Aura H2O Downloading library books on the road

[jehane]

Hi all
I've had my H2O for about 6 months now and love it. Now I'm off travelling for 5 weeks with my ereader and tablet, but not computer. Is there any way to get library books on H2O? They can only be borrowed for 3 weeks so I'll definitely need to download along the way. I'm open to switching a microSD card between devices, but not interested in rooting. If not, I'll take my T2 instead.
Thanks

[AnemicOak]

The only possibility I can think of would be if you can download the ePub to a reader app on your tablet that is activated on the same Adobe ID and save it to a card. Don't know if it will work or not, definitely something to test ahead of time.


You also might want to test and make sure your T2 is still working okay with your library. Many have been having problems recently doing the direct download thing on their Sony's since OverDrive made some website changes (I'm assuming you're using OD anyway, you don't say).

[khalleron]

Easiest thing would be to install the Overdrive app on your tablet and check out and read the books on that.

Not optimal to read on a tablet, but there's no way to direct download library books to the H2O (one of the big things I miss when I gave up my T1).

Might try out loading the downloaded books on an SD card and seeing if the H2O can read them before you leave.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Easiest thing would be to install the Overdrive app on your tablet and check out and read the books on that.

Not optimal to read on a tablet, but there's no way to direct download library books to the H2O (one of the big things I miss when I gave up my T1).

Might try out loading the downloaded books on an SD card and seeing if the H2O can read them before you leave.

That depends on the tablet. I have a tablet that I can use to download from Overdrive and then put on my H2O. It is a Surface Pro 2 which is a tablet that acts as a full fledged Windows computer.

[robko]

Once you have your Kobo account linked to Overdrive the 4.xx firmware will sync OD borrows to any of your Kobo devices. Unfortunately I believe the only way to do the link is with a Kobo Aura One. So at a minimum you would need to set up your account on an Aura One temporarily but after that you could borrow on the tablet OD app then sync it to your H2O via wifi. Likely just taking your Sony is the easier option currently.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by robko

Once you have your Kobo account linked to Overdrive the 4.xx firmware will sync OD borrows to any of your Kobo devices. Unfortunately I believe the only way to do the link is with a Kobo Aura One. So at a minimum you would need to set up your account on an Aura One temporarily but after that you could borrow on the tablet OD app then sync it to your H2O via wifi. Likely just taking your Sony is the easier option currently.

Borrowing an ebook using the OD app on my iPad which is linked to the same library account as my KA1 allows me to sync my Kobo ereaders and have the ebook show up on them. I've never tested what would happen if I disconnected the KA1 from Overdrive and tried to sync an ebook borrowed using the OD app to my H2O but I suspect that it wouldn't work. This would prevent someone from borrowing a KA1, setting up Overdrive and then returning the KA1.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Borrowing an ebook using the OD app on my iPad which is linked to the same library account as my KA1 allows me to sync my Kobo ereaders and have the ebook show up on them. I've never tested what would happen if I disconnected the KA1 from Overdrive and tried to sync an ebook borrowed using the OD app to my H2O but I suspect that it wouldn't work. This would prevent someone from borrowing a KA1, setting up Overdrive and then returning the KA1.

Actually, I think that would work. The setup of the account goes to the server. When you borrow a book and sync to the over devices, I doubt it is referring to the Aura ONE. You might need to set the account up and remove the account from the device without doing a sign out. But, hopefully a sign-out is all that is needed.

Someone want to test? The following should show what is happening:

- Sign out of the Aura ONE and then back in. Are the OD settings are restored? Do OD books sync to it and the other devices?
- Sign out of the Aura ONE and see if the OD books sync to the other devices.
- Turn the Aura ONE off and see if the OD books sync to the other devices.

[imkh]

Hi Davidfor, I tested this to see if my sister could avoid using ADE with library books.

3 kobos - Aura One, GloHD and AuraHD, all with firmware 4.1 and all signed into the same Kobo account. I "borrowed" a library book online using the Overdrive account associated with the Kobo account, but didn't download it on PC [later tried with downloading but same result].

The Aura One synced and downloaded like a charm but unfortunately the GloHD and AuraHD would sync and download only if the Aura One synced and downloaded the library book first to the same Kobo account. It looks like the connection between Overdrive, the library book and the Kobo account is "hooked up" during the One sync and download process.

Not quite your test process but I couldn't find a way to make it work for me and the readers are now on the way to my sister so no more testing.

Don't know if this still applies to firmware 4.2.

[jehane]

... to everyone. I'll just take my T2 for now. It still works - I use it all the time due to the direct download feature. I just prefer the frontlight of the Kobo to the lighted cover of the T2.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by imkh

Hi Davidfor, I tested this to see if my sister could avoid using ADE with library books.

3 kobos - Aura One, GloHD and AuraHD, all with firmware 4.1 and all signed into the same Kobo account. I "borrowed" a library book online using the Overdrive account associated with the Kobo account, but didn't download it on PC [later tried with downloading but same result].

The Aura One synced and downloaded like a charm but unfortunately the GloHD and AuraHD would sync and download only if the Aura One synced and downloaded the library book first to the same Kobo account. It looks like the connection between Overdrive, the library book and the Kobo account is "hooked up" during the One sync and download process.

Not quite your test process but I couldn't find a way to make it work for me and the readers are now on the way to my sister so no more testing.

Not the test I described, but I hadn't thought it would be like that. It looks like the book isn't added to the library until a device that has OD on it tries to access it. I was expecting to be a server action when you borrowed the book.

I wonder if copying the config file and database entries from one device to the other would work.

Don't know if this still applies to firmware 4.2.

My first reaction is no. But, it could be a bug that has been fixed.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by imkh

Hi Davidfor, I tested this to see if my sister could avoid using ADE with library books.

3 kobos - Aura One, GloHD and AuraHD, all with firmware 4.1 and all signed into the same Kobo account. I "borrowed" a library book online using the Overdrive account associated with the Kobo account, but didn't download it on PC [later tried with downloading but same result].

The Aura One synced and downloaded like a charm but unfortunately the GloHD and AuraHD would sync and download only if the Aura One synced and downloaded the library book first to the same Kobo account. It looks like the connection between Overdrive, the library book and the Kobo account is "hooked up" during the One sync and download process.

Not quite your test process but I couldn't find a way to make it work for me and the readers are now on the way to my sister so no more testing.

Don't know if this still applies to firmware 4.2.

I basically duplicated your test and your results with a KA1, Aura H2O and Aura HD. Until I synced the KA1, neither of the other two synced a book that I borrowed from the library website for the test nor did it show up in my Kobo library (Kobo website). After the KA1 synced, it showed in my Kobo library and both the H2O and HD downloaded the book during a sync. I suspect the key here is that the KA1 actually "borrows" the book from Kobo which places it in my Kobo library and not from the library/Overdrive.

Now if I could stop finished library books from turning into previews after I return them...

This was with 4.2.8110 on all three devices.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I wonder if copying the config file and database entries from one device to the other would work.

At one point, I copied the [Overdrive] section and the Overdrive related lines from my KA1's .conf file to my Aura HD along with the sections of the database file that I thought were needed. When I disconnected, the Aura HD blanked it's screen and needed a hardware factory reset to recover.

I'm leaving it for someone else to have fun with.

[imkh]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I wonder if copying the config file and database entries from one device to the other would work.

I'm a newbie at all this so it was all a bit trial and error. I did try copying across anything to do with Overdrive from the One config file but that didn't work. Didn't think of the databases, too late for me to try now!