A Humble Bundle partnership with Kobo? 39 Terry Pratchet books! Ends tomorrow.

[Cootey]

A friend showed this to me, but there’s only one day left on the bundle: Terry Pratchet’s Discworld https://www.humblebundle.com/books/t...h6zig*_up*MQ..

This is a partnership between Harper Collins and Humble Bundle made possible with the Kobo US store. Usually HB downloads are a mess. The naming conventions on the titles don’t match, some are missing book covers, not every book is available in every format, and if you batch download from their site, you’ll likely be missing some books. Depending on how large the bundle is, that can be a very big pain. Never mind that they have torrents for each individual book instead of having one torrent for the entire collection.

Now the process is simpler. Purchase the bundle, copy your provided key, then click on a link after your purchase. On Kobo’s site, you manually select all the books listed on the page. (There is no Select All option, so be thorough. If you fail to select a book, it won’t be redeemed.) Input your key. And tada! 39 books appear in your collection instantly.

I’ve made an archived backup of my purchase already with the help of Calibre.

The bundle sale ends tomorrow. US Only.

Personally, I’d like to see more official bundles like this. Apparently, I missed a Daw books bundle sold the same way.

[Sirtel]

That seems to be only available in the US.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That seems to be only available in the US.

Ah! Thanks for catching that. I’ll make a note of it up top.

Won’t it still work for you if you switch Kobo stores?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Cootey

Ah! Thanks for catching that. I’ll make a note of it up top.

Won’t it still work for you if you switch Kobo stores?

It might, but I'm not sure whether I want to bother (I'd have to use a VPN at Humble Bundle in the first place). I'll think on it a bit.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It might, but I'm not sure whether I want to bother (I'd have to use a VPN at Humble Bundle in the first place). I'll think on it a bit.

Right. I’m in the US and I can access the HB website just fine. It would make sense that you’d need a VPN if they locked people out based on geolocation.

The Kobo 𝕏 account constantly advertises sales that are Canada only. In fact, I don’t recall them ever advertising a sale for the US store, which says to me that the account is Canadian based. These region only sales can be very frustrating.

Just out of curiosity, what happens when you visit humble bundle? Are you unable to purchase their bundles because you’re not in the states?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Cootey

Right. I’m in the US and I can access the HB website just fine. It would make sense that you’d need a VPN if they locked people out based on geolocation.

The Kobo 𝕏 account constantly advertises sales that are Canada only. In fact, I don’t recall them ever advertising a sale for the US store, which says to me that the account is Canadian based. These region only sales can be very frustrating.

Just out of curiosity, what happens when you visit humble bundle? Are you unable to purchase their bundles because you’re not in the states?

I can visit them and buy from them just fine. I can't use the promotion you posted without a VPN; when I click on the link, I get the message "this promotion is not available in your region".

I guess I could possibly use it with a VPN and PayPal, but I'm not a particularly huge Pratchett fan, and I'm not sure if the books would even be available to me later in the Kobo store without jumping through some hoops again. If I were a Discworld fanatic, I'd probably try, but I'm not really.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Cootey

Ah! Thanks for catching that. I’ll make a note of it up top.

Won’t it still work for you if you switch Kobo stores?

No, you need to have a USA IP for that offer on Humble Bundle and they may detect some kinds of VPN.

Switching Kobo to USA just needs PayPal and a USA address, they don't seem to care about IP.

IP Geolocation is next to evilness of DVD /BD region locking or DRM as the database of locations vs IP addresses could be wrong and these ought to be private anyway. WhoIS is now mostly private and that should always have needed a warrant/court order as should IP location, not just who used it when (which needs a Court Order here).

[Cootey]

The bundle is over, but it was an interesting experience. I hope they do more like that. Aside from having to manually select each book individually, the process was painless from stateside. It is nice having all the books with covers and proper titles, unlike other bundles I’ve purchased.

If HumbleBundle checks for IP, then changing Kobo’s default country AND using a VPN are likely the only way to get in on future deals.

