this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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I wanna buy an ebook reader but i don't want any amazon or other companies shit in there, just something i can connect to my pc, pass ebooks in different formats into it and read.

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[โ€“] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 11 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I think it depends on how invested you are in ebooks, and how much time you wanna spend on it. I would advise a Kobo if you aren't up for Tinkering or an iPad if you are flexible with the screen.

But if you are up for a challenge a Chinese ePaper Android Tablet like Onyx Boox or Bouyee, so long as you can get Google Play to work. Or a Pocket Book if you can sort out DRM removal for ebooks.

Here are the pros and cons bellow

Kobo is the easy option.

  • Adobe Digital Editions for non-kobo DRM, and library access. Its able to read DRM free books like you find on Project Gutenberg or Humble Bundle.

  • Major downside is that you can't read Amazon without effort (or a kindle serial number), book sorting kind of sucks without Calibre, and the storage size is small if you are into Comics.

iPad is the safe option

  • Apple Books app is convenient and can read anything. It can sync with your iCloud if you wanna so you can continue on your iPhone. And DRM isn't an issue since you can just download the apps.

  • but its a LCD Tablet, and no ePaper display. iTunes isn't the easiest to figure out to move books and iCloud can get verrry expensive if you are syncing comics.

Android Tablets are kind of in the same boat but...

  • with KOReader even an old (but not too old) tablet is viable. Side loading official apps.

  • OS updates are kind of hit or miss, support for older android is worse than iPad, and the devs don't put as much effort in their Android ports.

Android ePaper tablet (Onyx Boox)

  • Usually steals KOReader as its base, if its new probably has pen support so you can use it as a writing tablet, if it has Google Play you can get official apps

  • But its expensive, there is often no updates to the OS, usually no MicroSD card, and has a lot of preinstalled bloat which is hard to trust.

Kindle Tablet/fire tablet

  • Cons, its made by Amazon and will track your every movement.

  • Pros keep it offline and it can read converted DRM free ebooks converted to AZW3 via Calibre. Fire Tablets can be made into cheap eReaders with side loading. But more importantly if you do give your kindle an Amazon account you can decrypt ebooks with its serial number. So you can get cheap books on a better eReaders.

[โ€“] Nyoelle@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

If you go for the Kobo Clara HD (Not the newer one), you can go around the storage size by replacing the internal microSD card (It is a bit of work, yes, but it works, and is doable)

Also, on Kobo, it is very easy to put KOReader on as well, so very much, comfy.

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