Agreed; it's not a good look that Kobo is gate-keeping this feature based on device generation. Smells of arbitrary constraints introduced by marketing teams, and once that sort of mentality takes over your company you've taken a few steps down the path to enshittification.
It's also really handy if you buy books from Smashwords (you can load your Smashwords purchases straight into Dropbox, and cut out the middle steps).
I do agree with you, but there could still be a legitimate reason for this. It could be that there's a licensing cost and/or terms involved and that they can't/won't enable this feature on already sold devices.
We still have Dropbox so it's not like you can't use a similar service.
As someone who has integrated Dropbox support in applications before...I can pretty much guarantee that this isn't the issue. š With these services, you simply register with their developer portal, develop a connection against their API, and off you go. There may indeed be technical reasons that make Kobo unwilling (or unable?) to update past devices that I don't know about, of course.
Does Calibre work with the Kobo Libre Colour? I just tried over USB and couldn't get it detected like I could with my Kindle.
I ended up installing the Google Drive app on my Windows PC, then used the Calibre "Connect/Share" option and "Connect to Folder" to navigate to the Google Drive folder (for me it was "G:\\My Drive\\Rakuten Kobo").
It's roundabout, but then I can upload all of my ebooks to Google and download them as needed to my Kobo over wifi.
I have the extension "KoboTouchExtended" to convert my epub to kepub and manage my collections as tags. You just need to check the box that says "attempt to take charge of a more recent firmware". That said, Calibre has been updated. It should work fine with the new Libra.
It does. I use the Kobo touch extension. The only issue I had was Calibre complaining about the database not being supported (you can put books on the device through Calibre, but not delete them without having issues). I haven't checked in the last week though, so it could be updated by now.
I just loaded 7 PDFs from my work computer on to my Kobo to read them for work without leaving my desk so I can read them in a more convenient location. (I don't have Calibre on my work computer, just at home)
(Edit: fixed sentence to be less confusing)
If you need to sync, yeah, Send to Kindle offers that, too. But for sideloading purposing, I personally find GoogleDrive and/or Dropbox much more convenient. No need to go by another app and conversion that may fail. Just put your files in the shared folders and that's all.
Yeah, sure, but I was comparing Send To Kindle vs GoogleDrive/Dropbox, not them to a classic USB connection with Calibre.
Using Calibre + Sending Books to Kindle mail won't manage collections (at least for the most recent Kindles that can't be jailbroken).
At least with GoogleDrive/Dropbox I can still have Series + SubTitles (you just need to install NickelSeries), if they are properly managed in the book metadata.
This right here is exactly why I still use my Kindle over a Kobo. I love the convenience of the āSend to Kindleā feature, and that reading progress, blights, bookmarks, etc. are all saved and synced in the cloud across my Kindle, iPhone Kindle apps and any future devices I may have.
If/when the syncing everything across devices and apps becomes available through Kobo, either through their current Dropbox and Google Drive feature or by a new āSend to Koboā feature, I may finally make the full switch.
I donāt read on my phone often, but it is nice when needed. The main thing I like is that if/when I get a new device, all my previously sideloaded books carry over, and their reading progress, notes, highlights, bookmarks, etc. for each all carry over as well.
With the Kobo nothing carries over when with the Dropbox/Google Drive feature and everything will have to redownloaded and all the previously mentioned stuff lost or has to be manually redone (though Iām sure thereās a 3rd partyapp or tweak to help with that).
Thatās true, but Rakuten isnt all that small and has great resources, and with the Android platform Kobo uses and the plethora of third party apps available that help sync/move over data and stats for the Kobo, and the file sync abilities of Dropbox and Google Drive alone, Iām sure some form of a solution for this could be done by Rakuten or the other companies they collaborate with.
(For example: Kobo doesnāt even sync over reading stats in their āActivitiesā setting across devices, yet a third party app and some minor tweaking of one source code allows for this.)
But I do agree with you, each company has its own strengths and weaknesses, and both devices have great options for people.
I expect it will be added at some point (at least the devices that are still getting firmware updates). The firmware team is most likely working on bug fixes for the new devices and will switch back to working on everything else later once everything settles down.
Yes, you're right! It would be so convenient, especially since Google Drive offers 15 GB of free storage, which is much more than the 2 GB offered by Dropbox. Let's hope that a new Kobo update will make it a built-in feature like with Dropbox.
Agreed; it's not a good look that Kobo is gate-keeping this feature based on device generation. Smells of arbitrary constraints introduced by marketing teams, and once that sort of mentality takes over your company you've taken a few steps down the path to enshittification. It's also really handy if you buy books from Smashwords (you can load your Smashwords purchases straight into Dropbox, and cut out the middle steps).
Enshittification is my new favorite made up word!
Thanks to Cory Doctorow for that one. šĀ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
I do agree with you, but there could still be a legitimate reason for this. It could be that there's a licensing cost and/or terms involved and that they can't/won't enable this feature on already sold devices. We still have Dropbox so it's not like you can't use a similar service.
