seems like a stretch for reasons connected to the second issue

2) USB C (as I believe the entire current and even semi recent lines of Kobo use) cables are plentiful, used with tons of electronics, lightweight and easily packed. Ergo if I need a computer to get a book from somewhere other than Kobo to then get it on your server (which is a whole other issue) I’d just do it myself on said computer.

3) Why are we pretending digital storage somehow has the same limitations as physical storage. I can’t pick which book to read over a vacation? I’ll just have a couple of hundred plus ones loaded on my ereader. Oh I don’t have the book purchased? Even with this proposed solution I’d need internet which defeats the need for this entirely anyway.

This is a solution to a user created problem that doesn’t exist without jumping through multiple massive hoops and exposing yourself to multiple security vulnerabilities. All this from a new user with a name that mirrors the throw away brand names you find on Amazon selling knockoffs items at questionably low prices.

This isn’t just a hard pass. It’s a surround this post with red flags and quarantine it in the dark recesses of the “not in a million years”.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I’m just struggling with a few things

1) “get new ebooks wherever you can connect to the internet”

Literally already a fundamental feature of the ereader. Even allowing for non kobo sources this seems like a stretch for reasons connected to the second issue

2) USB C (as I believe the entire current and even semi recent lines of Kobo use) cables are plentiful, used with tons of electronics, lightweight and easily packed. Ergo if I need a computer to get a book from somewhere other than Kobo to then get it on your server (which is a whole other issue) I’d just do it myself on said computer.

3) Why are we pretending digital storage somehow has the same limitations as physical storage. I can’t pick which book to read over a vacation? I’ll just have a couple of hundred plus ones loaded on my ereader. Oh I don’t have the book purchased? Even with this proposed solution I’d need internet which defeats the need for this entirely anyway.

This is a solution to a user created problem that doesn’t exist without jumping through multiple massive hoops and exposing yourself to multiple security vulnerabilities. All this from a new user with a name that mirrors the throw away brand names you find on Amazon selling knockoffs items at questionably low prices.

This isn’t just a hard pass. It’s a surround this post with red flags and quarantine it in the dark recesses of the “not in a million years”.

There are many, many people who don't want to mess with USB cables and prefer to load their books over wifi. For example, in many cases it's the main reason why folks aren't going to switch from Kindle to Kobo - Amazon has their Send to Kindle feature for non-Amazon books, while Kobo has nothing of the sort (yes, they have Dropbox integration, but it's only for certain models and doesn't sync the reading progress). Calibre-Web/Kobo Sync is somewhat complicated to set up and you need to be a calibre user in the first place.

While you personally may not need this (and for that matter, I don't either) there are a lot of folks who do want such a feature.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

There are many, many people who don't want to mess with USB cables and prefer to load their books over wifi. For example, in many cases it's the main reason why folks aren't going to switch from Kindle to Kobo - Amazon has their Send to Kindle feature for non-Amazon books, while Kobo has nothing of the sort (yes, they have Dropbox integration, but it's only for certain models and doesn't sync the reading progress). Calibre-Web/Kobo Sync is somewhat complicated to set up and you need to be a calibre user in the first place.

While you personally may not need this (and for that matter, I don't either) there are a lot of folks who do want such a feature.

Trading security for convenience is the province of fools.

While I’ll buy there are plenty of people who don’t want to mess with a USB cable, the number who then also want to load books on their devices not from the built in store drops of dramatically. And the remaining number tend towards being more willing to tinker around with technology and learn to use it.

The argument of them having to be a calibre user in the first place is irrelevant, it’s no harder to download Calibre and load books into it than it is to get even the easier version of what’s on offer here going. Arguably setting up the basics of Calibre is easier. And once you move away from the security concerns of hosting your books on someone else’s server and start down the DIY path it’s going to become harder than setting up Calibre web and the other options.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Trading security for convenience is the province of fools.

While I’ll buy there are plenty of people who don’t want to mess with a USB cable, the number who then also want to load books on their devices not from the built in store drops of dramatically. And the remaining number tend towards being more willing to tinker around with technology and learn to use it.

The argument of them having to be a calibre user in the first place is irrelevant, it’s no harder to download Calibre and load books into it than it is to get even the easier version of what’s on offer here going. Arguably setting up the basics of Calibre is easier. And once you move away from the security concerns of hosting your books on someone else’s server and start down the DIY path it’s going to become harder than setting up Calibre web and the other options.

I take it you've spent little time in the Kindle forum. No, the folks wanting to load their non-store books over wifi aren't generally willing to tinker, they just want to click on something and have their books automagically appear on their devices. And sync the reading progress. And no, they don't want to install and learn an entire new program (calibre) to do that.

And there are quite a lot of those people. You won't find them in the Kobo forum, because Kobo doesn't offer this feature.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I take it you've spent little time in the Kindle forum. No, the folks wanting to load their non-store books over wifi aren't generally willing to tinker, they just want to click on something and have their books automagically appear on their devices. And sync the reading progress. And no, they don't want to install and learn an entire new program (calibre) to do that.

And there are quite a lot of those people. You won't find them in the Kobo forum, because Kobo doesn't offer this feature.

As has been said many times the folks here represent a tiny fraction of the folks actually using devices. And again giving up security for the sake of convenience is foolish. Amazon offers a send to device which operates entirely through them, no third party setup and no tinkering with creating your own hosting system.

So you’re really just arguing my point when you keep mentioning that service.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

As has been said many times the folks here represent a tiny fraction of the folks actually using devices. And again giving up security for the sake of convenience is foolish. Amazon offers a send to device which operates entirely through them, no third party setup and no tinkering with creating your own hosting system.

So you’re really just arguing my point when you keep mentioning that service.

I'm not arguing anything for myself. I'm just repeating what I've seen in various posts here and elsewhere. There have been many complaints that Kobo doesn't offer a similar service like Send to Kindle, and not only on MR. Whether the folks wanting it would use some unknown third party website/app for this purpose, I have no idea. I just replied to your post where you claimed that there is no need for such a service. That's not what I've seen over the years.

Is it unsafe? Of course. But people do many unsafe things.

[rantanplan]

All new Kobo devices support Dropbox and Google Drive so that point is kind of moot. Right now, kosync doesn’t have any advantages.

I do still see the potential, but I prefer self hosted solutions.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

All new Kobo devices support Dropbox and Google Drive so that point is kind of moot. Right now, kosync doesn’t have any advantages.

I do still see the potential, but I prefer self hosted solutions.

Yes, syncing the reading progress would be a must, else few people would use it.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I'm not arguing anything for myself. I'm just repeating what I've seen in various posts here and elsewhere. There have been many complaints that Kobo doesn't offer a similar service like Send to Kindle, and not only on MR. Whether the folks wanting it would use some unknown third party website/app for this purpose, I have no idea. I just replied to your post where you claimed that there is no need for such a service. That's not what I've seen over the years.

Is it unsafe? Of course. But people do many unsafe things.

My point was that we have better options that aren’t opening people to security risks and that this proposed solution has to create a problem which doesn’t exist because those solutions already exist.

People doing unsafe things doesn’t mean we shouldn’t warn them when the danger may not be apparent. Especially when there isn’t a need to expose themselves to the danger.

The first point on the original post you responded to also covers getting ebooks from anywhere, I’ll grant I didn’t go into specifics of using calibre web or kobo uncaged etc however as others had mentioned alternative methods of sending I felt it would certainly have been a known and covered topic.