Making Sure your Kobo book can be downloaded
Discussion about the recent changes to B&N have revealed a number of Kobo customers are having trouble with some Kobo books they’ve purchased. Kobo’s Customer Care department (a misnomer if ever I heard one) will tell buyers who complain that the problem occurs because the book is “ePub3”. This is actually not the case. EPub3 books can be downloaded just fine – the problems arise when you come across a (fortunately) rare KePub book.
ETA: I’ve been keeping an eye on the comments and browsing through the Mobile Reads forum about this topic. It seems the problem is both ePub3 and KePub – ePub3 books can be downloaded – other etailers don’t seem to be having the same problem. Those books which are uploaded to Kobo in ePub3 format are going to be KePubbed and won’t be downloadable. This appears to be a compatibility issue with the way Kobo likes to do things and ePub3. This thread at Mobile Reads suggests that all new Tor books will have this problem if purchased from Kobo, as they are publishing their books in ePub3 format.
Unfortunately, therefore, it seems the problem will become more frequent. If downloading matters to you, I do suggest you either learn the obok trick referred to in the comments (Nate at The Digital Reader has some tips) or follow the steps below to check the format before you buy. I suppose customers could also complain to the relevant publishers – if they receive enough complaints perhaps it will spur a fix at either end.
KePub is, as I understand it, Kobo’s proprietary ePub format. If you do buy a KePub book it won’t download to your PC and while it will appear on your Kobo reader (if you have the wi-fi turned on), it doesn’t show up in the files if you connect the device to the PC in attempt to load the book into Calibre. Wherever the file is kept, it’s not visible to the average reader trying to back up her books. Library Addict tells me that KePubs can be placed on the PC via the Kobo for PC app but I haven’t tested this myself.
My best advice is to avoid KePub books altogether. Here’s how:
1. Before you buy a book from Kobo, Save a Preview to your library.
click to embiggen
2. If the Preview indicates the book has a download format of “EPUB (DRM FREE)” or “Adobe DRM EPUB” you are safe to buy and download as normal.
click to embiggen
3. If the download format is blank, the book is most likely a KePub and you should buy the book elsewhere if you want to download it.
click to embiggen
This is what it looks like if you make the mistake of buying a KePub ebook from Kobo (I got a refund by the way)
click to embiggen
***PLEASE NOTE: This DOES NOT WORK on Pre-Orders. The book has to be available to save a preview to your library. If you pre-order, it’s a crapshoot so far as I can tell. ***
It does add an extra step to the process but it guarantees you will be able to download your legally purchased book onto your PC and import it into Calibre. If it has DRM, and if you are a DRM-stripper (for personal use only) you can even back it up so it remains yours yours yours.
Kaetrin
This is interesting. I am a Kindle reader but I sometimes buy books from Kobo, take them into Adobe Digital Editions, then Calibre and onto my Kindle. I tend to do this when you (and other sites) tell me about fantastic Kobo discount codes for 75% off etc.
Recently I bought 7 books using 75% off and 50% off codes and I had this problem with just one book. In the end I contacted Kobo customer service (which as you say is very poor) and about four days later they said it wasn’t downloadable and offered me a refund.
This appears to be the issue with a freebie Tor book I had in my library. Oh well, too bad I won’t be reading that.
@Jayne: I think it’s really random which books are affected. I had the same problem with Lead by Kylie Scott but the other books in the series have all been DRM ePub books I’ve been able to download. I got a refund for Lead and then bought it from Amazon instead. So, I don’t think there’s a way to predict it. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the publisher at all.
Confirming the Kobo Desktop » obok way effective. Has never failed me, although it doesn’t appear to work with DRM-free e-books—nothing that hunting for and adding a filename extension to the associated files won’t fix. It’s tedious work, but for some it might be less frustrating than trying to deal with the Kobo folks.
First I encountered the no-download issue was with Nina Lane’s Awaken. She contacted Kobo and was told “it has something to do with the type of file we [Lane] uploaded, which isn’t available for the Kobo e-reader”. Now, how some publishers could mess up with the “file type” for one or two when they get it right for others, I’m not sure.
Thank you for this – haven’t had any problems so far, but it is a handy fix to know.
Yes this is the work around I’ve been using with Kobo after a book that was I knew was self-published, DRM free was “kepubbed” by Kobo. But I really wish that Kobo would list clearly on each book’s description page what type of file format it is in (epub (, Adobe DRM epub, pdf, or kepub) instead of making me do this work around.
Thanks for the information. I use Kobo a lot because all of their coupon codes. Since I mostly read small publisher books that take coupons, Kobo is usually the cheapest place to buy.
