Anyone switch from Kindle to Kobo?

TheSmitty · 08-07-2018, 10:45 AM

I am a long time Kindle user and current do not have any plans to switch but it is nice to have options.

My question is this. I have used Calibre and I have ePub versions of all my books. I assume those could be side loaded onto a Kobo. Has anyone done this and had any problems such as formatting changes, errors etc?

EDIT: Also, do I lose any features or functions by only reading side loaded books?

One never knows when it could be time to make a switch but I have a lot invested in books on the Amazon platform. I routine using Calibre to have epub versions in case of the Zombie Apocalypse (or whatever).

Thanks

Stevex · 08-07-2018, 11:21 AM

Hi
I would say: very good move to have the epub backups! This is for sure the main point.
Apart from that, if you are used to one of them, I dont see any killer reason to move to the other really. If you did move, it would be for something really different like the Aura One. And I would say, also Tolino worth to look at.
There’s a lot of stuff I really like about Kobo and most especially the customisability.
Most annoying thing - footnotes if you dont know what’s ‘behind’ the behaviour and have time to fix with calibre and abit regex or whatever. Im used to it and accept.

ZodWallop · 08-07-2018, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSmitty

I have used Calibre and I have ePub versions of all my books. I assume those could be side loaded onto a Kobo. Has anyone done this and had any problems such as formatting changes, errors etc?

I have a Kobo, but only buy from Amazon. I convert those books to ePub in Calibre, then use Kobo Extended to convert those ePubs to kepubs when I send them to my reader. With all that converting, I've never noticed any conversion issues (the bulk of my reading is fiction, so maybe the typically simple formatting helps).

Ripplinger · 08-07-2018, 04:30 PM

The readers I've used most were first the Sony PRS-350, and then the Kobo Glo and Glo HD. In between there I bought a Kindle PW2 because it was on sale at a fantastic price, but I immediately hated it compared to the other readers. You couldn't adjust the font weight or change to your own fonts, and line spacing and margins were far too large for my liking, which I could have lived with... but not the lack of font adjustments. I bought mine just at a time when they locked down the firmware so it couldn't be hacked for the changes I'd need to use it. I know recently they've added the ability to increase the font weight, not sure if you can add your own fonts yet, but it's still capacitive touch and I much prefer infrared. So I use the Kindle just to grab a freebie once a month and that's it, it just sits there.

I also buy most of my books lately from Amazon and just convert through Calibre, and the books look just fine. So if you're ever ready to make the change, you won't have problems with the Kobo readers and your books.

Btw, you can keep just your original mobi or azw3 books on your hard drive and let Calibre convert them on the fly as it sends the books to the Kobo. But Calibre handles collections very nicely on the Kobo readers, you won't be disappointed if you ever make the switch. Kobos are very customizable, which is why I hated the Kindle.

As far as losing any features... Kobo has their own kepub version of epub which will give you a few extras over epub, like the title of the book at the top of each page, reading stats for each book and chapter, handles images a bit differently allowing you to enlarge them. It's your choice which you would prefer to read, epub or kepub. Calibre will convert to either for the Kobo (or both to test them out). But as far as losing anything over the Kindle, I doubt it.

rcentros · 08-07-2018, 05:16 PM

No. I mostly buy eBooks from Amazon and, when I want to read on one of the other (ePub) eReaders (I have too many), I just convert to ePub from AZW3. Usually it gives me a chance to improve on the layout. AZW3 to ePub almost always goes smoothly. As a matter of fact, if I've still got .mobi books that I want to convert to ePub, I find it usually helps to convert them to AZW3 first, then convert them to ePub. I've run into that a couple times with KePub books also. When the chapter is broken up by graphic art images, I find that a KePub converted to directly ePub when moving to the library (in Calibre) will sometimes truncate a few lines before the graphic (when moved to eReaders, not in Calibre itself). Converting to AZW3 then back to ePub gets rid of the graphic (still leaves the extra spaces break) and doesn't truncate the text. (This may be something I'm doing wrong.)

