I got a Kobo Elipsa2e and I hate it. No way to sync highlights on PC or phone...

[ReaderMan]

I am thinking of either returning this Kobo or if that doesnt work, sell it at a loss and then get a Kindle Scribe 1st gen, because apparently it can sync sideloaded ebooks, while the Kobo just doesnt want to. It has Google Drive, but no way to upload your books on it and read them there....
I have a few questions for you guys, and honestly should've posted here first, instead of Reddit, because it seems this forum is more dedicated than the ones on there.

1. First of all, do you have to pay Amazon to sync your sideloaded ebooks on other devices? Or does it just work? I will read mostly mobi and azw books, converting with Calibre via send to device, assuming that works well. Some PDF's but I can just export those with the annotations, it's fine. Except one user told me that the Kindle only syncs epubs and pdfs, but I didn't know that Kindle works with epub, so that's kind of confusing to me. How plug and play is the Kindle sync method? Does it work well?
2. Is there really no way to sync ebooks on the Elipsa? Or at least download them IN book? Not even with Koreader? Is there any way to at least copy the kepub files from the Koreader in a way that some app on the PC or phone may be able to read them WITH the annotations and the highlights(mostly highlights is what interests me, because I need to study for exams and just looking at my highlights helps me A LOT)? Or no?
3. I want to see my annotations and highlights IN BOOK, does the Scribe do that? Because I can download my annotations with Calibre, but they show separately, not naturally, alongside the rest of the book. If I could somehow get Calibre to transfer the book with the annotations, highlights, bookmarks still in there, but readable on the PC, I probably wouldn't need to switch to the Kindle.
4. Are there any down sides to getting a Kindle vs a Kobo apart from the ecosystem, which to me doesn't seem like a drawback anyway?

I'm pretty new with ereaders so don't assume I know a lot of the things you guys know... Some things may be obvious to you, but not to me, obviously, since I thought any ereader has the sync feature...

[Quoth]

Sync to what? Amazon only syncs to other Amazon. An app on phone or PC isn't much use really if you are reading on ereader and wanting your annotations for some purpose/

The most useful thing is EXPORT of highlights & annotations, also setting ebook metadata. Kobo does that better than Amazon.

I've had Kobo & Amazon. I've multiple devices I manage with Calibre. I personally find no value in Sync compared to export.

The Scribe is a very walled garden and MTP, so more locked to Amazon than other Kindles. Amazon has a tendency to accidentally delete sideloaded content.

[ReaderMan]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Sync to what? Amazon only syncs to other Amazon. An app on phone or PC isn't much use really if you are reading on ereader and wanting your annotations for some purpose/

The most useful thing is EXPORT of highlights & annotations, also setting ebook metadata. Kobo does that better than Amazon.

I've had Kobo & Amazon. I've multiple devices I manage with Calibre. I personally find no value in Sync compared to export.

The Scribe is a very walled garden and MTP, so more locked to Amazon than other Kindles. Amazon has a tendency to accidentally delete sideloaded content.

I mean, the fact that you can see your book with highlights on it, means you can can also see the rest of the page, which means it is an amazing learning tool. Having just the extracted highlights without seeing the rest of the page is kind of....useless, at least for learning. Sure, you can ultimately search, like it's 1995, for the words and you get to the same place on the PC, but it just takes far longer. Also the Kindle has an even better export system for the sideloaded content accesed through send to Kindle. I just realized that now, with my old Kindle, never used that feature. On the Kobo you get Koreader without jailbreaking which will be next to impossible on the Scribe, so there are tradeoffs, but let's not pretend that exporting is the same as sync.
I just dont get why there isnt a software that can just do this very job: extract the files WITH the annotations and highlights built in and just work. Or at least one that can mash up the html from the extracted ones and the ebook file and have them work.
Although yes, I agree with you about Kindle products ultimately belonging to Amazon and they could just pull the plug on sideloading content alltogether, because they are Amazon and I don't like being walled in, but lately, with epub working with send to Kindle, it seems they are going in the opossite direction.

[Quoth]

Kindle is worse for export.

What are you learning and why is it needed on another app/ereader?

Calibre and Kobo Built in menu option DO export highlight, annotation, position etc. Possible with Kindle to.
Some put it in a Calibre column. Some people copy/paste to a text file.


Sync and export are different. I find zero value in sync and great value with export.

Send To Kindle is very limited and insecure. Limited in format and size. Insecure because Amazon gets a copy forever. It needs the Internet TWICE.

I only use the internet once with ebooks, to save on computer and backup and import to Calibre.
The Kindles & Kobos don't get connected to Internet.
My phones & Tablets only get ebooks via Calibre. Internet usage on them is never ebook related except for local public library (I hardly use it as my TBR pile is huge).

[Quoth]

I've never ever found highlighting to be a learning tool.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by ReaderMan

I am thinking of either returning this Kobo or if that doesnt work, sell it at a loss and then get a Kindle Scribe 1st gen, because apparently it can sync sideloaded ebooks, while the Kobo just doesnt want to.

IIRC, Amazon and Pocketbook are the only two major brands that have a sync system for content that is not bought from their store. Amazon's is through their Whispersync service where you upload your content with Send to Kindle.

It has Google Drive, but no way to upload your books on it and read them there....

Kobo has official support for Google Drive to get content onto your ereader, but it does not have a way to sync progress for that content.

1. First of all, do you have to pay Amazon to sync your sideloaded ebooks on other devices? Or does it just work?

No fees, generally. There used to be fees for devices that had cellular connectivity but most of those are offline due to the near global 3G shutdowns. Any loading/sync of Personal Documents over WiFi is free.

