ebooks and ereader apps

[windycitygal]

Last year I decided to break with the Amazon/Kindle ecosphere as much as possible. I purchased a Boox Go Color 7 to use instead of the Kindle Paperwhite I had been using. When I heard that Amazon was shutting down the ability to save Kindle ebooks to personal devices, I downloaded my Kindle library and loaded everything from it into Calibre before syncing it to my Boox ereader. Since then, I've been accessing the books I downloaded through the Boox built in library and Neoreader.

Now I'm wanting to purchase some more ebooks in a couple series that I've been avidly enjoying. I've found them on other ebook platforms like Kobo and ebooks.com, but since my experience with using ebooks was primarily through Amazon purchases or borrowed library books , I'm trying to understand if each ebook vendor requires that I use their proprietary app to read books purchased through them.

I added the Kobo app to my Boox, so I'm thinking that if I buy the ebooks I want through Kobo I will need to use their app to access and read them. And looking at ebooks.com, it appears that they also have an app that must be used to access any books I purchase through them. Is this correct?

I purchased the Boox so I could make use of ALL of the library apps I have access to: Libby, Hoopla, and Palace. I understand that libraries need to use apps because of how they license ebooks. I also understand that Amazon TOS states that ebooks aren't actually owned by the purchaser, just licensed for individual use. That's one reason I moved away from Amazon for ebooks. Are all the other ebook vendors just using the same approach (licensed not "owned" copies).

Ideally I could manage all the ebooks I purchase in one library on my device rather than having to remember which app a particular book from a series is stored in. If I can actually own a copy of an ebook then I can add it to my Calibre library for management and sync it to my Boox. It's hard enough trying to remember which library app I need to open to read a book I borrowed!

[pdurrant]

Apart from Amazon's DRMs, and other individual store DRM systems, the big player in the market (at the moment) is Adobe's DRM system. Kobo, and eBooks, and many other ebook stores use it.

You need to register for an Adobe ID (usually your email address) with Adobe, and then you use that with the book stores, and all your books have the same DRM key, and so can be used with any device or app that supports Adobe's DRM - again, essentially everything except Kindles.

Personally, I immediately strip Adobe's DRM from my purchased ebooks, and store them in calibre and read them with any ebook reading software I like. Just now I'm mostly using justRead.app because I have an iPhone. Other software is available.

[danicca]

No, you just need Adobe Id for those. I'm suprised you haven't run into it with library books. As long as you have it, you can read library, kobo, ebooks.com books in one app. I have got Pocketbook app on my ereader and that's it.

[Sirtel]

Just remove the DRM from your purchased ebooks. Adobe DRM is easy to strip. Then you can read then with whatever app or device you want.

[Aleron Ives]

To be clear, you need to get the ACSM input plugin for Calibre, and once you set up your Adobe ID with DeDRM, you'll be able to download and decrypt books in a single step by opening the ACSM file with Calibre.

[PeterT]

To download books using ADE from Kobo you need to go to the My Books view on the website --> https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/library/books and then click on the tyre dots besides a book and select the Download option. This will then download an ACSM file which is a token that is processed via Adobe Digital Edition (ADE) to download a DRM encumbered ePub file

[bluepeter]

If you use the DeACSM plugin with Calibre, you don't need to register for an Adobe ID. It has the functionality to create and use an anonymous authorisation. (I've been using it that way for a couple of years, and had no problems.)

[Martinoptic]

Originally Posted by windycitygal;

I added the Kobo app to my Boox, so I'm thinking that if I buy the ebooks I want through Kobo I will need to use their app to access and read them. And looking at ebooks.com, it appears that they also have an app that must be used to access any books I purchase through them. Is this correct?

It is correct if you haven't remove the drm. Kobo and ebooks.com use the adobe drm so if you free your books you don't need to use proprietary apps.

[windycitygal]

Thank you, all! I managed to buy a couple books from one series through ebooks.com, download them, and then process them into my Calibre library using the plug-in. Sadly, one of the series seems to ONLY have books available through Amazon, not on Kobo or ebooks.com. Boo!

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by windycitygal

Thank you, all! I managed to buy a couple books from one series through ebooks.com, download them, and then process them into my Calibre library using the plug-in. Sadly, one of the series seems to ONLY have books available through Amazon, not on Kobo or ebooks.com. Boo!

I'm glad to hear that you've managed to get some of what you wanted onto your new e-reader.

Yes, sometimes you will find that what you want is only available through Amazon. However, it is still possible (for the moment) to get Kindle books into Calibre and thence onto a Kobo/Boox/Whatever e-reader. There was some discussion of this on the Amazon Kindle forum when Amazon announced that they were stopping D&T. I think that it was in this thread, but I haven't read through to check.