Clara HD Is this the only reader with warm light?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by BookCat

...I'm not sure what to do: take a look at the demo model and, if I like it, buy the Clara from John Lewis (or Amazon, because I'm used to them) or take a look at the demo model, then if I like it, ask to see the device I'm buying in the shop in order to be sure it doesn't have the light bleed problem. That's assuming that the sales assistant would be this obliging in actually opening the box...

I don't live in the UK. But if you purchase the item in the store, open it in your car (or even in the store) and see a defect, won't they let you exchange it for another of the same device?

[soulfuldog]

In theory, yes you could buy it in the shop then switch it on to check for any noticeable defects, and if there was an obvious one, you'd be able to exchange it for another right there and then. They won't let you open up the box and check it before buying it though. Once opened, it's no longer in saleable condition, and if you want to exchange it because you think the lighting doesn't look even or think there's a tiny bit of light bleed, they might not agree that it's a fault.

I guess it depends how picky you are about minor issues, I'm very picky when it comes to the screen of my ereader! Also, bear in mind you will be looking at it in a brightly lit shop, and as it won't be set up, the light will just be on a setting that you can't change, so these things might not be easily noticeable until you get home and get to have a proper look at it.

That's the only reason I'd suggest buying it online, as you can return it within 14 days for a refund or exchange with no quibbles. I'm just being very cautious though, since you were concerned about customer service.

[BookCat]

soulfuldog: Thanks, that makes sense and was what I suspected.

About the earlier wifi issue (mentioned in post #19). I've downloaded both the User Manual and the Quick Guide manual. In the latter, Step 2 is: Connect to wifi and follow set up instructions. Step 3 is: Follow instructions to sign in or create a new account.

How do I do this without access to wifi. Like I said earlier, when I bought the Paperwhite Amazon did all the account registration over the phone.

Originally Posted by BookCat

soulfuldog: Thanks, that makes sense and was what I suspected.

About the earlier wifi issue. I've downloaded both the User Manual and the Quick Guide manual. In the latter, Step 2 is: Connect to wifi and follow set up instructions. Step 3 is: Follow instructions to sign in or create a new account.

How do I do this without access to wifi. Like I said earlier, when I bought the Paperwhite Amazon did all the account registration over the phone.

How quickly do you start getting headches from exposure to wifi? Since you only need wifi enabled for a very brief time to get the device setup, could you get through those few minutes and then disable the wifi?

If that's not an option, do you have a trusted friend who could do the setup for you on their wifi, perhaps while you are in another room?

I ask because it seems a real shame to disqualify so many devices because of what is a very temporary situation. Once setup is done, you won't really need wifi at all, if you sideload everything from PC.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

In theory, yes you could buy it in the shop then switch it on to check for any noticeable defects, and if there was an obvious one, you'd be able to exchange it for another right there and then. They won't let you open up the box and check it before buying it though. Once opened, it's no longer in saleable condition, and if you want to exchange it because you think the lighting doesn't look even or think there's a tiny bit of light bleed, they might not agree that it's a fault.

I guess it depends how picky you are about minor issues, I'm very picky when it comes to the screen of my ereader! Also, bear in mind you will be looking at it in a brightly lit shop, and as it won't be set up, the light will just be on a setting that you can't change, so these things might not be easily noticeable until you get home and get to have a proper look at it.

That's the only reason I'd suggest buying it online, as you can return it within 14 days for a refund or exchange with no quibbles. I'm just being very cautious though, since you were concerned about customer service.

I'm not an especially picky person, so I haven't had to return a lot of electronics. But a few months ago, I did return a Chromebook to the chain store, Best Buy. I had taken it home, updated it, signed in and installed some apps.

Some of those apps couldn't access the SD card, which made the item useless for me. I scrubbed my info, took it back to the store and got a refund, no questions asked. I figured the UK would have better return policies than we do. I guess not.

[BookCat]

stuartjmz: I just don't have wifi, it was disabled by the cable guy who installed the internet. I might be able to ask a friend if I can use theirs, or see if there's a local unsecured network. I doubt the latter is the case, I'll have to have some discussions about the former.

I did ask this question way back in the thread but was told that the device didn't need to be registered. Please see post #19. I'd made the wifi situation clear before then.

With the Kindle, I phoned Amazon before I bought it and they told me they'd register is by phone, which they did. The device itself was never registered, but they set up a kindle account for me.

Originally Posted by BookCat

stuartjmz: I just don't have wifi, it was disabled by the cable guy who installed the internet. I might be able to ask a friend if I can use theirs, or see if there's a local unsecured network. I doubt the latter is the case, I'll have to have some discussions about the former.

I did ask this question way back in the thread but was told that the device didn't need to be registered. Please see post #19. I'd made the wifi situation clear before then.

With the Kindle, I phoned Amazon before I bought it and they told me they'd register is by phone, which they did. The device itself was never registered, but they set up a kindle account for me.

Ah, thanks. I suppose using your phone as a hotspot is not an option, in the event that Kobo won't do as Amazon did and set you up over the phone?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by BookCat

About the earlier wifi issue (mentioned in post #19). I've downloaded both the User Manual and the Quick Guide manual. In the latter, Step 2 is: Connect to wifi and follow set up instructions. Step 3 is: Follow instructions to sign in or create a new account.

How do I do this without access to wifi. Like I said earlier, when I bought the Paperwhite Amazon did all the account registration over the phone.

If you have a Windows PC (with your non-wifi internet connection) you can download and install Kobo Desktop from here.

You can then create a new free account and register any new Kobo device using Kobo Desktop on your PC if/when you get one. There seems to also be an option to sign in using your Google or Facebook account but I've never tried that.