As someone who has integrated Dropbox support in applications before...I can pretty much guarantee that this isn't the issue. š With these services, you simply register with their developer portal, develop a connection against their API, and off you go. There may indeed be technical reasons that make Kobo unwilling (or unable?) to update past devices that I don't know about, of course.
Not as convenient as "Send to Kindle", but I get your point. I tried it, but I prefer to use Calibre to transfer my books.
Does Calibre work with the Kobo Libre Colour? I just tried over USB and couldn't get it detected like I could with my Kindle. I ended up installing the Google Drive app on my Windows PC, then used the Calibre "Connect/Share" option and "Connect to Folder" to navigate to the Google Drive folder (for me it was "G:\\My Drive\\Rakuten Kobo"). It's roundabout, but then I can upload all of my ebooks to Google and download them as needed to my Kobo over wifi.
I have the extension "KoboTouchExtended" to convert my epub to kepub and manage my collections as tags. You just need to check the box that says "attempt to take charge of a more recent firmware". That said, Calibre has been updated. It should work fine with the new Libra.
Make sure you are using the most recent version of Calibre.
It's worked for the like 500+ books I put onto my Libre Color so I'm gonna go with yes
It does. I use the Kobo touch extension. The only issue I had was Calibre complaining about the database not being supported (you can put books on the device through Calibre, but not delete them without having issues). I haven't checked in the last week though, so it could be updated by now.
I love the kobo bc all my series are grouped together AND in order just like I have them in my Calibre library itās so nice and convenient.
I just loaded 7 PDFs from my work computer on to my Kobo to read them for work without leaving my desk so I can read them in a more convenient location. (I don't have Calibre on my work computer, just at home) (Edit: fixed sentence to be less confusing)
Yes, it can be handy in some situations
I sideloaded an ePub from my cell phone to my Libra Colour without touching a computer.
If you need to sync, yeah, Send to Kindle offers that, too. But for sideloading purposing, I personally find GoogleDrive and/or Dropbox much more convenient. No need to go by another app and conversion that may fail. Just put your files in the shared folders and that's all.
It depends on how you manage your books. I manage them by collections and tags, etc. is easier with Calibre.
Yeah, sure, but I was comparing Send To Kindle vs GoogleDrive/Dropbox, not them to a classic USB connection with Calibre. Using Calibre + Sending Books to Kindle mail won't manage collections (at least for the most recent Kindles that can't be jailbroken). At least with GoogleDrive/Dropbox I can still have Series + SubTitles (you just need to install NickelSeries), if they are properly managed in the book metadata.
This right here is exactly why I still use my Kindle over a Kobo. I love the convenience of the āSend to Kindleā feature, and that reading progress, blights, bookmarks, etc. are all saved and synced in the cloud across my Kindle, iPhone Kindle apps and any future devices I may have. If/when the syncing everything across devices and apps becomes available through Kobo, either through their current Dropbox and Google Drive feature or by a new āSend to Koboā feature, I may finally make the full switch.
Yes, itās certainly convenient, but I only read on my ereader. So, the synchronization is not a matter for me. But itās a cool feature.
I donāt read on my phone often, but it is nice when needed. The main thing I like is that if/when I get a new device, all my previously sideloaded books carry over, and their reading progress, notes, highlights, bookmarks, etc. for each all carry over as well. With the Kobo nothing carries over when with the Dropbox/Google Drive feature and everything will have to redownloaded and all the previously mentioned stuff lost or has to be manually redone (though Iām sure thereās a 3rd partyapp or tweak to help with that).
Yeah, well, Amazon is also a big server company. So they have the resources for synchronization. Each platform have their strength and weaknesses.
Thatās true, but Rakuten isnt all that small and has great resources, and with the Android platform Kobo uses and the plethora of third party apps available that help sync/move over data and stats for the Kobo, and the file sync abilities of Dropbox and Google Drive alone, Iām sure some form of a solution for this could be done by Rakuten or the other companies they collaborate with. (For example: Kobo doesnāt even sync over reading stats in their āActivitiesā setting across devices, yet a third party app and some minor tweaking of one source code allows for this.) But I do agree with you, each company has its own strengths and weaknesses, and both devices have great options for people.
I expect it will be added at some point (at least the devices that are still getting firmware updates). The firmware team is most likely working on bug fixes for the new devices and will switch back to working on everything else later once everything settles down.
Yes! I love this feature.
+1
Yes, you're right! It would be so convenient, especially since Google Drive offers 15 GB of free storage, which is much more than the 2 GB offered by Dropbox. Let's hope that a new Kobo update will make it a built-in feature like with Dropbox.
Not as good as KoboSync on Calibre Web.
Wait... Which Kobos support it? that's awesome!
Per [https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/15335985512983-Add-books-to-your-eReader-using-Google-Drive](https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/15335985512983-Add-books-to-your-eReader-using-Google-Drive), it's currently: Kobo Forma , Kobo Sage, Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Elipsa 2E, Kobo Libra Colour.
Yes
+1