Glo A potential problem - You can't do Setup without internet

[46jimbo]

My Glo has been performing well and I'm really enjoying it. Last night, however, while playing around with settings, the device rebooted, forcing me to go through the setup routine as if it was a brand new Glo.

Easily done and a minor annoyance. My books were still all there. But I got to thinking, what if I was on vacation, in an airplane, at the cottage - somewhere without internet access. My Kobo would be rendered useless and unusable.

So I ask Kobo to please allow the setup to be done without connecting to the internet. All of my previous Kobo's could do this. Please get rid of this roadblock.

[thepossum]

All of my previous Kobos required a computer authorized with my Kobo account in order to activate. The Glo can still be activated the same way. The ability to activate a Kobo wirelessly (sans computer) is a new feature of 2.x firmwares, but is only optional.

[kobokobe]

His problem of being unable to use his Kobo in the case of a reset on the go remains. Considering that in most instances where people set up their Kobo they will have to load their books and would have to connect to a computer/internet to do so anyway, I don't think Kobo will really bother adding an option to set it up without internet.

[speakingtohe]

I didn't like the fact that you had to setup a Kobo account over the internet even to use the reader. It wasn't a deal breaker but made me kind of twitchy. It seems to give Kobo more power than they are entitled to to gather information.

I am not to worried about being ereaderless as I have several, but seems a bit arbitrary. Even my mother's kindle could be used out of the box although it had to be registered to use collections.

Oh well....

Helen

[oj829]

When you say:

Originally Posted by 46jimbo

My Glo has been performing well and I'm really enjoying it. Last night, however, while playing around with settings, the device rebooted, forcing me to go through the setup routine as if it was a brand new Glo.

What exactly were you presented with?

Language selection menu?

The static graphic which suggests you hook the Glo up to a mothership computer?

If the latter, I had one experience where I simply ignored the "demand", flipped the power switch, and it did a normal boot.

[oj829]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I didn't like the fact that you had to setup a Kobo account over the internet even to use the reader.

This. There's a certain intrusiveness in the Kobo market mindset which really puts me off, and which you can see with their approach to "recommendations", etc, and the number of times my outbound firewall alarms when I fire up the Desktop app.

I totally agree that not being able to reset and read what's on your $129 device without phoning home first is a giant honking ... let's call it "flaw".

[EldRick]

You can't check your e-mail without a connection either, which I'd view as a lot more critical.

I'm thinking that a) no-one dies because they can't use an e-reader for a while, and b) the Internet is essentially everywhere civilized. If I were the Kobo Product Manager, I wouldn't waste a minute worrying about this one.

[SeigneurAo]

Originally Posted by EldRick

b) the Internet is essentially everywhere civilized

Your Kobo won't check if you're "somewhere civilized" before bugging so bad as you are forced to factory reset it.
I do agree that an account is understandably mandatory for syncing.
However I do also very much agree that we should be able to use the reader out of the box with, say, sideloaded books from an SD card.

[EldRick]

The only way you are getting moderately-priced e-readers and tablets is because they generate profitable book and other tie-in sales. If you could buy a reader without being tied to a book vendor, it would cost significantly more.

[oj829]

Originally Posted by EldRick

I'm thinking that a) no-one dies because they can't use an e-reader for a while, and b) the Internet is essentially everywhere civilized. If I were the Kobo Product Manager, I wouldn't waste a minute worrying about this one.

Well, if it's not worth even a minute's mulling over, then why take that minute and make the call to be more difficult? To just be more difficult? What does Kobo get out of it?

Maybe people very simply want to travel light, with a device they can be reasonably assured will either work for a week, or be robust post-failure if a week of uptime is in fact too much to ask for.

Finally, traveling with a selection of books is a lot older than the "civilizing" influence of the Internet.

[dakini]

Originally Posted by oj829

This. There's a certain intrusiveness in the Kobo market mindset which really puts me off, and which you can see with their approach to "recommendations", etc, and the number of times my outbound firewall alarms when I fire up the Desktop app.

remember, there are multiple ways to think of these devices. i primarily think of it as a device upon which to read files. the companies (amazon, b&n, kobo, sony, etc) primarily think of it as an interface for us to buy their files.

making us set up an account is merely part of their vision of what this device does. let's face it -- they make their money primarily off of sales of ebooks, not off the price of selling us the device.

Originally Posted by EldRick

b) the Internet is essentially everywhere civilized. If I were the Kobo Product Manager, I wouldn't waste a minute worrying about this one.

i'd disagree. i'm taking mine on a cruise soon. it definitely is civilised. it sort of has internet. very overpriced internet. i'd hate to have my kobo reset and want an internet connection (at lots of money per minute) in order to work again. i could easily run up the cost of the reader in the time setup took!

[filmo]

Most cruise ships spend 1/2 their time in port. Less fuel costs. When your in port cheap to free wifi is probably available ashore. They also sell books aboard cruise ships.

[SeigneurAo]

Originally Posted by filmo

Most cruise ships spend 1/2 their time in port. Less fuel costs. When your in port cheap to free wifi is probably available ashore. They also sell books aboard cruise ships.

What you're saying here basically is : Hey, if the device you paid $100 for goes wrong, it's A-OK to have to run after an hypothetic free wifi spot (supposing there are any around. You guys may take it for granted if you never leave your home town/city/country but here's the kicker : it's not) or pay a couple more bucks on a paper book.

Well, I don't find it very convenient, for my part.
I understand the whole "they make profit over consumables, not the hardware" thing, many products share that very same economical model.
Still it would make sense that since our Kobo is compatible with one of the most standard format, ePub, it could be ready for use after unpacking, regardless of where you stand.

[Erkhyan]

"Everywhere civilized"
By that definition, I don’t live anywhere civilized. I only have Internet access at home and at work, wifi spots only exist in overpriced tourist hotels, and if my reader was to have a glitch anywhere else (i.e. while taking a vacation out of town), I’d need to wait until I was back home to be able to use it again.

[thepossum]

Originally Posted by kobokobe

His problem of being unable to use his Kobo in the case of a reset on the go remains. Considering that in most instances where people set up their Kobo they will have to load their books and would have to connect to a computer/internet to do so anyway, I don't think Kobo will really bother adding an option to set it up without internet.

But my point being, this problem is not specific to the Glo, but to basically ALL of the Kobo products (original, Wifi, Touch, and Glo).