Been using Kobo for years but...

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BookCat

One big advantage of kindle over kobo, is the ability to click on an image and have it explode much larger with sideloaded books.

With Kobo, this seems to be possible only with kepubs bought from Kobo.
With Kindle, I can download, for example, the illustrated Dickens from mobileread, convert the epub to azw3, send it to a kindle, then when I come across an image, just touch it: expands allowing details to be seen.

The same epub on my Libra 2: tap an image, nothing happens. I have tried with an illustrated book bought from kobo, and the images do expand with a double tap, and can be enlarged further using finger motions on the touch screen.

Haven't been using a kobo for long; there may be a way round this which I don't yet know. For the moment, I'm reading illustrated books on my kindles.

You can enlarge the images in sideloaded kepubs also. The KoboTouch Extended Driver will convert your epubs to kepub on the fly when you send them to your Kobo, so that kepubs will be only on the device, not in the library.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by BookCat

And, of course, there are better freebies on Amazon than on Kobo. I was looking for some chiclit to lighten an afternoon but found only smut in the Free Romance section of Kobo.

Not terribly concerned with ecosystems of the two since most here can strip DRM and convert to whichever format they need.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Quoth

But wrecks formatting. Sync is overated. Slower to connect two devices to WiFi & sync than type three words into search. Also why the need to sync? Also privacy issues.

I've bought various Kindles & so has wife. We read on Kobo now only and only use the kindle serial numbers.

Convenience. It's not really rocket science. It is nice be able to pick up your book at the same place while waiting in line for something or riding the bus or whatever on your phone while the Kindle is at home. Some people don't care that Amazon knows they are reading some trashy SF novel and they're on page 65.

Obviously the formatting getting wrecked is a dealbreaker for some (like me) but some don't care.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Convenience. It's not really rocket science. It is nice be able to pick up your book at the same place while waiting in line for something or riding the bus or whatever on your phone while the Kindle is at home. Some people don't care that Amazon knows they are reading some trashy SF novel and they're on page 65.

Obviously the formatting getting wrecked is a dealbreaker for some (like me) but some don't care.

Of course, you can do the same by buying books from Kobo.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Of course, you can do the same by buying books from Kobo.

Yeah, but not with personal documents or books purchased elsewhere.

I used sync occasionally back when I had several Kindles, but after I moved to 100% sideloading, it was no longer possible. To my surprise I discovered I didn't miss it much; it isn't that hard to remember the place you left off. I switch between the Sage and the Libra 2 now and often read the same book on both. No problems.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You can enlarge the images in sideloaded kepubs also. The KoboTouch Extended Driver will convert your epubs to kepub on the fly when you send them to your Kobo, so that kepubs will be only on the device, not in the library.

I just googled this plugin and found this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=211135

The first post states that the plugin requires Calibre 5.0.0. or later. However, the Calibre site recommends that for Windows 7, which I have, 3.48 is used. This is what I'm using.

Without derailing the thread, is there any way I can convert the epubs into kepubs?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I just googled this plugin and found this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=211135

The first post states that the plugin requires Calibre 5.0.0. or later. However, the Calibre site recommends that for Windows 7, which I have, 3.48 is used. This is what I'm using.

Without derailing the thread, is there any way I can convert the epubs into kepubs?

There are two ways:

Try to download and run the latest Calibre Portable, which has worked for some people on Windows 7.
https://calibre-ebook.com/download_portable

Or you can convert your epubs to kepubs in the conventional Calibre way (you'll have them in your library then, but ofc you can always delete the kepub formats after transferring them to your Kobo). For this you'll need the kepub output plugin and I think the kepub metadata reader/writer plugins, but I don't know if they are available in 3.48.

[PeterT]

There is another way. Davidfor has posted a driver that adds support to calibre 3.48 for newer devices. Let me track it down again.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by PeterT

There is another way. Davidfor has posted a driver that adds support to calibre 3.48 for newer devices. Let me track it down again.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=12

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[BookCat]

Sirtel and PeterT, thank you!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by PeterT

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=12

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

It is the Kobo Touch Driver, not the Extended Driver.

[Sirtel]

There is also Kepubify, a standalone epub -> kepub converter:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=340435

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by PeterT

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=12

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Unfortunately, according to davidfor's post, this does not support the KoboTouchExtended driver.

[BookCat]

I'm going to try Kepubify for now. If it's easy to use that will be great. I can then read mobileread illustrated Dickens etc on my new kobo.

Edit: the Kepubify installer won't run. I see a black box with some writing in it which immediately disappears. Does this work with Windows 7?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I'm going to try Kepubify for now. If it's easy to use that will be great. I can then read mobileread illustrated Dickens etc on my new kobo.

Edit: the Kepubify installer won't run. I see a black box with some writing in it which immediately disappears. Does this work with Windows 7?

I know nothing about Kepubify, other than that it exists. Best to ask in the Kepubify thread.