kobo

There are a lot of choices out there for iPhone/Android ebook reading.  You can load up the Amazon App, the Sony Reader App (well assuming they are allowed to sell the app) or whatever comes native.  However all of these options (plus others too) leave you a little bit boxed in for my liking.  I decided to see what I could do to create my own Ebook-ish app.

 I was doing some book shopping and I said to myself: "Hmmm, I'm in the mood for Canadian Young Adult Science Fiction..."  This looked pretty neat:

Originally aired in Fall 2010 IASC 2P60/APCO 2P60: "Web 2.0 Content, Construction, Collaboration"

It has now become apparent to me that I am suffering from a case of Early Adopter Fail. To prove how cutting edge my technology purchases are, I made a choice early on about what Ebook reader I would purchase.  About 4ish months after purchasing the Kobo I now find myself hopelessly cast into the land of misfit gadgets with the recent news of the upcoming Kobo 2 Ebook reader.

 It's no secret that I am a Kobo Fanboy.  I've blogged about it a few times before.  What drew me to in the first place... Well price first and foremost.  All's I needed was an ebook reader, no embedded mp3 player, no wi-fi interface, no automatic transmission and comfort package.  Just the basics.  Kobo had that covered.

The ebook scene is a different animal then the music scene.  Name an album and I can almost guarantee that you we'll be able to find an illicit copy of it somewhere.  Conversely name a book.  Let's say a current book on the Globe and Mail best seller list.  Now, I can almost guarantee you that you'll be hard pressed to find an illicit copy of that book somewhere. The genie is out of the bottle on the MP3 scene but content providers aren't letting the same thing happen with the EPUB scene.  Why?  DRM mostly but I'm also guessing other facts play a part: market fragmentation, pirates don't read, lack of a clear winner in the ebook file format wars... but I digress.

This brief tutorial will show you how to add ebook content from your local public library to your Kobo ebook reader.  I wanted to show this for two reason:

1. I haven't seen this complete set of instructions anywhere else.
2. To illustrate how cumbersome the process is, thereby demonstrating how DRM is hindering the proliferation of ebooks.  (Imagine if mp3's were so locked down in 1999, no one would bother owning an iPod)

I'll be demonstrating with the St. Catharines Public Library Digtial Media Collection: http://overdrive.stcatharines.library.on.ca/.  This platform is based on the Overdrive Media system.  Since I just bought my Kobo, that'll be the ebook reader.

I waited and studied the market before I made the decision on the Kobo Ebook Reader.  Here is the short list of why I chose it:

• Price Point - at 150 CAD it is the best deal
• Supports ePub and PDF - All those Gutenberg books load up without a problem
• Come pre-packed with a bunch of out of copyright books (some that you'd actually read)