I don't believe there's any requirement to immediately register a credit card to the account. You can pay using PayPal if you prefer should you decide to buy books from Kobo.

Getting any Kobo-purchased books onto the Kobo can also be done by USB-connecting the Kobo to Kobo Desktop rather than OTA via wi-fi on the device.

If you want to remove DRM you can also do that with one of Alf's tools without needing to bother with Adobe's ADE (but which is also an option).

[BookCat]

jackie-w Had a long conversation with a friend who has agreed to let me use his wifi to register the device.

The Kobo Desktop App looks a bit like Kindle 4 PC. Do you know if it works in the same way?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm moving from a gigantic eco-system (Amazon) which I've become used to. The ebooks on Amazon have an option to "Transfer via USB" when purchasing. Once they're on my computer I just plug the Paperwhite in, open the kindle's 'document' folder, then slide the book into it, keeping a copy in a My ebooks folder contained within the My Documents folder on the pc.

Originally Posted by BookCat

The ebooks on Amazon have an option to "Transfer via USB" when purchasing.

After all the discussions here about avoiding KFX when possible, I amde a point of looking for this option on a book I bought for my Kindle yesterday. That option is not present at all. It only offers me a range of my devices/apps, no more "transfer to USB"

EDIT: Ignore this, I realised it's probably because I no longer have an actual Kindle registered to my account. D'Oh!

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by BookCat

jackie-w Had a long conversation with a friend who has agreed to let me use his wifi to register the device.

OK if that's what you want to do, but honestly I've owned 8 different Kobo models over the last 5 years and I've never needed or wanted to enable wi-fi on any of them.

Our house also uses wired internet connection (via those fancy Powerline plugs that utilise your home's electric wiring). We only use wi-fi for our smartphones.

Originally Posted by BookCat

The Kobo Desktop App looks a bit like Kindle 4 PC. Do you know if it works in the same way?

Yes, it's Kobo's equivalent of Kindle for PC. This is not to say they are absolutely identical.

You don't need to own a Kobo to try out Kobo Desktop, just install it and have a look. You'll need an email address to set up a free Kobo account but it doesn't have to be your main email address. If you do buy a Kobo this email address will be used to register the device during initial setup which can be done via Kobo Desktop without any need to involve Customer Support or anyone else. It's how I've registered all my devices.

Originally Posted by BookCat

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm moving from a gigantic eco-system (Amazon) which I've become used to. The ebooks on Amazon have an option to "Transfer via USB" when purchasing. Once they're on my computer I just plug the Paperwhite in, open the kindle's 'document' folder, then slide the book into it, keeping a copy in a My ebooks folder contained within the My Documents folder on the pc.

No need to be sorry

You can continue to buy your books from Amazon if you prefer - Kobo wishes you wouldn't but I'm sure lot's of Kobo owners do this. After you've done your usual "Transfer via USB" you'll have a MOBI or KF8 (AZW3) file on your PC. As long as you've installed the Apprentice Alf plugin for calibre you need to drag-drop the file into calibre's main library screen (to remove DRM) then convert your liberated MOBI or KF8(AZW3) to EPUB. If you want to get the best from your Kobo you should also correct and/or add any missing metadata in the calibre library. Then you can connect the Kobo via USB and use calibre's send-to-device to sideload the EPUB.

Notes:

• although Kobos can read some MOBI files, you'll get a better reading experience with EPUB and/or KEPUB.
• calibre has an option to format-shift your EPUB to KEPUB during send-to-device if you want modern features (e.g. pop-up footnotes, book stats, image viewer) but this is probably a discussion for another day.
• you'd need someone who does use wi-fi to tell you what you might be missing out on. I have not found a single reason why having wi-fi enabled would be beneficial to me. Firmware upgrades can be done in a couple of minutes via USB connection to PC at a time of your choosing. There are a couple of different ways to do it, one using Kobo Desktop, the other by downloading the upgrade .zip to your PC and manually copying the unzipped contents to a specific Kobo folder.
• if you do buy books from Kobo you can use USB connection to Kobo Desktop to transfer them to your Kobo. Or you can use Apprentice Alf's lesser-known calibre plugin, OBOK, to pull books from Kobo Desktop's book directory on the PC into calibre, de-DRMing them on the way.

[forster01]

also you can buy books on kobo desktop app, connect your kobo device to usb of the pc and in kobo app, you can synchronise your device with your kobo account and transfer books to your device from kobo ecosystem. that is done automatically. no need for wifi.

all is done via kobo desktop app.

[forster01]

also you can purchase all your books from kobo desktop app, and next time you connect your kobo device to a desktop app, all will be synchronized automatically with your device.

[forster01]

from 2013, when i bought my first kobo, i never used wifi with it. all is done via usb/pc connection.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

You can continue to buy your books from Amazon if you prefer - Kobo wishes you wouldn't but I'm sure lot's of Kobo owners do this. After you've done your usual "Transfer via USB" you'll have a MOBI or KF8 (AZW3) file on your PC. As long as you've installed the Apprentice Alf plugin for calibre you need to drag-drop the file into calibre's main library screen (to remove DRM) then convert your liberated MOBI or KF8(AZW3) to EPUB. If you want to get the best from your Kobo you should also correct and/or add any missing metadata in the calibre library. Then you can connect the Kobo via USB and use calibre's send-to-device to sideload the EPUB.

That's what I do. Except for the 'Transfer via USB'. I just use an older version of Kindle for PC and download the books by right clicking the cover and choosing 'Download'. They download as AZW3. A quick transfer to Calibre with Alf and I have DRM free books that I convert and send to my Kobo.