The Kobo DRM-free epub fiasco

[BrodieKobo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The book in question is Brandon Sanderson Sampler - The Way of Kings and Mistborn. It is a Tor DRM Free ePub. I don't have any DRMed ePub 3 in my Kobo library. If there is a free DRMed ePub 3 I could try, I'd be happy to try it.

hi all,

Thanks for replying with some more examples. I'm getting the same broken link problem for the TOR book as well. Looks like we have a bug with this title. I'll raise it up with our development team and with all TOR books in general for our merchandisers as it appears they have chronic problems with downloading.

I'll let the group know once we have a solution. Apologies for any inconveniences this has caused.

Brodie

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by BrodieKobo

hi all,

Thanks for replying with some more examples. I'm getting the same broken link problem for the TOR book as well. Looks like we have a bug with this title. I'll raise it up with our development team and with all TOR books in general for our merchandisers as it appears they have chronic problems with downloading.

I'll let the group know once we have a solution. Apologies for any inconveniences this has caused.

Brodie

While you're at it, see if they can tweak Kobo Writing Life so that any books we publish will automatically show up as being "purchased" in our Kobo account. That would make it much easier for us to be certain that the books we produce don't exhibit this behavior.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

While you're at it, see if they can tweak Kobo Writing Life so that any books we publish will automatically show up as being "purchased" in our Kobo account. That would make it much easier for us to be certain that the books we produce don't exhibit this behavior.

As long as you do not needlessly make your ePub ePub 3 when you don't need to do so, you'll be good to go. I've not have any issues at Kobo with ePub 2 eBooks.

So in plain English, make your ePub ePub 2 and all will be well.

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As long as you do not needlessly make your ePub ePub 3 when you don't need to do so, you'll be good to go. I've not have any issues at Kobo with ePub 2 eBooks.

So in plain English, make your ePub ePub 2 and all will be well.

My build system can produce metadata in either format, so if I conclude that my books are breaking on Kobo's store, I can instantly ship an EPUB 2 file to that channel with the push of a button.

However, I would rather not do so unless absolutely necessary. The way I see it, EPUB 3 is almost four years old, which makes it almost half as old as EPUB 2 already. If it isn't time to adopt the standard by now, it never will be.

Of course, my EPUB 3 books do include an NCX and a guide tag in an effort to maximize compatibility with older devices, so I'm not being a purist about the newer standard by any means.

[murg]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

However, I would rather not do so unless absolutely necessary. The way I see it, EPUB 3 is almost four years old, which makes it almost half as old as EPUB 2 already. If it isn't time to adopt the standard by now, it never will be.

Of course, my EPUB 3 books do include an NCX and a guide tag in an effort to maximize compatibility with older devices, so I'm not being a purist about the newer standard by any means.

The main problem with EPUB 3 is that it really isn't necessary. A vast majority of the ebooks out there are effectively text copies of physical books. EPUB 2 contains everything necessary to create and distribute these ebooks.

EPUB 3 will probably never become a majorly implemented standard. Especially if EPUB 3 renderers haven't hit the mainstream after 4 years.

[pdurrant]

EPUB 3 was a great disappointment. The inclusion of MathML was good, but typographically it's still a mess.

Try doing an initial drop cap reliably. Or even a initial raised cap without forcing a fixed line height to avoid uneven line spacing of the first line.

Instead we have fixed format layouts. That's what PDF is for!

[DiapDealer]

My latest adventure with Kobo:

Apparently, when you buy an ebook that you once saved a preview of to your Kobo library and then subsequently deleted, you get to enjoy the experience of your newly purchased ebook going directly to your "Trash" (they seem to like to update your previews with the "real deal" if/when you purchase them). At which point you can undelete your brand-new purchase.

At least that's how I'm explaining the fact that a book I purchased today turned up in the "trash" with a deletion date of nearly a year ago.

So remember to check your trash if your new purchase isn't showing up in your Kobo library boys and girls.

[Lynx-lynx]

Oh diapdealer you do have some interesting things happen to you.

[JSWolf]

Even worse, if you delete a sample and then empty the trash, Kobo thinks you still have the sample in your library. So I'm not sure if you then buy the full book if you will be able to access it.

[MarciaCat]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My latest adventure with Kobo:

Apparently, when you buy an ebook that you once saved a preview of to your Kobo library and then subsequently deleted, you get to enjoy the experience of your newly purchased ebook going directly to your "Trash" (they seem like to update your previews with the "real deal" if/when you purchase them). At which point you can undelete your brand-new purchase.

At least that's how I'm explaining the fact that a book I purchased today turned up in the "trash" with a deletion date of nearly a year ago.

So remember to check your trash if your new purchase isn't showing up in your Kobo library boys and girls.

