[This is the fourth article in a series about migrating from Kindle to Kobo. You can find the earlier pieces here, here, and here.]

As soon as I got my Kobo, I installed the Kobo desktop app on my Mac.

What a mistake.

As far as I’ve been able to figure out, the app offers little more than the same bookstore you can access on the Kobo itself over Wifi. You can’t manage books you didn’t purchase from the Kobo store, nor can you control the e-reader. I’m not entirely sure what the point of this app is.

However, there is an app that integrates with a number of the DRM-enabled bookstores for .epub books. Further, if your library uses Overdrive to provide e-books (Seattle does), it’ll transfer those books to your Kobo too. It’s Adobe Digital Editions, and every Kobo owner should download a copy.

In fact, if you don’t have Amazon books to manage, and if all of your e-books are .epub or .pdf, you can manage all of your digital books in Adobe Digital Editions, and transfer them to your Kobo as well. It’s ugly, and DRM still makes me feel icky (especially after my Amazon experience), but ADE is indispensable.