It’s not just a matter of kepub *or* epub. Most books are available in both formats. All those books with the “epub” or “Adobe DRM epub” link beside them are actually available in both formats to the person who purchased the book. If you have a Kobo ereader, use one of their reading apps or their Kobo desktop software to read the books you purchase from them, then the format you’re reading is the kepub version. But you can also download the epub versions of those files and sideload them to your readers (both Kobo and non-Kobo ereaders) or to save a backup copy of the book.
So every book on Kobo is available in the kepub version. The problem comes when the files are *only* available in that version.
I also experienced this when I bought Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers, so it’s not just on self-pub books. I never got an answer from Kobo why I couldn’t download it like my other ebooks and finally asked for (and got) a refund. Thanks for the info on how to check for future purchases!
Thanks for this useful info. I wonder if it also identifies the dreaded unidentified pdfs? They’ve gotten me with that several times.
There was a case a while back with a Loretta Chase book being undownloadable, and they told us that since we could still read the books, there would be no refund. (It did eventually become downloadable.) I’m glad people are having better luck now getting refunds.
I think it is the “Modify ePub” plugin for Calibre removes the kepub coding. I am not sure which file it is that you need to add in Calibre, but if you check MobileRead there are multiple threads about this.
Interesting. I don’t know anything about formats, etc, but I had this problem recently. I bought a book (Where’d You Go Bernadette?), and couldn’t read it on my Sony Reader or my Sony Reader for PC software, though I could read it in Kobo Desktop. I called them up and was told it was epub3, and they gave me store credit (also had option of refund). I was also told that to avoid the problem in the future, I should see if “Blackberry” was listed under “Available on these devices,” and if it was, I shouldn’t have this problem. Though I also have at least one book for which Blackberry was not listed that worked fine for me (The Countess Conspiracy).
Unfortunately, I have another problem now too…I tried to buy a few books and the transaction didn’t go through. Tried again a couple minutes later, and it was fine…except for one book. I’m told “You already own this title” so I can’t buy it. Really do not look forward to contacting them to sort that out. Guess I should just buy it somewhere else.
@Laura Jardine: Check your library first to see if the book is there. That’s happened to me where the transaction acted like it didn’t go through but it really did.
@Library addict: That was the first thing I did. It’s not there :(
@Laura Jardine: Is your library on the “I’m Reading” or “Purchased” tab? Sometimes purchased books only show up in the “I’m Reading” tab. Also, if it is saying the book has been purchased, when you bring up the page for the book does the buy button appear or does it give you the option to download?
@library addict: I’ve tried both tabs. When I look at the page for the book, my only option is View in Library, but when I click to go to my library, it’s not there, of course.
@Laura Jardine: I wonder if The Countess Conspiracy worked because it’s DRM-free.
@Laura Jardine: When dealing with Kobo customer service I have found that the live chat option works best. Email takes several days and a lot of back and forth. And calling I haven’t had much luck with. But the live chat gets quick results.
@Willaful: There are a couple ways to determine if a book is in PDF format.
1. If the preview button is missing then it’s usually a PDF.
2. Click where it says “Available on these devices” and if there are no devices listed, it’s a PDF.
Here’s a sample:
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/uneven
Oops. It’s not a preview button anymore – it’s just says “save preview.” Anyway, it’s still missing on PDF files. :)
@Willaful: I’m seeing “Adobe DRM PDF” in some of the format options (where I’ve been unfortunately caught). So I think they’re getting better about identifying formats. Still, you have to save a preview to do it.
@Suzanna Medeiros: I think that’s right. My impression is they “forget” to have the other version available rather than it being a decision of the publisher. I’m seeing that some of the books which aren’t available to download are fromTor – which sell DRM free books! Of course, this post is about downloading Kobo books and offers a workaround for those who, like me, use Calibre to manage their ebook libraries.
@Laura Jardine: yeah, I was told it was an ePub3 issue too. But apparently it isn’t – it’s a KePub problem. I don’t think their CS is very well informed. Or maybe it’s deliberate. ePub3 would suggest it’s a problem not within Kobo’s control (“hey, sorry, there’s nothing we can do”) – whereas KePub is TOTALLY within their control.
As to the book you bought but which is not in your library, that’s happened to me occasionally too. It’s a pain, but if you send them your receipt they should be able to refund you so you can buy it again, either from Kobo or elsewhere.
@Willaful: actually there’s an example in the 3rd image in the post. If you look at Better Than Chance that says it’s a PDF. I used to think blank format meant either PDF or KePub but I think maybe it’s just KePub. Either way, I’d avoid any blank format books. As well as PDFs!
