The Kobo DRM-free epub fiasco

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Here's an example of a free book from Tor that won't download from Kobo but downloads fine from Google:

Some of the Best From Tor.com: 2014: A Tor.Com Original

Kobo
Google

Thanks for the links. Same for me with that book: It has the blue download button in my library, but that only leads to an error page.

The rest worked as with any epub3 from Kobo: Sync Kobo Desktop, open Calibre, import with Obok, open in Sigil to free from kepub gunk and do my regular format fixes. For me that isn't a lot more effort than I make with every ebook I buy, but I agree that it shouldn't be necessary to jump through those hoops to get a DRM-free book from Kobo.

But perhaps, as someone has mentioned before, the blue download button to nowhere is a good sign: Maybe they are working on making direct downloads possible for those books, because last time I checked they didn't have a download button at all. Desperately trying to think positive here...

[Jane12]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I believe Google repacks the books as Play books (which only work in their app and are full of strange secret sauce) but the ADE download they offer should be fine.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I've never seen any proprietary stuff in the (admittedly) few books I've bought there (ascm download/fulfillment only). I've received "standard" EPUB2 books (and even a few of those undownloadable/unsideloadable EPUB3s that give Kobo such trouble).

Thanks! I poked around Google Books. Is it safe to assume everything is available as an ADE-compatible epub as long as it says "best for: ereader" and "features: flowing text"? Anything else I need to know? As DiapDealer pointed out, seems we need a "freaking pre-buy checklist for each store" nowadays.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Jane12

Thanks! I poked around Google Books. Is it safe to assume everything is available as an ADE-compatible epub as long as it says "best for: ereader" and "features: flowing text"? Anything else I need to know? As DiapDealer pointed out, seems we need a "freaking pre-buy checklist for each store" nowadays.

They may also offer PDF as well. Plus, Google tells us if there is DRM or not.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

...
No idea. I grew tired of obok being the red-headed stepchild of drm removal tools and stopped bothering trying to track down updates for it. It's like it's too cool to hang out with the other kids or something. Not to mention that the idea of needing a DRM removal tool to make retrieving a drm-free epub easier is fairly offensive to me in the first place.

What does that phrase mean, I can't make head nor tail of it .....

As a by the way I posted the Digital Reader link to the obok download in quite a number of threads, and from memory you were posting in at least one (or more) of the threads at the time. (But hey I may be quite wrong and can't be bothered tracking those threads down.)

For everyone's info here's Nate's Digital Reader page that has the link to the obok download:
http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.VCScyVdyGdk

[eschwartz]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...eadedStepchild

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

As a by the way I posted the Digital Reader link to the obok download in quite a number of threads, and from memory you were posting in at least one (or more) of the threads at the time. (But hey I may be quite wrong and can't be bothered tracking those threads down.)

I'm sure I did post in some of those threads. And while a link to where the tool can be found, is very handy, it's not as handy as it could be. I KNOW when an update to The Tools has happened. I don't have to go looking. Because someone always creates a new thread here at MR in the news/general section announcing that a new version is available.

I don't have anything against obok, really. It's just not as convenient to keep up with as the other tools. For a long while, it only existed as various pastebin links scattered throughout the already hard to navigate comments section at Alf's place. Probably not the developer(s) fault, but it is what it is.

I have about four places I visit regularly on the internet. If none of those has a "New Version of Obok is Out" announcement on it, I'm probably not going to hear about it. *shrug*

And quite frankly, I only tried obok because I was desperate to get my hands on the DRM-free book. Once it didn't work for me, it never occurred to me that an update to a drm-removal tool would address a problem retrieving drm-free books. I just figured the obok angle was a dead end in my quest.

[eschwartz]

Perhaps someone who has an in with Alf could get oboK included with the standard DeDRM tools... or hopefully at some point he will notice himself. (I don't believe he is known to frequent MobileRead himself, so it may be he hasn't heard of it either.)

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm sure I did post in some of those threads. And while a link to where the tool can be found, is very handy, it's not as handy as it could be. I KNOW when an update to The Tools has happened. I don't have to go looking. Because someone always creates a new thread here at MR in the news/general section announcing that a new version is available.