I will read mostly mobi and azw books, converting with Calibre via send to device, assuming that works well.

Skip MOBI. It's ancient and limited and hasn't been needed on a Kindle made in well over a decade. Use AZW3 for direct loading on to the Kindle, and keep EPUB for uploading with Send to Kindle. Note that content you load over USB will not sync progress, only StK uploads.

Some PDF's but I can just export those with the annotations, it's fine. Except one user told me that the Kindle only syncs epubs and pdfs, but I didn't know that Kindle works with epub, so that's kind of confusing to me. How plug and play is the Kindle sync method? Does it work well?

There are multiple systems on the Kindle Scribe that you need to keep mentally separate. Send to Kindle is docs like any other Kindle, except fixed format documents can be written on. Those annotations don't sync to non-Scribe Kindles, but you can export your annotated documents via email to get to them outside of Amazon.

Notebooks on the Scribe are completely separate from the rest of the Kindle ecosystem and work completely different than document uploads. Notebooks are freehand writing only, on top of Amazon-provided templates only. There are no structured drawing tools at all, only copy/cut/paste.

3. I want to see my annotations and highlights IN BOOK, does the Scribe do that? Because I can download my annotations with Calibre, but they show separately, not naturally, alongside the rest of the book. If I could somehow get Calibre to transfer the book with the annotations, highlights, bookmarks still in there, but readable on the PC, I probably wouldn't need to switch to the Kindle.

The Scribe does highlights and notes on ebooks just like every other Kindle, only adding the ability to make handwritten Sticky Notes in the same place that other Kindles can only do typed.

Some things may be obvious to you, but not to me, obviously, since I thought any ereader has the sync feature...

Like I wrote earlier, most brands don't have user-content sync. It's best to approach devices without expectations on what they can do. Only expect features that are clearly specified. Similar to how quite a few people assume any USB-C port could have all sorts of features and functions, yet the base spec is only 5v@3A of power and USB 2.0 data, nothing more. USB 3 speeds, video out, audio out, Thunderbolt, etc. are all optional and up to the device maker to include or not.

[ReaderMan]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I've never ever found highlighting to be a learning tool.

You've never bookmarked a paper book? Never added colour coded tabs to books? Never highlighted text using crayons? What?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ReaderMan

You've never bookmarked a paper book? Never added colour coded tabs to books? Never highlighted text using crayons? What?

I've never done any of those things.

[Kindleing]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I've never done any of those things.

I did all of those things a long time ago in college - long before the days of personal computers, much less ereaders. I believe that's what the OP is talking about; annotating academic texts while taking formal classes somewhere. I have to think what he wants to do would be a huge benefit during any non-trivial study.

Simply put, all the OP is asking is can an ebook be annotated in some ereader, and then the same ebook opened in an app on a different device - like a computer - and see the same markups as they appear on the reader.

Unfortunately, I have no clue how he can accomplish that goal. I don't know anything about the new ereaders like the Scribe, but from what I've gathered here on MR it probably won't work. Numerous threads here make me believe retrieving user-enterered information *in context* seems to not be possible with any of them, including Amazons, unless it is an identical model device. And maybe not even then.

It's the same problem that caused Amazon to pay off the high school student back in the 1984 deletion fiasco years ago. The student was doing a school report on 1984 and when Amazon deleted the book all his notes and reference links were broken - he had the notes but totally without context. Which made them useless.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ReaderMan

You've never bookmarked a paper book? Never added colour coded tabs to books? Never highlighted text using crayons? What?

Only a single bookmark, which might be anything to hand, though I've some from the book depository. I've used string, tissue, ribbon, scrap of paper, folded post-it note etc and even a thin cup mat, because I'd not set a book open upside down.

I've used hiighlighters and ball point pen in the olden days when proofing technical docs and years ago for novels. Now I proof & annotate (with text) on a Sage and import to text editor via Calibre. My Elipsa is boxed up to give away or sell. Too heavy for novels and not good enough for PDFs. The Notebooks work better on Sage, but I no long use the Nebo Notebooks on Kobo Sage either, just read & annotate text. I use TCL nxtpaper 11 for notebooks and PDFs and it's so good I got a Nxtpaper 40 phone (not 5G model).

I've loads of eink, (one Android, also had/have Nook, iRiver, Sony, Kindle, Kobo), phones, tablets, computers etc. I do backups, but don't use Sync.

My exported annotations have the context of the book, chapter, % in book and the highlight. I make sure to highlight plenty. They were copy/pasted into Notepad++ (tab per file and sessions) but now KATE.

[lumping-sugar66]

Isn't there an Export Highlights function in default Kobo reader?
Anyway, there's also the annotations plugin for calibre will let you import your highlights from your book to calibre. I have ever only used annotations on one book, but I read it on default kobo reader so I know it works.

See the attached picture.

And I think with KOReader, you can sync metadata, across multiple devices using KOReader Sync. The developer enabled that feature 2 weeks ago. You still need Calibre to be your middleman and keep everything in sync.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ReaderMan

You've never bookmarked a paper book? Never added colour coded tabs to books? Never highlighted text using crayons? What?

Even when I was at university, I never found that bookmarks, colour coded tabs or highlighting text with a marker worked for me. Some friends of mine swore by their techniques but for me, simply reviewing the text and my notes was the best technique for learning.

Even on my ereaders, the only highlighting I do is to mark errors for correction. Even though I could export them, I find using a stand to hold the ereader next to my computer keyboard and stepping through list works for me.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by lumping-sugar66

Isn't there an Export Highlights function in default Kobo reader?

Yes, but all it does is export the text you highlighted with no reference to where that text was within the book.