Is there documentation on the fields in "Kobo eReader.conf"?

[SomeGuy58439]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

If I'm not mistaken, redeeming an OverDrive loan directly on your Kobo gets you the KEPUB file from the Kobo store, so Kobo servers are definitely involved. If you redeem your loan through ADE, you get the normal EPUB version.

Is that verified through something like a network trace to see which IPs your system is connecting to?

Given that Calibre these days can convert things to kepub automatically for you, there's nothing inherent in the on-device book being in kepub format that requires Kobo servers be involved.

[DNSB]

Redeeming a Overdrive library loan on your Kobo gets the book from Kobo's servers.

You will notice that if you look at your books on Kobo's website, the library loan will show in My Books. You will also rarely find the book in the library and the book in Kobo's Store are not the same edition (most commonly, the ISBNs are different) so you can not fulfill the book from Kobo and need to go the .ascm route. If you look at the book in your Kobo's /.kobo/kepub directory, the file will have the GUID looking filename with no extension that Kobo uses for synced books.

[Aleron Ives]

IIRC Kobo will also forcibly add the sample from the Kobo store to your device after you return the loan, in order to encourage you to buy it.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

IIRC Kobo will also forcibly add the sample from the Kobo store to your device after you return the loan, in order to encourage you to buy it.

The raison d'être for the preview is to act as a placeholder for any annotations/highlights that you may have made while reading the library book. Without the preview, the annotations/highlights would be gone like the disposasteins of yesteryear.

[Aleron Ives]

You wouldn't be able to see the highlights if you highlighted anything that isn't included in the preview though, I assume (unless you buy and sync the book to get the full contents again).

[DNSB]

You can see the hightlights to the limited extent that they are displayed in the Annotations view but you can't go to a location that is not in the preview. They will also remain if you borrow the book again when you couldn't renew it immediately.

[SomeGuy58439]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

IIRC Kobo will also forcibly add the sample from the Kobo store to your device after you return the loan, in order to encourage you to buy it.

This does sound annoying.

Originally Posted by DNSB

The raison d'être for the preview is to act as a placeholder for any annotations/highlights that you may have made while reading the library book. Without the preview, the annotations/highlights would be gone like the disposasteins of yesteryear.

It should be theoretically possible to keep that data hidden from the ereader user if being a placeholder for annotations/highlights was the sole raison d'être for adding that preview to the library.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by SomeGuy58439

It should be theoretically possible to keep that data hidden from the ereader user if being a placeholder for annotations/highlights was the sole raison d'être for adding that preview to the library.

To keep the highlights without the placeholder preview would require a fairly massive change in how Kobo manages annotations/highlights to allow accessing the annotations/highlights when the book is deleted from the database. Adding the preview was—probably—the simplest solution much like using the KoboTouch driver's Do not treat replacements as new books option.