I’m looking for an eReader that doesn’t lock me into a particular ecosystem or format. Ideally I came just copy files over to it and have them work.
Other than that, small physical dimensions and a backlight would be great!
It’s been years since I had one but in the market again and I’m not sure the current state of things. My old one was a Kobo and took files just fine.
I still see Kobo recommended these days, so an upgrade might be a good option for you. I use a Kindle, but that obviously locks you in with Amazon. I wish I’d have gotten a Kobo myself.
I use a Kindle, but that obviously locks you in with Amazon.
On my old Kindle I could connect it to USB and put any books I wanted on it. It supports TXT and MOBI on top of AZW. Is that no longer the case for newer Kindle models?
I’m not sure. Sounds like I have a project to try this weekend!
Can you read books checked out from libby on kobo?
My daughter reads a lot of books checked out via overdrive on her kobo (in Canada), though the search feature on the kobo itself is kind of garbage. We have better luck doing a search with the Libby app on a phone, checking it out, then syncing the kobo.
I use a Kindle myself (purchased on one of the good sales for roughly half price), though primarily via epub files transferred to the Kindle using Calibre. It’s a busy UI, but it does work well and has lots of features. Pretty good as an archive of your ebook library.
It occasionally takes some doing, but my wife does! She reads lots of Libby on Kobo and even manga from Libby.
I’m not sure if it’s the same everywhere but in Canada you can for sure. Kindle has a very slightly better selection (small press horror lit tends to be missing from Kobo) but doesn’t support Overdrive here.
This makes it seem like you can, but I don’t know for sure.
https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/4477058367895-About-the-Libby-app**___**
That’s cool, I tried a kindle paperwhite, but returned it because I kept accidentally hitting that stupid power button they put on the bottom right where you hold it while reading.
Weird - literally never happened to me because I hold it 4 fingers on the back and thumb on the left edge.
Ha, yeah I do that all the time. I’m still considering switching to a Kobo once I read all the books in my queue.
I have a kobo Clara hd and it has the button on the bottom and i do this, its very annoying
I would agree with all the stay away from kindles comments, except for the real easy emailing of books to yourself thing. They’re recent acceptance of epubs of a compatible format combined with libgen means it’s super easy, and doesn’t require a laptop to transfer books.
I recommend checking out any of the Boox ereaders, if you’re looking for an ereader android tablet.
I currently use the Boox Nova Air and I love it, to bits! It has a 7.8in screen, that has warm and cool backlighting. It comes with a stylus, so you can take notes, do some journaling or even draw. I use my Nova air, primarily, to read manga on Tachiyomi app.
There is preinstalled app called BOOXDrop that allows you to select files from your computer or phone and send it to your ereader. I’ve used it a few times to put some ebooks in there, it wasn’t too bad.
Since Boox devices are android, you can pretty much download any app on google play store or you can side load any apks.
The apps I have installed on my device are: Tachiyomi, kindle, Libby, GDrive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Pocket, Foxit PDF reader and Firefox. I use to have Apollo app on there, but not anymore.
I also love that I can put any image as my screensaver, so it’s pretty cool to see wallpapers or screenshots from my favorite manga scenes on there when my device is on sleep mode.
There are newer Boox ereader devices that do color. Would be great for comics, magazines and textbooks. I personally haven’t tried them out yet but I’d love to get one, one day.
If you’re looking for something more basic and intuitive to use, I also recommend the kindle, 11th generation (2022). It’s small, 6in and very light. I still use mine often when reading my kindle collection. I just love how pocketable it is.
I second Boox as a decent option (though less polished.) Allowed me to get rid of my dumbass Kindle and Kobo dual set up because if there was a book that was exclusively on the Kindle store I can now just get it in the app rather than owning a whole other ereader. The only thing I don’t like about it is it is not as good as either Kobo or Kindle for dictionary lookups. This is especially important to me because I read in foreign languages and need it to be able to either give me a definition or translate it no matter how it’s conjugated. I have found the Kindle app for Android though works pretty well for that purpose so there is an ok solution.
If you want to break free of an ecosystem / format you can go to a brand like Boox or Pocketbook. I have a pocketbook and like it, but some people think they are klunky/laggy (I wanted a smaller, water resistant reader).
I moved away from Amazon because I didn’t like the idea that they could delete or change a book I had paid for and I hated the ads for books/store on my e-reader.
If you go this route you will likely need to get Calibre free software to load books on your reader, so it does depend on how technical you are prepared to be. Not a steep learning curve but there are some recommended plugins, especially if you want to move books that you have bought on the Kindle Ecosystem. You can also go deeper and do things like have the software auto-estimate page # and reading difficulty, as well as implement tagging/organization systems, change/optimize covers, etc.
Cool, Pocketbook Touch Lux 5 looks pretty good, since it’s the smallest one. But water resistance is a good idea, that’s why my kobo stopped working actually. And I can’t see anything on that model about water resistance. Which did you get?
I got the Pocketbook Touch HD 3
I second Pocketbook.
I’ve actually been looking into this myself, and Kobo seems like the most ‘open’ option. The Libra 2 in particular fit my requirements for size and features. It supports quite a few ebook formats but I think it’s limited to Kobo’s own audiobooks only.
If anyone has one I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
Got one today actually and after removing the DRM from my kindle books. I loaded it up in 2 seconds. I also installed the Amazon and Google ereader fonts because I love Bookerly. It’s great so far. Feels nice to hold. It’s snappy. 32GB of storage.
Unfortunately at the moment it does only support Kobo audiobooks but it does let you use Libby and borrow ebooks/audiobooks from your local library. I usually use Audible on my phone anyway so I’m not really bothered by that. Would be nice to have though.
Screen is just as good as my Paperwhite with a better eye-comfort mode.
My only annoyance so far is that it’s frozen twice which required a reboot. This might be because I’ve been using I a lot today and connecting and disconnecting from my laptop etc but it’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on.
Edit: hasn’t frozen again in the entire time since.