I don't have anything against obok, really. It's just not as convenient to keep up with as the other tools. For a long while, it only existed as various pastebin links scattered throughout the already hard to navigate comments section at Alf's place. Probably not the developer(s) fault, but it is what it is.

I have about four places I visit regularly on the internet. If none of those has a "New Version of Obok is Out" announcement on it, I'm probably not going to hear about it. *shrug*

And quite frankly, I only tried obok because I was desperate to get my hands on the DRM-free book. Once it didn't work for me, it never occurred to me that an update to a drm-removal tool would address a problem retrieving drm-free books. I just figured the obok angle was a dead end in my quest.

As MR has reconsidered the information that can be posted re programs like obok, it means that for future updates a thread can be started (probably in the General section) advising of the link whereabouts, eg The Digital Reader.

That will help out everyone.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Perhaps someone who has an in with Alf could get oboK included with the standard DeDRM tools... or hopefully at some point he will notice himself. (I don't believe he is known to frequent MobileRead himself, so it may be he hasn't heard of it either.)

Yes, Alf has been emailed several times, so we can only hope ....

[Byrdie]

Hmm...I bought a couple of DRM free epubs from Kobo just a few days ago and had no problems downloading from my account. Didn't even need to run Kobo desktop or ADE (I use the older 2 point-whatever version.) either, just clicked the Download Now button in my library. I got a proper epub that loaded & worked just fine both in Calibre and FBReader on my tablet. Is this issue connected with certain publishers and is there any way to tell? I do still have a supposedly DRM free epub sitting in my Kobo account that no matter how many times I try cannot be downloaded, just gives me a broken link. And yes, it is a TOR book, this one to be exact: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/boo...g&PageNumber=1

Apparently they can't even find it, according to the error page that pops up whenever I click the download button. Oh well, at least it was free; I'd sure hate to have this happen with a purchased book.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm going to need a freaking pre-buy checklist for each store from now on, I guess.

I'd done this for myself before, but I decided to do it again to see if anything else had changed. Also, when I last did this, there were a few more players (Sony, Diesel, Books On Board, eChristian). I picked a free book that was widely available and got it from a bunch of stores, then poked around under the hood. I posted the results here to give people a place to discuss the details without derailing this thread.

The only real surprise to me is that Google makes fewer changes to the files than they used to, but managed to screw up some punctuation in the particular book that I downloaded.

[eschwartz]

As documented by this thread, it seems tied to EPUB3 books.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Byrdie

Hmm...I bought a couple of DRM free epubs from Kobo just a few days ago and had no problems downloading from my account. Didn't even need to run Kobo desktop or ADE (I use the older 2 point-whatever version.) either, just clicked the Download Now button in my library. I got a proper epub that loaded & worked just fine both in Calibre and FBReader on my tablet. Is this issue connected with certain publishers and is there any way to tell? I do still have a supposedly DRM free epub sitting in my Kobo account that no matter how many times I try cannot be downloaded, just gives me a broken link. And yes, it is a TOR book, this one to be exact: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/boo...g&PageNumber=1

Apparently they can't even find it, according to the error page that pops up whenever I click the download button. Oh well, at least it was free; I'd sure hate to have this happen with a purchased book.

Earlier today, I added that eBook to my library and I cannot download it. What country is your Kobo account set to?

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

As documented by this thread, it seems tied to EPUB3 books.

Yep. And, as has been said before in other threads where this was discussed, it is not total senseless idiocy that Kobo slap their kepub stuff on epub3 books, kepubs being rendered by a different engine on Kobo readers, one which has much better epub3 support than the Adobe RMDSK engine, which is used to render regular epubs.

The problem is that there are more and more epub3 books published that should really be epub2, having no special epub3-specific features. For those books, Kobo's policy doesn't make any sense, and they should change it. And my hope is that the blue download buttons are there because Kobo are working on finally enabling ordinary non-kepub download of epub3 books.

[danicca]

I'd have been a lot less annoyed if it was plainly stated in product description page. That way I could at least know what I'm buying beforehand so whatever it is, I made decision to buy it, no regrets after.