Is there anywhere online to buy EPUB ebooks?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by GoldThreader

I think you should read the topic title and first post

I'm happy to answer the question asked. Yes, there are lots of places online to buy epub books.

[GoldThreader]

Originally Posted by shalym

The first post says nothing about DRM free books...most books on the Kobo site are definitely NOT DRM free, so why would anyone assume that you were looking for DRM free books based on the first post?

Shari

Not sure where your getting that from because if your reading along you would have known I literally just found out not all epubs are DRM free. My point of that reply is nowhere in the first post or title does it say I am looking for places that sell Kobo gift cards. How can I be more clear about it when I never asked for it in the first place. If I did in fact ask for Kobo gift card locations please do show me because I am not seeing it. I thought as long as it was EPUB I could transfer it to my device

[GoldThreader]

At this point I don't want to continue this thread. I thought I would ask for a few alternatives to Kobo gift cards so I can buy ebooks for my device, but clearly the people here aren't very nice

[HarryT]

With the very greatest respect to you, it's difficult to have a sensible discussion when you're refusing to even consider any of the suggestions that you're being given. As has already been stated, you can buy books for your Kobo at any bookstore which uses Adobe DRM; you don't have to look for DRM-free books. Effectively that means that you can buy from any bookstore except Apple and Amazon, so you have lots of choices available to you.

[BearMountainBooks]

Honestly, I think people here have been very combative with him. He asked a simple question and had lots of wandering answers and a few outright rude attacks. There have also been some good answers, some that may work or others that may not work for him personally--and then he was sometimes disrespected because those answers didn't happen to work for him! This is not up to mobileread standards.

I think I'll just be done with this thread too because I found it rather shocking how...argumentative it has become over a simple question!

[DiapDealer]

I personally didn't see a "simple" question. I saw an unclear one where the goalposts kept being moved as the thread progressed. But either way, there's no call for rudeness.

[Cinisajoy]

I even linked him to free epubs and didn't even get acknowledged but he acknowledged the ones that didn't say what he wanted to hear.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I even linked him to free epubs and didn't even get acknowledged but he acknowledged the ones that didn't say what he wanted to hear.

And a number of us suggested Google Play, which would meet the requirements of the original request - gift cards widely available in brick-and-mortar stores in the US, epubs available online - but unless I missed it, he never responded to any of those posts.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I personally didn't see a "simple" question. I saw an unclear one where the goalposts kept being moved as the thread progressed. But either way, there's no call for rudeness.

I agree. I didn't see a clear question at all & love your phrasing of the goalposts being moved. And since I'm the one who could easily be perceived as being the "rude" one, please allow me to explain. Firstly, I am genuinely sorry if I came across that way. I'm not that person. I do come across very different in text where you don't see facial expressions or hear tone of voice and I sometimes forget that, so apologies there.

I was trying to offer ways to get the Kobo gift cards so OP could use them & be happily on their way. But I find it incredibly exasperating when people want everything served to them on a silver platter with little effort and for free. Well, I'm sorry but life doesn't work that way. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, ie paying the one time fee on a pre-paid card.

I am a large sized person with a twisted sense of humour, sarcastic, dry, deadpan, tongue in cheek and wordy etc. I remember as a younger person laughingly scoffing at One Size Fits All labels on clothes. I'm in the dressing room looking in the mirror with some garment stuck on my head laughing, thinking um, no, no, they're frigging not! Labels have since changed to One Size Fits Most. The moral being, not everything is right or suited for everyone. Pick the least inconvenient.

As Mick has said many times, you can't always get what you want. OP was not clear in their message and to me, seemed argumentative when presented with options. They had so many restrictions they cut themself off of any options available to them.

- prefers Kobo because they have the device but buying books presents problems
- doesn't have or want a credit card
- doesn't want a prepaid card because of fees & "difficulty" registering
- only wants to buy gift cards with cash to be able to buy ePub books for their Kobo
- doesn't want to use Calibre because they hate it & it's a "hassle" to convert (see other threads by them)
- doesn't want Amazon books because of above

Pick the lesser of the evils presented. If your preferred option for ease is Kobo gift cards & the Kobo bookstore, then spend $5 buy a $100 card and off you go. Happy life. Or look for one with no, or less fees for goodness sakes. No. Too much of a "hassle" to register. Yeesh!

But no, that's not good enough, I'm told essentially to pay his/her fees & register it for them. Fffft! If you box yourself into a corner and cut off all offers of help or solutions for whatever reason, you're going to be sitting in that corner for a long time.