At any rate, I don't think you'll have any problems. Moving from AZW3 to ePub has always been successful for me. I like to embed my favorite font (now Deja Vu Serif E-Ink) and set the line spacing to 135%. The margins I use for 6" readers are top 5, left and right, 9 and bottom, 1. For my 5" readers left and right margins are changed to 7 instead.

ps67 · 08-08-2018, 02:34 AM

I have a Kindle Paperwhite that works well but I wanted something bigger, the new Kindle Oasis has a 7" screen, the Kobo Aura One has a 7.8" screen and it costs less so I bought the Aura One. With the Aura One it's like reading a real book. And then I wanted to have fun with something new.

My advice with the Kobo is to apply patches (it's not difficult), because in this way you can take full advantage of the possibilities to customize your device. For example, set the level of bold even on your personal fonts, adjust line spacing even when it is settled in the epub css, full screen reading (it is not really a patch, just a modification of a configuration file), ligatures on Kepub and so on. I prefer kepubs when there are notes or images, otherwise I prefer normal epubs. The conversion with calibre from azw3 works very well. In addition, the kobos are very well integrated with calilbre, you can manage collections, series and others metadata on the device.

Two only problems:
1. It is not as responsive as the Kindle, but it is still acceptable.
2. often it wants the password when connecting to wi fii (with the kindle when you have set it once you do not have to worry anymore). Sometimes it does not connect immediately but only on the second or third attempt.
Nothing is perfect but I am very satisfied with my Kobo.

ps67 · 08-08-2018, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

...not sure if you can add your own fonts yet, ...

Yes it is possible, I like very much that possibility and I added 27 new fonts on my Kindle.

rcentros · 08-08-2018, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ps67

Two only problems:
1. It is not as responsive as the Kindle, but it is still acceptable.
2. often it wants the password when connecting to wi fii (with the kindle when you have set it once you do not have to worry anymore). Sometimes it does not connect immediately but only on the second or third attempt.
Nothing is perfect but I am very satisfied with my Kobo.

That's my main complaint with my (admittedly older) Kobos. I often find myself tapping more than once to get the page to turn. This was true with the Kobo Glo (I no longer own), both of my Touches and my Mini. They must be designed that way, but it's a bit of an irritant.

I don't think I've ever had any problem with the WiFi on any Kobo, however. Kobos seem a little pickier about hooking up to the USB port on my computer, but usually not much of a problem (sometimes I have to plug it in twice).

Where Kobos shine is with the ability to easily customize (patch) the firmware.

rcentros · 08-08-2018, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ps67

Yes it is possible, I like very much that possibility and I added 27 new fonts on my Kindle.

That was a huge (and unexpected) improvement to the Kindle's firmware.

mystika1 · 08-08-2018, 07:44 PM

Hi,
I have migrated back to kobo. I have a pw2, kindle voyage, kobo mini, and a recently purchased aura hd. I now prefer the kobo devices. I mostly read downloaded fan fiction, but I do buy books from Amazon. Sometimes I have a good discount code from kobo and use that.
I use the calibre server to get my books loaded into the kobo. It only takes seconds. The kindle browser is horrible in my honest opinion, and I can't access my calibre server from the browser 99% of the time. I have a folder in my "box" app that auto uploads into calibre. I drop my fan fiction epubs in that folder from my tablet, and in a few seconds, it shows up in calibre server. It's about as fast as the send-to-kindle feature I thought I couldn't live without.

I don't highlight text or take notes. I will be selling my pw2 soon. The only reason that I'm keeping the voyage is because my mil purchased it for me before she passed away. I can't see myself selling it.

Penny

Xen · 08-09-2018, 03:18 PM

12345

mathil · 08-10-2018, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xen

I had nothing but trouble with the Kobo and customer service was nil. They list no way to contact them via e-mail, only phone, which I do not have. I got their e-mail at one point by intense searching (can't remember where I even found it) - but lost it when both my computers went down within a couple of weeks of each other. Couldn't find it again. So no warranty service for me!

Kobo home page --> Help --> Contact Kobo Customer Care. Three options are offered: mail, phone, chat. If you choose mail, you'll have to fill in a form stating your email address, name and problem, which is the exact same procedure as Amazon. I don't know when you bought your device, and I admit the chat service might be recent (I honestly have no idea), but I distinctly remember using the mail form to contact the customer service back in 2012 when I got my first ereader. Did that happen to you before?

ZodWallop · 08-10-2018, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xen

But I strongly recommend AGAINST Kobo...

How long ago was that?

