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Old 01-12-2021, 03:19 AM   #16
marst
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The valley of tears

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Originally Posted by Sirtel View Post
I agree with JSWolf. Relying on direct downloads is a valley of tears. That's true even with Kindles, and with Kobos as well.
At least I've been able to side-load DRM-free ePub files onto the Kobo. They lack the ability to paginate extra-fast through the book but I can live with that. All of the typographic controls seem to work ok. But as I explain in another reply here, the first attempt a a direct download worked...but with one major typographic feature missing.
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Old 01-12-2021, 03:24 AM   #17
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Try taking your ereader closer to the router.
Download your ebooks from kobo using ADE 2. Then move them from the ADE 2. library to your ereader.
I sat right next to the router. No joy. I was finally able to get the troublesome book from ADE to the Kobo but as noted in another reply here, it wasn't the same book in terms of its ability to "honor" all of the Kobo's possible typographic controls. Still have to solve that one. Thanks for your reply.
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Old 01-12-2021, 03:34 AM   #18
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The solution is to install Adobe Digital Editions 2.0.1 and authorize it. Install the latest version of Calibre. Install the latest version DeDRM plugin from The Apprentice Alf blog. Once the DeDRM plugin is install in Calibre, configure it to remove the DRM from ePub. Then decide if you want to read ePub or KePub. If you want to read KePub, install the KoboTouchExtended Driver and use that to load eBooks to your Kobo.
There are other things you'll want to setup in Calibre like collections and such. But you can find threads here about Calibre. Or start a new thread asking what to configure and what plugins to install.
I used Calibre and DeDRM a lot in the past. DeDrm was quite the challenge to figure out how to use. I hope it's at least a bit easier to install now. At the time I was crazy enough that when I'd bought a book shot full of typos, if there was a pattern to them I'd open them in an ePub editor and fix the damn' typos via regex search/replace.

On the Kobo itself, all of the book files' names are GUIDs (no .epub or other extension), making it something of a challenge to figure out which is which book—what a bizarre approach they've taken.

Is it those same "GUID-named" files that you copy manually from the device into some subdirectory on the computer, then open them in Calibre?

Thanks!
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Old 01-12-2021, 05:06 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by marst View Post
At least I've been able to side-load DRM-free ePub files onto the Kobo. They lack the ability to paginate extra-fast through the book but I can live with that. All of the typographic controls seem to work ok. But as I explain in another reply here, the first attempt a a direct download worked...but with one major typographic feature missing.
For this you need to remove the DRM and convert the book to kepub in Calibre.
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Old 01-12-2021, 05:07 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marst View Post

On the Kobo itself, all of the book files' names are GUIDs (no .epub or other extension), making it something of a challenge to figure out which is which book—what a bizarre approach they've taken.

Is it those same "GUID-named" files that you copy manually from the device into some subdirectory on the computer, then open them in Calibre?

Thanks!
No. The easiest way is to download the ACSM file and open it in ADE like you just did. And then import the resulting epub from the ADE folder to Calibre.
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Old 01-12-2021, 06:10 AM   #21
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For this you need to remove the DRM and convert the book to kepub in Calibre.
I need to back up a bit to try understanding something: when I first bought the book and downloaded it from the Kobo site (if it matters, I log in via Rakuten Kobo and not Walmart), what exactly did I download? I'd like to understand why that book was different from what I got by downloading the .ACSM file and then transferring the book from ADE to the Kobo.

The book as originally downloaded months ago had all possible typographic controls available. It "honored" the Kobo's flush-left/ragged right setting. There was no need to remove DRM or open in Calibre for that to work. And now the control, while still accessible in the Kobo's internal software, just doesn't work in the book file. Why would these two versions of the same book be so different?
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Old 01-12-2021, 06:28 AM   #22
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When you download direct from the device you get a "kepub" - which is really just an epub with a bit of extra code. However it is different from what you get if you use ADE to get the epub from an ASCM file.

I think the crucial difference though is not so much the file itself as that Kobo's firmware uses different software to render kepubs v epubs. There are features that are only made available by the kepub software.

So what you need is a kepub file. One way to get that is to deDRM and convert using Calibre - hence Sirtel's suggestion. I *think* the Kobo PC app method would end up giving you a kepub so that might be the way to go.
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Old 01-12-2021, 06:31 AM   #23
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Ok—that did mostly solve the problem of not getting the book to sync on the Kobo. Procedure: Go to Kobo account online; follow your previous instructions to download the book—the only option I seemed to have was to download an .ACSM file. Open the newly downloaded .ACSM file in ADE on the laptop. Find the control that enables you to copy the book to the Kobo. (There are two places in the ADE software where that option appears. It works in one location and not in the other—good testing there, Adobe. But I'll take what I can get.)
If you follow my directions, you get DRM free eBooks and you get to hae much better eBook management on your Forma. Using Calibre with the DeDRM plugin is a lot better then using ADE to send eBooks to your Forma. I've been doing it this way for over six years.
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Old 01-12-2021, 06:34 AM   #24
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I used Calibre and DeDRM a lot in the past. DeDrm was quite the challenge to figure out how to use. I hope it's at least a bit easier to install now. At the time I was crazy enough that when I'd bought a book shot full of typos, if there was a pattern to them I'd open them in an ePub editor and fix the damn' typos via regex search/replace.
The DeDRM plugin is very easy to install and configure. If you are having difficulties, ask for help at the Apprentice Alf blog.

https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com
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Old 01-12-2021, 08:13 AM   #25
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Success with ADE, not with the Kobo desktop app

It's looking as if ADE is the only (quick) solution for now. I'd hoped that with the Kobo desktop program running and with the ereader connected (as recommended in some earlier comments in this thread), I'd be able to sync both of them pretty quickly and not have to rely on the Kobo's lousy wifi connectivity.

