E-ink is fantastic for reading and i wish the technology was more widely used .
this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
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E-readers have been one of the best investments I made. Started with the Kobo Libra H2O, moved on the Boox Air. For my personal needs it was a perfect upgrade, a reader and note taker all in one device
I have a Kobo Libre 2 and love it. I used to read physical books at night with a neck light to not bother my wife, but a back-lit e-reader is so much better and easier. I definitely read more just from convenience. Better to travel with too. I'm also dyslexic and the dyslexic font helps me read longer with less mental fatigue
I'm also dyslexic and the dyslexic font helps me read longer with less mental fatigue
Same. I definitely appreciate that it includes the OpenDyslexic font option. Have had decent luck just using the built-in serif font which helps a lot, but the dyslexic font is there when I need it.
E-Ink is actually magic.
Closest thing to magic I'll ever see, for sure.
E-ink is just a glorified Magna Doodle.
It's CNC magnadoodle, and it works fukkin great!
Do e-readers work with pdfs? I have various DnD books I've bought online and I'd love to be able to store them on one easily carry able device.
pdfs are usable but generally unsatisfactory on ereaders. there are various pdf to epub converters although i can't say how well they'd deal with the tables and graphics in those manuals
This one does, but not sure about in general.
Nice! I'll have to look into this. I love physical books but I'm running out of space 😭
I got a Kobo (which had been recommended to me multiple times over a Kindle), and I'm happy with it so far. A little limited in some areas, but you can copy any supported format over USB easy enough. Looking into alternate firmware that may open more doors, connectivity-wise.
If you are able to see up Calibre to manage your eBook library, you can set it up to sync your library to your kobo. I followed this guide when I set it up for my wife. It does mess up the shop on the device, but our way enough to get DRM free ebooks elsewhere and just sync it to the kobo
Oh, wow. Thanks! I didn't even know Calibre-web already had that. Was looking at a different sync hack that would let me use Nextcloud, but this is even better.
Edit: Just set that up, and seems to be syncing. Looks like it pulls everything? Was naively hoping it would present my library as the "store" lol.
Oh, no, nevermind. Just sync'd the metadata and the covers. Still have to download them. Nice!
Thanks for that!
You can also set it up to only sync certain "bookshelves' if you share a library or don't want to look at all the books on your kobo all the time
Ah, I see that option now (and the option for the shelves).
I may just leave it as "all" and keep the metadata for everything on hand and just download the full books on-demand. That way when I add new stuff, it'll automatically be available.
Check out annas-archive.org to get digital backups of books you already own that may be otherwise protected by drm. Definitely don't use it to pirate books. Piracy is bad.
Edit:
Also you can use calibre to manage your book library outside of various large book providers.
My ethics on piracy are it depends on who's profiting. If the original writer is dead and the estate is profiting like Tolkien, fuck em. If the book is good but the author sucks like Orson Scott Card, fuck em. A living writer who you want to keep writing books, go out and buy that shit or at least get it from Libby.
Also humble bundle is a great source for building a large legal library. Though sometimes they tie bundles to kobo which sucks. They didn't used to do that.
I can definitely get on board with this strategy, although I usually try to buy hard copies of the authors who are still kicking and writing.
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E-book readers are great. I prefer to read physical books, but for some of the older books that are difficult to find locally, I just get the ebook.
Still have a 15 old Sony Pocket reader, without wifi or any bells and whistles. Still work like a charm though, and battery life is still pretty good. Though, I didn't use it much for about 6-7 years in the middle, and then light use for 3-4 years, but still, something like that to last 15 years, and still keep working is so nice!
I think mine might be that old, Sony PRS-505. It's still in great shape with decent battery life (though the cover is massively flaking).
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I've had a Kindle Paperwhite for many years, and love it. I run a Calibre server at home (using https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web), which makes e-book management nice and easy.
I just wish Amazon didn't so thoroughly control the e-book reader and book market. I know there are other options, but there have been few in the past.
I've had my kindle paperwhite for over 12 years now. For some time I've been secretly wanting it to die so that I can replace it with a Kobo to be able to borrow books from the local libraries. But lately I became proud of how long it's been serving me, and just ordered a battery replacement.
I've had a Kindle paperwhite for multiple years now (7?) and I use Libby to check out books from my local libraries.
I got a Kobo based on prior recommendation and also run Calibre-Web, but I don't have (or haven't yet found) a way to connect the two. On my phone, I could browse Calibre via OPDS but haven't found a way to do that with the Kobo (yet?). It has a primitive web browser, but I couldn't get Calibre to load on it to try downloading books that way.
Ended up just downloading my books from Calibre-web to my laptop and shuffled them over USB. 🤷♂️
Had considered a Kindle but read that they were a hassle to load your own books onto, so went with something less beholden to the manufacturer.
If/when I upgrade, probably looking at something like the Scribe (or the Kobo equivalent) to also use for note taking.
I don't know about your specific model of kobo, but my Clara hd has a rudimentary web browser built-in, in a "Beta Features" menu.
It does, but it wouldn't load Calibre web. At they very least, it choked when it redirected to Authelia for login.
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They are just amazing aren't they? I got one with a colour E ink screen to read comics and it's just incredible
I will pay through the nose and be thrilled about it when Boox is able to get a 13" color reader out.
I love the pocketable 7" color go with page buttons, but I really want one the size of my max.
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I almost went for the color one, but got a "starter" one that's just black and white. I think it's a little smaller than the color model, too, which gives it a nice, paperback size to hold.
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I use a $20 Amazon tablet and it's just dandy. Worst tablet I've ever owned but it reads books no problem.
I love mine, too. It's nothing fancy, and is pretty old at this point. Maybe I should consider an upgrade.
Of course I can't mention it to anyone in person without them telling me how much they prefer reading "real books". It's no joke happened 100% of the time. I don't know why people feel required to reply that way.
Haha, I am one of those people. Never thought about like that. Though I go with "physical" not "real".
I understand the appeal of physical books. And in some ways, they are a better experience. It's just mildly annoying how predictable it is. I pretty much avoid talking about my e-reader at this point. I'd rather talk about titles and authors with my friends who read anyway.
Yeah, I don't care about much about how you read, it's so rare for me to meet people who love reading. So after the initial "I prefer physical books" thing, we just move on to what we read and like.
What I really miss is the browsing. There's no similar experience to just wandering a section of a big library/bookstore and seeing what looks interesting.
I definitely prefer custom fonts and the ability to use a size that fits more than 3 paragraphs on a page though. And having whatever book I want on hand immediately.
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