I just got caught with this, with Jill Shalvis’ It’s in his Kiss. It seems like a newer problem, but I am behind in downloading my books. I have a Kobo ereader, but want those backups.
I switched to Kobo from BN for just this reason, so this has me pretty ticked off.
@ElizabethKW: Yes, it’s a huge pain and so frustrating.
I’ve had this happen to me once. First contacted them via email twice, but didn’t get a response. Then left a message on their Facebookpage, to which they replied two days later.
I was offered store credit as a refund, which I accepted. Oddly enough, the book is still in my library and I can still read it via the Kobo-app (which I dislike, which is why I remove DRM and sideload).
I had a quick look at obok, but even though I don’t consider myself to be a complete n00b :-), that was all jibberish to me.
In the future I’ll just download the preview into my library first to see if it has an Adobe DRM file. If not, I’ll buy elsewhere. I love Kobo’s coupon code, but to me their not worth the hassle if I cannot remove DRM and sideload to my phone’s preferred reading app (MoonReader).
While Kobo’s statement that this is an epub3 issue is misleading, it isn’t entirely untrue. The kepub-only books I’ve bought so far were declared to be epub3 in their content.opf file when I took them apart.
It seems that Kobo has decided to sell epub3 books only as kepubs, which makes a tiny bit of sense when you consider that the rendering engine used for kepubs has a few epub3 capabilities, while the Adobe engine used for regular epubs has none.
On the other hand it makes no sense at all, of course, because most books that say they are epub3 don’t really have any epub3-specific features at all. It gets particularly weird when Kobo takes books that are sold DRM-free by the publisher and slaps their kepub-gunk on them, including DRM…
So you have two options: Stay away from kepub-only books, or fire up obok…
@doubleshuffle: Yes, I’ve been involved in a discussion at The Digital Reader which has suggested that it might be something Kobo is doing with ePub3. Either way, what Kobo CS tells people is misleading. If an author/publisher uploads an ePub3 file to Kobo, there is nothing stopping them allowing the download. They download just fine. It is only that Kobo are slapping their KePub formatting on it and choosing not to sell the ePub3 file that is the problem. That is, it is something that Kobo is positively doing to stop the download and not the fault of the ePub3 format itself. Kobo can absolutely allow downloads if they wish to do so. It seems, for some books at least, they do not. Working out which books that is is the point of the post of course. I wonder if people don’t buy the books that can’t be downloaded, whether they might change their mind? (Of course, a lot of people have to NOT buy those books to make any impact and I don’t kid myself my exhortation not to buy them will cause the impact necessary!)
@Kaetrin:
Oh, of course it’s Kobo messing up here. No doubt about that.
“EPub3 books can be downloaded just fine – the problems arise when you come across a (fortunately) rare KePub book.”
Yeah but my understanding was EPUB 3 files would be considered EPUB 3 Files if they actually were kePubs as the kepub extension is sort of acting as a trigger for the software—that is what several people are stating in tutorials and forums. Else, they are considered as EPUB 2 files.
Sooooooo, can you actually list two or three EPUB 3 books I can try to download on Kobo ?
And what if they are EPUB 3 with DRM ? It seemed to me Adobe, who is providing a lot of the resellers including Kobo, didn’t support EPUB 3 with DRM, which would mean that actually there is no way to support it, hence the “kepub only”.
I mean, Kobo is as far as I Know telling all customers that it’s because of EPUB 3, there must be some reason.
hi! I have tried downloading my purchased books from Kobo desktop, but I couldn’t. I can I do that? I have an epub3 to try downloading, either! Thank you!!!
P.S : My EPUB3 epub is an italian one by Samuel Giorgi, “Ogni cosa al suo posto”.
@Patrick: I don’t know how to tell whether a book at Kobo is ePub 2 or ePub3. What I do know, and the main thrust of this post, is that in order to ensure you can download the book you’ve bought, it is best to save a preview and check the available formats before buying.
As to why Kobo CS is saying that it’s an ePub3 problem, I don’t know. I assume it’s because they’re incompetent but perhaps that’s because it reflects most of my experience in dealing with them. Kobo are fine (and their coupons are AWESOME) as long as any involvement with their CS is extremely limited.
People more in the know about tech than I am are telling me that ePub3 *can* be downloaded and ultimately, the books which can’t be downloaded are KePub books. However if we are all wrong and it is an ePub3 problem, the fact remains that one needs to check before buying, if one wants to download books purchased from Kobo.