The sync still wouldn't occur. That wheel just spins and spins. After I cancel the sync I notice that there's at least one new book cover showing in My Books on the Kobo device—but the book isn't downloaded yet. A sync of the desktop program happens very fast. But the ereader device itself just won't play along. Baffling. So it's ADE for now, but I'm expecting I'll keep running into the problem of those particular books not supporting the Kobo's "flush left/rag right" control for whatever reason. Clearly the Calibre/DeDRM solution is the best approach...though I might end up just letting the Kobo go—I've put in way more time trying to get it to behave than should have been necessary. Boox, perhaps. I'll have to find out if Boox's native e-reader software has good enough typographic controls. There are reviews that dive into all the bells and whistles, the drawing features, etc., but not much about using the thing as an e-reader. Anyway, thanks to all who replied in this thread. I appreciate the time you put into those replies.
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Old 01-12-2021, 09:56 AM   #26
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All you have to do in ADE 2. is have your ereader hooked to the USB port and find in the ADE 2. Library the book you want to side load, then drag it to your ereader.

Once you get the hang of the whole process, you'll be pleased, if not thrilled, with your Kobo device.
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Old 01-12-2021, 05:12 PM   #27
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All you have to do in ADE 2. is have your ereader hooked to the USB port and find in the ADE 2. Library the book you want to side load, then drag it to your ereader.

Once you get the hang of the whole process, you'll be pleased, if not thrilled, with your Kobo device.
I'd not be thrilled or even pleased if I knew I was missing out on features that I could easily get if I used Calibre to manage my eBooks instead of ADE.
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Old 01-12-2021, 06:17 PM   #28
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I'd not be thrilled or even pleased if I knew I was missing out on features that I could easily get if I used Calibre to manage my eBooks instead of ADE.
The device's no longer being able to sync even when it's connected to the PC and the Kobo program for Windows is running, suggests to me that something's gone very wrong with it. There's a solution I haven't tried yet—log out of the account and log back in. It might at least enable me to use the "repair your account" command on the device. I can do that from the Kobo program for Windows, but "repair account" doesn't work on the device itself any more. The three previous times, log-out/log-back-in erased all side-loaded books. (Now I have them backed up in a single location—quick restore, hopefully.)
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Old 01-12-2021, 06:29 PM   #29
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All you have to do in ADE 2. is have your ereader hooked to the USB port and find in the ADE 2. Library the book you want to side load, then drag it to your ereader.
Once you get the hang of the whole process, you'll be pleased, if not thrilled, with your Kobo device.
I did this successfully last night. It did in fact restore the book to the Kobo. And, as I mentioned earlier, there are two differences, one minor and one major. Minor: that changed the look of the cover in the My Books list on the device. The cover no longer fills the bounding box of the icon representing the book. That's sloppy but oh well.

Major: reloading the book that way has somehow changed its "relationship" with the Kobo, such that I can no longer use the device's software to set flush-left/ragged-right. I have no idea why. It's the only book on the device that "resists" the FL/RR formatting, and I do want that formatting option. In the days when I would edit ePubs manually to fix problems in them, fixing this involved extracting the .css files, getting rid of the hard-coded text-align:justify commands (which should not be in ebooks in the first place), then refreshing the .epub file with the updated .css. The Kobo's ability to set flush left/ragged right got me around that irritation. So the ADE solution giveth, and also taketh away.
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Old 01-12-2021, 07:12 PM   #30
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It's looking as if ADE is the only (quick) solution for now. I'd hoped that with the Kobo desktop program running and with the ereader connected (as recommended in some earlier comments in this thread), I'd be able to sync both of them pretty quickly and not have to rely on the Kobo's lousy wifi connectivity.

The sync still wouldn't occur. That wheel just spins and spins. After I cancel the sync I notice that there's at least one new book cover showing in My Books on the Kobo device—but the book isn't downloaded yet. A sync of the desktop program happens very fast. But the ereader device itself just won't play along. Baffling.
I would recommend not running ADE and the Kobo desktop application at the same time. They will both be trying to use the USB connection to the device and that might cause problems. They don't touch the same files, so there isn't any contention or risk that one will break what the other does. It is just the contention for the USB connection could cause issues.

But, do not run calibre and the Kobo desktop application at the same time. These do both access the database on the device. Running them together could cause problems. My usual suggestion it to disconnect the device between using them. That is probably not needed, but, there is enough going on that it is safer.
Quote:
So it's ADE for now, but I'm expecting I'll keep running into the problem of those particular books not supporting the Kobo's "flush left/rag right" control for whatever reason. Clearly the Calibre/DeDRM solution is the best approach...though I might end up just letting the Kobo go—I've put in way more time trying to get it to behave than should have been necessary. Boox, perhaps. I'll have to find out if Boox's native e-reader software has good enough typographic controls. There are reviews that dive into all the bells and whistles, the drawing features, etc., but not much about using the thing as an e-reader. Anyway, thanks to all who replied in this thread. I appreciate the time you put into those replies.
This as nothing to do with ADE. This is due to how the book is coded. It has coding in the HTML or the stylesheet that the epub renderer on the device (the Adobe RMSDK) cannot override to change the layout of the book. This can happen with kepubs, but, the kepub renderer is a little more brutal in how it does this so it is less noticeable. It's also possible that the processing that Kobo does when a book is added to the store to produce a kepub will change things to make allow more changes on the device.
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