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E-Reader recommendations

Hi,

My Kindle won't boot anymore and keeps getting stuck in boot screen, so I thought this might be a good time to get away from Amazon, even though that device was great.

So, what non-kindle readers would you recommend?

It should have color and background light and it shouldn't be huge so I can keep it in the back pocket.

And, since I don't have any experience outside the Amazon ecosystem: how is the experience of buying and transferring books to non Kindle readers?

53 comments
  • I use a Kobo, sideloaded with KoReader. I use Calibre to manage my ebooks, which takes a bit of a learning curve, but is definitely worth learning!

  • The Kobo is great. Very moddable, you can set it up in sideload mode so you never even need to register for an account, just move files to it via USB.

  • I've heard Kobo makes good ereaders and they have cool stuff like library integration. I'm very happy with my Kindle Oasis (because I largely ignore the Amazon ecosystem 🏴‍☠️), but if I had to replace it I would probably look at Kobo.

  • I have a boox for bigger screen reading and a Hisense touch for on the go. I like them both. Wish I could more easily tweak the boox, and wish I could more easily ditch all the vendor crapware off the Hisense, but they do their jobs well enough. Hisense gets bonus points for being a hi-fi device that can drive my IEMs.

  • I'd recommend a Kobo Clara. They do do a colour variant but the next part of my recommendation might not be able to cope with it, I don't know.

    That next part is KOReader - you can install it 'over the top' of the standard Clara software so it becomes the working environment. Its got so many pluses I don't have time to list them all but it plays nice with Calibre, you can SSH to it, FTP to it, even access it from some cloud services. I can't say if it supports colour or not though as I don't use a colour Clara.

    Transferring your current collection is probably a non-starter due to the recent limitations Amazon have put on downloading files. Getting new ebooks is up to you, there's loads of both legal and not so legal places to source books from, depending on how you feel about DRM.

    In terms of transferring books - as well as the ways I mentioned above it also supports OPDS and of course standard USB cabled transfers too.

  • Im running a Kobo Libra Colour before that an old model Kindle that crapped itself.

    Lots to like

    Things I don't like

    • No charging LED so you know when it's fully charged
    • My books are sidleloaded from Calibre and 70% of the time when i go to start reading a book that I'm part way through, it opens on a different page , often 20-40 pages away, so much confusion. Not sure if it also does this to books sourced from the Kobo bookstore, or its a Calibre thing
    • Used to piss me off the power button being on the back, flip the cover over to read, it covers the power button. Put the Libra down, come back to it, the kobo cover covered the power switch, DOH! . They have since allowed a work around in the firmware where you can press the page turn button to restart reading, so it's no longer really an issue.
  • I think Kobo is the best choice, I use it since 10 years with Calibre.

  • I have used PocketBook touch lux 5 but the screen cracked twice. (User error but still, screen is a weak link)

    KoReader made it so snapy I couldn't believe it at first.

    Now I have got kindle as I received it as a gift, so I jailbroke it and also installed KoReader on it.

  • If you are looking at the onyx boox leaf range, I think a new one is being announced in the next week or so... May be worth holding out if you can.

  • I literally just got a Kobo Libra Colour a few days ago. Works great so far. I wouldn't recommend it for your back pocket though, too large for that. I think they offer smaller e-readers, but I'm not sure which ones might fit well in a pocket.

  • I just use an old Kindle, but I'm considering buying an SPC Dickens Light 2 Pro. They're sold out, right now.

  • i have a kobo libra 2 and it's served me very well. I sail the high seas for most of my books and I haven't had any issues at all loading content onto it, it's always fast and responsive, and I cannot understate how nice having physical page turn buttons is. highly recommend if you can find one, though theyve been mostly discontinued to make room for the color model that came out recently (would not recommend the color version, color e-ink is very hit or miss right now and it's not worth the screen quality trade-off).

53 comments