If you’re seeing less Whois info, it’s likely because the domain holders are paying extra for privacy. It’s a scam IMO. I agree that privacy should be by default.

[Aleron Ives]

The Tad Williams bundle also used Kobo, but it wasn't restricted to US customers, so you may not have to jump through hoops for future bundles.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Cootey

A friend showed this to me, but there’s only one day left on the bundle: Terry Pratchet’s Discworld https://www.humblebundle.com/books/t...h6zig*_up*MQ..

This is a partnership between Harper Collins and Humble Bundle made possible with the Kobo US store. Usually HB downloads are a mess. The naming conventions on the titles don’t match, some are missing book covers, not every book is available in every format, and if you batch download from their site, you’ll likely be missing some books. Depending on how large the bundle is, that can be a very big pain. Never mind that they have torrents for each individual book instead of having one torrent for the entire collection.

Now the process is simpler. Purchase the bundle, copy your provided key, then click on a link after your purchase. On Kobo’s site, you manually select all the books listed on the page. (There is no Select All option, so be thorough. If you fail to select a book, it won’t be redeemed.) Input your key. And tada! 39 books appear in your collection instantly.

I’ve made an archived backup of my purchase already with the help of Calibre.

The bundle sale ends tomorrow. US Only.

Personally, I’d like to see more official bundles like this. Apparently, I missed a Daw books bundle sold the same way.

Members need to start visiting the Deals and Resources forum on a regular basis. There were suggestions on how to get the Bundle. AND, through the kindness of member Fbone, any members left out of the loop (living on Barsoom, for example..or visiting Lord Greystoke in his natural habitat) could have had it.

You were able to get it, right?

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Cootey

The bundle is over, but it was an interesting experience. I hope they do more like that. Aside from having to manually select each book individually, the process was painless from stateside. It is nice having all the books with covers and proper titles, unlike other bundles I’ve purchased.

The bundle still shows 5 hours to go for me, interestingly...

I personally wish they'd stick with DRM-free EPUBs like past bundles, personally. I guess HarperCollins wasn't willing to do that. Past bundles through Tor have done it, since their stuff is DRM-free anyway. But all requiring a Kobo account did was make a bunch of people angry at Kobo that they needed to sign up for an account to get their books.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

But all requiring a Kobo account did was make a bunch of people angry at Kobo that they needed to sign up for an account to get their books.

It's not like it was a secret that you needed Kobo for the bundle. Always look at how you redeem a bundle before you buy it.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Members need to start visiting the Deals and Resources forum on a regular basis. There were suggestions on how to get the Bundle. AND, through the kindness of member Fbone, any members left out of the loop (living on Barsoom, for example..or visiting Lord Greystoke in his natural habitat) could have had it.

You were able to get it, right?

Yes. All 39 books. The collection is missing only two that I can tell, one of which isn’t currently available anywhere as an ebook.

I haven’t wandered into Deals and Resources in a long minute. I’ll have to check it out again. Thanks for the reminder! I don’t see a problem mentioning the bundle specifically here in the Kobo forum, though. I hope some people found it useful.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

The Tad Williams bundle also used Kobo, but it wasn't restricted to US customers, so you may not have to jump through hoops for future bundles.

I missed that one, too! It’s good to know that not all bundles sold this way will be regionally locked. Thanks

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

The bundle still shows 5 hours to go for me, interestingly...

I personally wish they'd stick with DRM-free EPUBs like past bundles, personally. I guess HarperCollins wasn't willing to do that. Past bundles through Tor have done it, since their stuff is DRM-free anyway. But all requiring a Kobo account did was make a bunch of people angry at Kobo that they needed to sign up for an account to get their books.

They got angry at Kobo? They should direct their anger towards HarperCollins instead, but life is too short to get angry about ebooks.

I agree with you about DRM-free bundles. DRM is sure annoying, but fortunately there are ways to circumvent it to make legal backups of our purchases. However, I have to admit that I enjoyed the partnership precisely because all my books instantly synced to my Kobos without any issues once I purchased the bundle.