My next Ereader is going to be a Kobo. I have the 10 inch “Ellipsa” that is their take on the dedicated tablet. Realized I preferred a bullet journal more.
Now if Mr. Ternus were to get really weird with hardware. A reinvestement in Apple Books, with an “iPad: Reader Edition” would be an immediate buy from me. Even curate it to only those partners that would look good on Eink.
I would really like it if Apple’s Books app would be updated to fix long standing problems, like metadata issues. Libby is by far my favorite ebook app, on any platform.
The show description is cut off and the sponsors listed don’t match what was announced in the show as the sponsors for this episode.
This is for more power users
I traded in my ancient, no-longer-supported Kindle Paperwhite for $5 + a big discount coupon and purchased the latest iteration of the Kindle Scribe. I wanted something large enough to comfortably read and annotate PDFs, but didn’t need a full-fledged digital notebook. I prefer it to my iPad for reading text and note-taking—it’s quite pleasant to write on and easier on my eyes. (It comes with a stylus.) The UI could be nicer, but it’s fine. I can download documents on to it from my Google Drive, which is a genuine plus. The only thing I absolutely loathe is the home screen, about a third of which is festooned with algorithmically selected titles Amazon would like me to buy. Fortunately, there’s no real reason to be on the home screen and I just flip on over to my library page.
I bought a refurbished Kindle Scribe just as a reader. With the large print that my aging eyes prefer, it is great. On the Kindle Paperwhite, I was turning pages so frequently it was distracting. The Kindle Scribe is a perfect e-reader size for those that prefer large print.
Hey @macsparky, Readwise Reader now has an e-ink mode. There’s a toggle in settings to turn this on. I don’t have a device to test this on so I can’t attest to its effectiveness.
Libraries and Kindles in Canada. I learned listening to the episode that Kobo was a Canadian company. It reminded me of a disappointing gift that I got for my cousin who lives in Canada: A Kindle.
It turns out that in Canada (at least in British Columbia), libraries do not loan eBooks for Kindles. To use an eReader for library loans in Canada, you need a Kobo.
Something to keep in mind if you are Canadian or if you are thinking about gifting an eReader to a Canadian.
I wish that this whole eBook/eReader thing was simpler. I am annoyed that i cannot simply buy an eBook and read it on whatever device that I want. I like the Libby app, but I don’t like being sent to my Amazon account every time that I want to read a book that I have taken out from the library.
It turns out that in Canada (at least in British Columbia), libraries do not loan eBooks for Kindles.
You can’t read library books on a Kindle anywhere in Canada. I think (correct me if I’m wrong) library books can only be read on Kindles in the USA.
To use an eReader for library loans in Canada, you need a Kobo.
I have a Kindle Oasis (which I really like, especially since it has physical page turn buttons). I may consider getting a Kobo in the future to read library books. In the meantime, I have a sizable collection of Kindle-purchased books that have yet to be read.
Hi @beardfm - like you I prefer physical books. My information capture method is to take a photo of the page, then in photos, edit the page down to get a photo of the relevant paragraph(s). I then open the iOS app Prizmo and “import last picture taken” which then ocr’s the photo and I copy all the text into Apple Notes. A bit cumbersome but works for me when I’m on the train. I’m sure this could be done more efficiently as a Shortcut but Shortcuts just don’t “click” for me.
Overdrive, the best library ebook service, supports reading via Website, on Kobo and Kindles, on Kobo and Kindles and Android and iOS via the Libby app.
This depends in part on the specific book, and the specific library in the U.S. A particular book may not be available in all formats at a particular library.
Other ebook / audiobook library services are available, inluding Hoopla, Cloud Books, etc.
FWIW:
Thanks for your comments, @LisaSpangenberg.
In practical terms, Kindle e-readers don’t integrate well with Canadian library ebook systems, whereas I’ve heard Kobo devices do.
I’ve used the Libby app on my iPhone and iPad. It works well, but I still prefer using an e-ink display when reading books.
I should also note that books without DRM, both public domain books and books from publishers like Macmillan / Tor (the U.S. Macmillan, not the one in the U.K.) can be side-loaded in various ways.
Recent Kobo devices like the Libre Colour support DropBox & Google Drive, and direct support for Overdrive.
I am sure I am an outlier but I have a weird reading workflow. I get the paper, ebook, and audio book of whatever I read. I read the dead tree book at home (my newer novels are mostly signed, special editions, etc… Hello BrokenBinding and Grim Oak). Outside of the house, on the beach, etc the load is carried by my jailbroken Kindle using KoReader, and when I drive I listen to audible. I try to stop at chapters end so it’s easy to pick up on the other reading methods.
I’ve moved dozens of times in my life and moving a large number of books was not practical.
I tend to listen to fiction and read non-fiction on kindle. But I have, on occasion, purchased both. About the only time I buy paper books is when they are out of print and/or not available in the US.
I was really thinking of getting a Boox device to replace my aging, tired Kindle. Thanks for saving me from that.
Really liked this episode!
A great excuse to update my self hosted homelab with support for Calibre, Calibre Web and Kobo sync.
Thank you for the inspiration!
I also dived right into the Nebula and Hugo Awards which are new to me, open to more good fiction book suggestions!
I’ve been reading electronically for a while now. I’ve moved between continents and countries and didn’t want to accumulate a big paper library, but I’m also a passionate reader who needs books with me everywhere, all the time.
I used Kindles for a long time, then iBooks/Books for a while. The Kindle was great for books, but I could never get Instapaper working effectively, so my reading life felt unnecessarily bifurcated. iBooks let me annotate in different colors, which I liked, but at some point exporting highlights became so difficult I basically stopped using it. I have 15+ years of book and article highlights that are invaluable to me, so that was a dealbreaker.
I like e-ink devices for a few reasons:
- Long battery life
- Work well in sunlight
- Physically light, so easy to hold for a long time or in awkward situations like standing on a busy train
- Distraction-free
- Presumably not attractive to thieves
Readwise Reader is the best reading app I’ve used. It exports highlights and syncs between devices really well (not a minor detail), and it’s excellent at organizing a large library of texts. However, it’s really an iOS/iPadOS app.
I typically read on an iPad, but I bought a Boox Go 7 specifically to use Readwise Reader on e-ink for the situations above. It works well for this, though there’s some initial setup friction that Jason mentioned on the podcast. I like that it has physical page-turn buttons too. As a train commuter who is nearly always reading, I can see the appeal of the Palma that @beardfm discussed for specific use cases, like standing on a busy train, but I went with the Go 7—its Kindle-like size felt more familiar. The critiques of Android-based e-readers made sense to me, but I’m happy reading on it, as one of a few devices I move between throughout the day.
I use Reader on a BOOX Go Color 7 Gen II and it works just fine.