I bought a refurbed Aura off of eBay, so no warranty for me either, but I've only ever connected to Kobo's servers twice, once when I registered and once I screwed the database bad enough that I reset the device.

Otherwise, I've never needed to connect to Kobo for anything and I've never used their customer service (though I haven't heard good things about it).

My Aura's served me well for two and a half years so far. I won't say it's been trouble free, because I like to tweak the software. but I've never encountered an issue that I couldn't fix by checking in here.

Barbara1955 · 08-10-2018, 01:54 PM

I went from Kindle to Kobo cause I was Tired of the PW3 breaking down every 9 to 12 months! Went with Kobo cause it has expandable storage. Format EPUB is better that Amazons formats.

Stevex · 08-10-2018, 03:21 PM

If I am honest the whole post from Xen is weird from start to finish. I have used Nook Kindle and Kobo. I just dont recognise what Xen is writing, especially the missing epub content. And what’s ‘the native os is so bad i had to downlad a different os’ mean?

08-07-2018, 10:45 AM	#1
TheSmitty Addict Posts: 221 Karma: 1181422 Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: DFW, TX area Device: Paperwhite SE, Libra 2, Oasis 3, Boox Note Air 3C, iPad Pro 11	Anyone switch from Kindle to Kobo? I am a long time Kindle user and current do not have any plans to switch but it is nice to have options. My question is this. I have used Calibre and I have ePub versions of all my books. I assume those could be side loaded onto a Kobo. Has anyone done this and had any problems such as formatting changes, errors etc? EDIT: Also, do I lose any features or functions by only reading side loaded books? One never knows when it could be time to make a switch but I have a lot invested in books on the Amazon platform. I routine using Calibre to have epub versions in case of the Zombie Apocalypse (or whatever). Thanks Last edited by TheSmitty; 08-07-2018 at 10:49 AM.

08-08-2018, 02:34 AM	#6
ps67 Guru Posts: 731 Karma: 7000000 Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Italy Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Elipsa, Pocketbook Color PB633, Inkpad Color	I have a Kindle Paperwhite that works well but I wanted something bigger, the new Kindle Oasis has a 7" screen, the Kobo Aura One has a 7.8" screen and it costs less so I bought the Aura One. With the Aura One it's like reading a real book. And then I wanted to have fun with something new. My advice with the Kobo is to apply patches (it's not difficult), because in this way you can take full advantage of the possibilities to customize your device. For example, set the level of bold even on your personal fonts, adjust line spacing even when it is settled in the epub css, full screen reading (it is not really a patch, just a modification of a configuration file), ligatures on Kepub and so on. I prefer kepubs when there are notes or images, otherwise I prefer normal epubs. The conversion with calibre from azw3 works very well. In addition, the kobos are very well integrated with calilbre, you can manage collections, series and others metadata on the device. Two only problems: 1. It is not as responsive as the Kindle, but it is still acceptable. 2. often it wants the password when connecting to wi fii (with the kindle when you have set it once you do not have to worry anymore). Sometimes it does not connect immediately but only on the second or third attempt. Nothing is perfect but I am very satisfied with my Kobo. Last edited by ps67; 08-08-2018 at 05:43 AM.

08-09-2018, 03:18 PM	#11
Xen Connoisseur Posts: 87 Karma: 180000 Join Date: Aug 2013 Device: Kindle	12345 Last edited by Xen; 08-22-2018 at 07:41 PM.

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08-07-2018, 11:21 AM	#2
Stevex Addict Posts: 225 Karma: 15318 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: Kobo Glo HD	Hi I would say: very good move to have the epub backups! This is for sure the main point. Apart from that, if you are used to one of them, I dont see any killer reason to move to the other really. If you did move, it would be for something really different like the Aura One. And I would say, also Tolino worth to look at. There’s a lot of stuff I really like about Kobo and most especially the customisability. Most annoying thing - footnotes if you dont know what’s ‘behind’ the behaviour and have time to fix with calibre and abit regex or whatever. Im used to it and accept.

