02-21-2014, 05:33 PM | #1 |
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E-books format from Kobo store
I am thinking of getting a Kobo device and would like to know if all e-books bought from www.kobobooks.com are in the e-pub format or could be in any format.
I did a test on kobobooks.com and on the "Buy Now" page, it did not indicate what format (e-pub or other) is the e-book in. Are the e-books from Kobo store mostly in the e-pub format? If not, what is the norm for Kobo store? 550 x 357px Last edited by pentel; 02-22-2014 at 12:59 PM. |
02-21-2014, 05:55 PM | #2 |
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It is a .kepub, a special modification of epub which calibre can convert to epub, and usually you get a .acsm so you can own the epub in Adobe Digital Editions, though I've heard people are seeing that option removed for a lot of books.
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02-21-2014, 06:00 PM | #3 |
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Discovering the format of a given book is unfortunately a bit hit and miss. The community has yet to find a reliable means of determining IF there is an ePub version available for a given book.
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02-21-2014, 07:11 PM | #4 |
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The vast majority of books are available as regular epubs and virtually all (except a few tablet only picture books) are available as kepub as well. I think the only currently available method to determine if it has a regular epub is download the book as a preview and then you can see. Apprentice Alf is apparently capable of freeing kepubs which would convert easily to epub. It would be nice if Kobo finally heeded all the screaming and put the option back to see what formats are available in a clear way some where on the website.
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02-21-2014, 09:01 PM | #5 |
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To see if a book is available for download in epub format before purchase you can add a preview to your library. It is not necessary to actually download the preview, the download options for the book are shown in the library listing for the preview.
The screenshot attached is from my library, the book at the top is a preview, the one below it is a purchased book. The download options show that after purchase the book will be available for download as a DRM-free epub. |
02-21-2014, 11:15 PM | #6 |
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Thank you, ALL for your replies. GeoffR, thanks for the screenshot and tip about not necessary to actually download the preview.
I understand that there are 2 ways to buy ebook from kobobooks.com (I could be wrong, based on what I've been reading). (1) The first method is using the desktop computer to buy the ebook and then transfer the ebook from desktop to Kobo device. (2) The second method is to use wifi and buy the ebook from the Kobo device itself without the use of desktop computer. Which method will download as epub or kepub? Or is it again we don't know at all, either method can download as epub? I got the impression that because method 1 utilize the Adobe ADE software (unsure why is that necessary), it will download as epub while method 2 will download as kepub. Any idea if method 2 (using wifi on Kindle device to buy ebook) will download as epub where available as epub? |
02-21-2014, 11:29 PM | #7 |
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It doesn't matter how you buy the book, for most books once you have purchased them you will have the option to download a kepub format book to a Kobo device or app, as well as downloading a plain epub format book from the Kobo website.
There are some books where the epub download option is not available, but that is not affected by whether you buy the book from the website or using a device or app. I usually buy books using my Kobo device, and a kepub version gets downoaded direct to the device via wifi. But I can then go to the Kobo website and download the epub version too if I wish. Edit: If you use a Kobo app on the kindle to download the book then you will get the kepub format, if you use a web browser and download by clicking the download button in your library on the Kobo website then you will get the plain epub format. (If the book had DRM then the browser will just download the .ascm key and you will need ADE to download the actual book. If it is DRM-free then the browser will download the book itself). Last edited by GeoffR; 02-21-2014 at 11:45 PM. |
02-21-2014, 11:52 PM | #8 |
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Thank you GeoffR again for your answer. I think I have an idea now but will not know for sure until I actually have hands-on. I will go to the mall and do some Kobo device shopping tomorrow. Cheers.
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02-22-2014, 10:54 AM | #9 |
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Just to simplify what Geoff said: If you use the KOBO desktop app, it will download a kepub only. If you use a KOBO device to DIRECTLY download the book, it will download a kepub only. To get a regular epub (if available) you MUST use the download link from the website AND Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) if it has DRM or just the download link from the website if it has no DRM. For non-DRM books you can download direct to the reader via the browser on the reader (works for some sites anyway, not sure if that works direct from Kobo because I've never tried it).
As Geoff said, even if you do download the kepub, you can also download the regular epub (if available) as well. I mostly read kepub versions downloaded direct to my Kobo, but I do download and de-DRM my books as regular epub for backup purposes. Last edited by robko; 02-22-2014 at 10:57 AM. |
02-22-2014, 12:25 PM | #10 | |
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02-22-2014, 12:48 PM | #11 |
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Thanks for the clarifications. When you say the "download link", is that the "Download EPUB" blue button for the bottom book in Geoff's screenshot earlier? If no, which "download link" is that?
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02-22-2014, 01:03 PM | #12 |
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Also. just want to be sure: I'm in Canada, my credit card is charged in Canadian dollars when I buy from http://store.kobobooks.com/?
Last edited by pentel; 02-22-2014 at 01:11 PM. |
02-22-2014, 01:22 PM | #13 | |
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02-22-2014, 01:27 PM | #14 |
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In that screenshot, the DRM free book without the download button is a PREVIEW. Previews only download direct to Kobo devices or the desktop or kobo app, they never have a download button.
Last edited by sqdancer; 02-22-2014 at 01:48 PM. Reason: to add Kobo app |
02-22-2014, 01:46 PM | #15 | |
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