Picture
A few weeks ago, I bought a kobo e-reader because my favorite Borders store was going out of business (sad face) and the kobos were discounted. I’d always assumed I’d get a nook because the ability to check books out of the library was a major sticking point for me. You can’t do that with a Kindle. Nook has more of the market share than Kobo, but you know me. I can’t pass up a good deal.

I also liked that the kobo had one hundred classics preloaded onto the device. The books are in the public domain, so I can get them free anyway, but I’m lazy. I’m all about less work for Jamie. A few of my favorites, like Anne of Green Gables, were included, along with some I’ve always meant to read, but never got around to like Pride and Prejudice.

But that’s not really the point of this post.

The point is to talk about how much I love the Internet and how it kept me from throwing the kobo across the room after I bought it.

So. I plug the kobo into the computer and it starts charging right away. Great. But I can tell that the computer isn’t recognizing the e-reader.  There’s a nifty starter’s guide that tells me what to do when the computer recognizes the kobo, but nothing on how to get the computer to recognize it. I unplug it and plug it back in. Still charging, but no recognition.

Sigh. Off to the Interwebs I go. I type in “computer not recognizing Kobo.” Turns out I’m not the only one to experience this problem. The fix was really quite simple. Apparently, I’m just supposed to know that I have to press “Manage library” on the device’s screen to get the computer to recognize the Kobo.

Alrighty then. It would have been nice for them to include this in the instructions, but whatever.

I do that and all is right with the world. The included instructions now actually work and the Borders app is downloaded onto my computer.

Next step: library usage. After a little drama with getting my library card renewed (why can’t things ever be simple?), I go to the city’s library website and follow the instructions to download Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). When I do this and set up my ADE account, ADE is supposed to recognize the kobo and I have to log on to kobo through ADE, so they’re linked to the same account. Or something like that. I notice there are no instructions on how to do this on the library website or on the kobo website (even though they both say this is an important step), but I’m determined. No machine is going to beat me!

Anywho, I downloaded a book from the library. Very easy. My automatically kobo shows up in ADE. I find that a little strange, but I tell myself, “Maybe it’s not that hard. Everything doesn’t have to be hard.” I drag the book to the kobo symbol in ADE like the instructions say. “That’s it?,” I think to myself.

I turn on the kobo, which recognizes the book. I select the book and it starts to open it. But wait, what’s that? “The contents you are trying to view are blocked.”

What the frickety frack?!

 I knew it was too good to be true.

I try to copy the book to the kobo again, but no luck.

I know it has something to do with ADE and the kobo not being linked to the same account, but I was never given the option to link them to the same account. ADE automatically recognized the ereader when I opened the program.

Double sigh. Off to the Interwebs I go again. I type in “kobo locked.” Turns out I’m not the only one to experience this problem. One person suggested checking the settings on the device to make sure the date and time were correct. I check and sure enough the date is wrong. That’ll fix it, right? Wrong. Still locked. The next person suggested restoring the kobo’s factory defaults, syncing it through the Borders app, and then opening ADE.

I did this and voila, what does ADE do? It asks if I want to link my Kobo to the ADE account. Why yes, yes I do.

I’m feeling good now. I copy the book to the Kobo, unplug the ereader, and try to open the book. And it works!

Eureka!    

The Internet saved a kobo’s life. It deserves a medal.

P. S. Despite the setup troubles, I really like the kobo. It’s so light and thin. I have a small, but junky purse. The ereader slid right on in with no problems unlike books. Also, reading on it is easy and so is navigating the device.

I'm not ready to abandon print books, but I do think the kobo is a nice companion to the print books.

4 Comments