That happened to me two weeks ago; I bought two books and when I went to download them I found one was missing . After resigning myself to having to deal with Kobo customer service I remembered the sample I had deleted a few weeks before so I went and searched and found that my deleted sample had morphed into the full size book.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by MarciaCat

After resigning myself to having to deal with Kobo customer service I remembered the sample I had deleted a few weeks before so I went and searched and found that my deleted sample had morphed into the full size book.

I did send them a message to tell them that their "turn the preview into the full book" routine might (IMHO) need another "if ... then" clause in it to handle the the deleted preview situation. You know, something like:

if preview_to_upgrade in trash:
  do not terrify customer by putting purchased_book there

The premise for doing what they do is admirable. A library full of previews and seemingly duplicate books would be confusing and messy. But no one should have to go rooting through the trash for a brand new purchase.

[BrodieKobo]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My latest adventure with Kobo:

Apparently, when you buy an ebook that you once saved a preview of to your Kobo library and then subsequently deleted, you get to enjoy the experience of your newly purchased ebook going directly to your "Trash" (they seem to like to update your previews with the "real deal" if/when you purchase them). At which point you can undelete your brand-new purchase.

At least that's how I'm explaining the fact that a book I purchased today turned up in the "trash" with a deletion date of nearly a year ago.

So remember to check your trash if your new purchase isn't showing up in your Kobo library boys and girls.

Hi DiapDealer,

This is actually a bug, thanks for pointing this out. I've forwarded your issue along to our development team and they've confirmed this is in fact happening. We'll get on fixing this ASAP as it's obviously not the desired effect we want our customers to experience when purchasing a book. Thanks for finding this!

Brodie

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by BrodieKobo

Hi DiapDealer,

This is actually a bug, thanks for pointing this out. I've forwarded your issue along to our development team and they've confirmed this is in fact happening. We'll get on fixing this ASAP as it's obviously not the desired effect we want our customers to experience when purchasing a book. Thanks for finding this!

Brodie

Thank YOU for taking the time to monitor/peruse these forums for issues like this!

[pdurrant]

Here's a case history of problems with a DRM-free ePub, and customer support.

I recently bought Full Fathom Five which is a Tor book, and so DRM-free.

In my library it's labeled as "Download options: EPUB (DRM-Free)" and there's a "DOWNLOAD EPUB" button.

But clicking on the button I get an error message:

Oops!
Sorry, we're unable to locate the content you're looking for. The content may no longer be available or the link you followed may be broken. The problem has been reported. In the meantime, try a search.

If you continue to receive this notification, please contact our Customer Care department for assistance:

Call 1-855-732-3662 (8am-12am EST)

Email: help@kobo.com (24 hours)

So I contacted customer service. And I got the following:

Response Via Email (Syed A) 03/28/2015 01:01 PM
Hi Paul,

Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care.

We are very sorry to hear that you are not able to read your book "Full Fathom Five".

We have gone ahead and checked your purchase history and see that in fact you did purchase the book "Full Fathom Five", therefore we have gone ahead and checked the book. The book is not available to download.

You can read the book on your Apple iPhone and on your computer using Kobo Desktop Application.

If you do not want to read the book on your Apple iPhone or on your computer using Kobo Desktop Application we can process refund or provide you store credit.

Kindly reply us back and let us know about the book whether you want to keep the book or you want the refund or store credit.

If you experience any further issues please do not hesitate to contact us back.

Your reference number is 150328-000222,.

For general inquiries please visit us at http://www.kobo.com/help

Sincerely,
The Kobo Team

A very unsatisfactory response.

1. In my report I didn't say I couldn't read my book, only that the download epub button gave an error (I was able to get it through the Kobo app).
2. The next paragraph suggests I might have been lying about having bought the book.
3. That paragraph also bluntly states "The book is not available for download" without any explanation for why not, and why it has a "download Epub" button if it's not available for download.


I am less than impressed.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Here's a case history of problems with a DRM-free ePub, and customer support.

I recently bought Full Fathom Five which is a Tor book, and so DRM-free.

In my library it's labeled as "Download options: EPUB (DRM-Free)" and there's a "DOWNLOAD EPUB" button.

But clicking on the button I get an error message:



So I contacted customer service. And I got the following:



A very unsatisfactory response.

1. In my report I didn't say I couldn't read my book, only that the download epub button gave an error (I was able to get it through the Kobo app).
2. The next paragraph suggests I might have been lying about having bought the book.
3. That paragraph also bluntly states "The book is not available for download" without any explanation for why not, and why it has a "download Epub" button if it's not available for download.


I am less than impressed.

Try opening a ticket here and then calling. I bought a book that didn't show up in my library and they fixed it during my initial call. Let them know when you call that you have a ticket open. Communicating by email has never worked well.

https://kobo.frontlinesvc.com/app/lanpag