I have a Kindle. Combined with Anna's archive and emailing myself an epub, it's brilliant. Reading on your phone can increase eye strain and lead to poorer sleep. Look into an e-ink e-reader, you won't regret it.
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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I’m exactly on the same page! There was a book in Portuguese that I couldn’t find to purchase as ebook, but found on Anna’s archive! And the feel of the è-ink display scratches that itch for a paper-like reading experience.
Another Kobo user, I have the Clara HD. I like having an eInk device for ease on the eyes, it has a good backlight with a natural light setting for warmer usage at night which is nice.
I suspect most basic ebook readers would be similar. I just wanted something feature-light that was purely for reading.
I did specifically want to avoid Amazon. Basically every other retailer uses the same ebook format: Epub, either DRM free or with Adobe Digital Editions DRM. This means most ereaders can use books from most retailers. The exception is Amazon - they use their own proprietary format with its own DRM to lock you into the Kindle ecosystem. Kindles can now read non-Amazon ebooks but non-Kindles can't read Amazon ones due to this. I find that particularly scummy and want nothing to do with supporting it, especially when most books I buy through Kobo or other sites are completely DRM free by comparison.
(There are ways to get Amazon books you own onto other devices in a pinch if you do some searching. Questionable legality, even if you own the book, which is crazy to me, but it's not impossible. Amazon has been updating their DRM against it, but it's still doable.)
I love my kobo. I’ve had ereaders from each of the major current eink brands, as well as iPad and iPhone.
I like having a eReader because reading on my phone makes it too easy to swipe away to go back to doomscrolling the internet.
Kobo it's light easy to hold and the paper look, battery life and back light makes it perfect for reading for me.
I use an Android Tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e). Most of my reading is through the Libby app and Google Play Books.
An Android tablet is overall a more versatile device. I can also use it to browse the web and watch Netflix (especially while traveling). The downside is it's on the larger side (10 inch). Would love to get a smaller 7 or 8 inch tablet, but the specs for those are usually really low end. Like not even a 1080p screen.
I have an e-reader and for me it's something else, I have access to basically all of what LibGen can offer me so it expanded my reading possibilities a lot more, and it is way more comfortable than reading on the PC since there are countless distractions there. I would go with a Kobo, that's what I have, since Amazon is a lot more shitty in terms of privacy, but I can't say much more than that.