08-07-2018, 04:30 PM	#4
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,574 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	The readers I've used most were first the Sony PRS-350, and then the Kobo Glo and Glo HD. In between there I bought a Kindle PW2 because it was on sale at a fantastic price, but I immediately hated it compared to the other readers. You couldn't adjust the font weight or change to your own fonts, and line spacing and margins were far too large for my liking, which I could have lived with... but not the lack of font adjustments. I bought mine just at a time when they locked down the firmware so it couldn't be hacked for the changes I'd need to use it. I know recently they've added the ability to increase the font weight, not sure if you can add your own fonts yet, but it's still capacitive touch and I much prefer infrared. So I use the Kindle just to grab a freebie once a month and that's it, it just sits there. I also buy most of my books lately from Amazon and just convert through Calibre, and the books look just fine. So if you're ever ready to make the change, you won't have problems with the Kobo readers and your books. Btw, you can keep just your original mobi or azw3 books on your hard drive and let Calibre convert them on the fly as it sends the books to the Kobo. But Calibre handles collections very nicely on the Kobo readers, you won't be disappointed if you ever make the switch. Kobos are very customizable, which is why I hated the Kindle. As far as losing any features... Kobo has their own kepub version of epub which will give you a few extras over epub, like the title of the book at the top of each page, reading stats for each book and chapter, handles images a bit differently allowing you to enlarge them. It's your choice which you would prefer to read, epub or kepub. Calibre will convert to either for the Kobo (or both to test them out). But as far as losing anything over the Kindle, I doubt it.

08-07-2018, 05:16 PM	#5
rcentros eReader Wrangler Posts: 7,437 Karma: 48453105 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Boise, ID Device: PB HD3, GL3, Tolino Vision 4, Voyage, Clara HD	No. I mostly buy eBooks from Amazon and, when I want to read on one of the other (ePub) eReaders (I have too many), I just convert to ePub from AZW3. Usually it gives me a chance to improve on the layout. AZW3 to ePub almost always goes smoothly. As a matter of fact, if I've still got .mobi books that I want to convert to ePub, I find it usually helps to convert them to AZW3 first, then convert them to ePub. I've run into that a couple times with KePub books also. When the chapter is broken up by graphic art images, I find that a KePub converted to directly ePub when moving to the library (in Calibre) will sometimes truncate a few lines before the graphic (when moved to eReaders, not in Calibre itself). Converting to AZW3 then back to ePub gets rid of the graphic (still leaves the extra spaces break) and doesn't truncate the text. (This may be something I'm doing wrong.) At any rate, I don't think you'll have any problems. Moving from AZW3 to ePub has always been successful for me. I like to embed my favorite font (now Deja Vu Serif E-Ink) and set the line spacing to 135%. The margins I use for 6" readers are top 5, left and right, 9 and bottom, 1. For my 5" readers left and right margins are changed to 7 instead.

08-08-2018, 07:44 PM	#10
mystika1 Addict Posts: 353 Karma: 1360168 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Louisiana Device: IPad Air 2, , Kindle Voyage, Kobo Aura HD, Kobo Aura H2Ov1, Kobo Mini	Hi, I have migrated back to kobo. I have a pw2, kindle voyage, kobo mini, and a recently purchased aura hd. I now prefer the kobo devices. I mostly read downloaded fan fiction, but I do buy books from Amazon. Sometimes I have a good discount code from kobo and use that. I use the calibre server to get my books loaded into the kobo. It only takes seconds. The kindle browser is horrible in my honest opinion, and I can't access my calibre server from the browser 99% of the time. I have a folder in my "box" app that auto uploads into calibre. I drop my fan fiction epubs in that folder from my tablet, and in a few seconds, it shows up in calibre server. It's about as fast as the send-to-kindle feature I thought I couldn't live without. I don't highlight text or take notes. I will be selling my pw2 soon. The only reason that I'm keeping the voyage is because my mil purchased it for me before she passed away. I can't see myself selling it. Penny

08-10-2018, 01:54 PM	#14
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,454 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	I went from Kindle to Kobo cause I was Tired of the PW3 breaking down every 9 to 12 months! Went with Kobo cause it has expandable storage. Format EPUB is better that Amazons formats.

08-10-2018, 03:21 PM	#15
Stevex Addict Posts: 225 Karma: 15318 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: Kobo Glo HD	If I am honest the whole post from Xen is weird from start to finish. I have used Nook Kindle and Kobo. I just dont recognise what Xen is writing, especially the missing epub content. And what’s ‘the native os is so bad i had to downlad a different os’ mean?

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