*shrugs* I don't know what else to say.

[GoldThreader]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I even linked him to free epubs and didn't even get acknowledged but he acknowledged the ones that didn't say what he wanted to hear.

I did acknowledge it. I said I would check out Google Play, check page 3. I also mentioned it as a rebuttal to Shopaholic claiming there are no options. Let me now be clear about it. Sorry you feel me going to check it out isn't enough of an acknowledgment but thanks for the suggestion.

[GoldThreader]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

I agree. I didn't see a clear question at all & love your phrasing of the goalposts being moved. And since I'm the one who could easily be perceived as being the "rude" one, please allow me to explain. Firstly, I am genuinely sorry if I came across that way. I'm not that person. I do come across very different in text where you don't see facial expressions or hear tone of voice and I sometimes forget that, so apologies there.

I was trying to offer ways to get the Kobo gift cards so OP could use them & be happily on their way. But I find it incredibly exasperating when people want everything served to them on a silver platter with little effort and for free. Well, I'm sorry but life doesn't work that way. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, ie paying the one time fee on a pre-paid card.

I am a large sized person with a twisted sense of humour, sarcastic, dry, deadpan, tongue in cheek and wordy etc. I remember as a younger person laughingly scoffing at One Size Fits All labels on clothes. I'm in the dressing room looking in the mirror with some garment stuck on my head laughing, thinking um, no, no, they're frigging not! Labels have since changed to One Size Fits Most. The moral being, not everything is right or suited for everyone. Pick the least inconvenient.

As Mick has said many times, you can't always get what you want. OP was not clear in their message and to me, seemed argumentative when presented with options. They had so many restrictions they cut themself off of any options available to them.

- prefers Kobo because they have the device but buying books presents problems
- doesn't have or want a credit card
- doesn't want a prepaid card because of fees & "difficulty" registering
- only wants to buy gift cards with cash to be able to buy ePub books for their Kobo
- doesn't want to use Calibre because they hate it & it's a "hassle" to convert (see other threads by them)
- doesn't want Amazon books because of above

Pick the lesser of the evils presented. If your preferred option for ease is Kobo gift cards & the Kobo bookstore, then spend $5 buy a $100 card and off you go. Happy life. Or look for one with no, or less fees for goodness sakes. No. Too much of a "hassle" to register. Yeesh!

But no, that's not good enough, I'm told essentially to pay his/her fees & register it for them. Fffft! If you box yourself into a corner and cut off all offers of help or solutions for whatever reason, you're going to be sitting in that corner for a long time.

*shrugs* I don't know what else to say.

No I asked a question, and I was asked to provide more information my location for the gift card situation and I provided. People left suggestions that didn't work for me personally and I explained why I would rather not take those routes. Its not your place to tell me what works best for me. Also, why are you pulling up whole other topics into this? Calibre has not been mentioned here at all, and the reason I don't like Calibre is because it takes hours upon hours for it to copy all the books, plus I don't want it to make copies. If it simply listed the directories of my choosing and rearranged them appropriately, I would love Calibre. Also, again I need to state someone offered the solution of Google Play, if I have no options why does it exist? I did not cut off all offers, some of the ones presented simply did not work for me and I explained why. Why should I pay extra for a credit card when quite frankly I don't have too? If you do not like my question or the parameters around it then you shouldn't be responding to it.

[GoldThreader]

I am thankful to those who gave serious answers and tried to help, its simple if you need clarification ask for it and if you don't like whats being asked leave. Can we get a moderator to close this thread, thanks.

[HarryT]

We don't close threads. Other people may wish to continue the discussion.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by GoldThreader

I did acknowledge it. I said I would check out Google Play, check page 3. I also mentioned it as a rebuttal to Shopaholic claiming there are no options. Let me now be clear about it. Sorry you feel me going to check it out isn't enough of an acknowledgment but thanks for the suggestion.

No problem, I probably just overlooked it.
I was thinking about the Mobileread, Smashwords, Project Gutenberg post.
No conversion needed on them.

[mrscoach]

If someone doesn't like Calibre then I would suggest they still find a way to take the time to BACK UP all their books. Yes, this might take "hours and hours" buy it is definitely better than losing them al if your bookstore closes or just decides to deny you access. And back them up in more than one place because you never know when a computer might fail or a portable storage gets corrupted, or a cloud storage site closes.
I look at when the OP joined and realize they never spent much time here or they would have known long ago about Adobe DRM on epubs. But that comment was probably unnecessary or mean. I'll go sit in the corner now.