@Michela: I’m sorry Michela. I’m not sure I can help you. If you look at your library on your desktop PC and if the “Download Options” are EPUB (DRM free) or ADOBE DRM EPUB or even ADOBE DRM PDF you should be able to download them. If the format is blank, then they can’t be downloaded without using an obok script. I’ve never used an obok script. The forum at Mobile Reads may be able to help further. Best of luck.
I’ve been playing with several ebooks that do not have an EPUB download option. So far, the consistent item is that when you look at the content.opf , you will see version=3.0, This means the ebook is proclaiming itself to be an epub3 ebook and Kobo’s policy at this point seems to be to not make them available for download as epub.
Kobo ereaders have two renderers, one based on the Adobe RMSDK which allows reading epub v2.01 epubs including Adobe Adept DRMed epubs and the ACCESS Netfront renderer which is epub3 compliant and is used for .kepub.epub ebooks with or without Kobo’s proprietary DRM.
So far, few of the “epub3” ebooks I’ve seen use enough epub3 features to deserve the name. One exception was a cookbook I purchased which is a fixed layout (FLO) epub which looked pretty decent in Kobo’s desktop app, on a Kobo ereader and using the Readium Chrome addin. Using ADE, the displayed pages were unreadable.
@David: That’s interesting. Thx for passing that on David. Perhaps it is an ePub3 compatibility issue. Do you happen to know how other etailers are dealing with it? So far as I know, only Kobo is having difficulties. I could buy Lead by Kylie Scott from All Romance eBooks (which is only available there in secure ePub format and which I couldn’t download from Kobo so I got a refund) (I already re-bought it from Amazon so I didn’t actually test buy it from ARe). I know it’s not geo restricted. I’ve had no difficulty downloading ePub books from All Romance eBooks or Smashwords or other etailers (publisher sites such as Samhain for example) but I don’t know if they were ePub3 or not.
Thank you so much for the link to the place where I can find the plugin. I’ve been meaning to do that ever since I got a Kobo kepub a few months ago.
FYI another way to deal with Kobo is via Twitter. Their chat was unavailable on a Sunday night and the call-back person never called back, so I hollered on Twitter the next morning and the @kobohelp person eventually refunded my purchase price back on my credit card and then gave me an additional $15 store credit on my Kobo account to make up for the trouble.
@mharvey816: They respond to you on Twitter? Well done you – they used to reply to me (not with anything useful) but now they don’t even do that! :D
I ran into this problem with Kobo myself and found it HUGELY frustrating when they tried to give me the spiel about “you can’t download this because it’s an epub3 book”. Which was _clearly_ wrong, because I was able to go right over to B&N, buy the exact same book, and download that.
But now I’ve seen that B&N’s gone and turned off download links on EVERYTHING in my library, which is hugely frustrating as well, because yeah, I’m a reader who likes to back up copies of her books into Calibre.
My only options at this point, moving forward, appear to be to find where the B&N and Kobo apps save files locally on my Mac–or else to buy directly from publishers that let you download from their sites.
@Angela Korra’ti (Highland): Hi Angela. Nate at The Digital Reader was reporting yesterday that Kobo have committed to fixing what they’re calling a “bug” in their system and they are committed to enabling their customers to back up their books and read on any device they like. There’s no time frame on the fix, but it’s a promising start.
In the meantime, there’s a link in the ETA part of the above post which goes to The Digital Reader where you can find a link to Calibre plugin which works with the Kobo Desktop app to convert kepub books into epub. Good luck!
@Kaetrin: Thanks for that! I was googling around some on the matter tonight and had in fact found the post you mention. If Kobo moves forward with that, that’ll be promising. I’d LIKE to not have to bail on Kobo, since I really appreciate their partnership with my local indie bookstore.
And I did read the bit about the plugin–only problem there is that I’m a Mac user, and it was talking about that plugin working for the PC edition of Calibre. I don’t have free cycles to test it against my Mac install of Calibre right now, trying to finish up a book that’s overdue to my editor! But I will be keeping an eye out for further developments. :)
@Angela Korra’ti (Highland):
Calibre plugins are python scripts and OS agnostic so there is no difference between Windows and Mac when it comes to plugins. I tested the plugin under Calibre 2.4 running under OS X 10.9.5 in a virtual machine and there were no issues that I saw.
One item to remember is that earlier versions of obok and the Calibre plugin will only display kepubs with DRM.
Regards,
@David: Awesome, thank you. :) I hadn’t dug into a plugin like that before, but I can work with Python; I code in it in my day job. Good to know!