I’m a lover of physical books but I’m looking to get an e-reader as well, for those books that are hard to find physical copies of, or are just very expensive.

I’ve ruled out Onyx, because I try to avoid Chinese tech as it’s usually poorly made. But I’m not sure whether Kindle or Kobo is best. Is being tied to Amazon’s ecosystem too restricting? Are the Kobo e-readers compatible with everything you need? Which ones have the best screens, ideally how a physical book would look?

So many questions, but hopefully some of you can help. 😁

  • DesertCreosote
    5·
    6 months ago

    I’m going to jump on the Kobo train along with everyone else. I have a Kobo Libra H2O that I really love. I had a couple Kindles before deciding that I really didn’t want to stick with an Amazon product, and chose Kobo because of its integrations with Overdrive. It’s really nice to be able to check out a book from the library directly on my e-reader.

    The screen is bright when it needs to be, but dims down quite nicely. The touchscreen is fairly responsive, though it’s e-ink and there are limits to refresh rates. The physical buttons to turn the page are perfect, and I still can’t believe Amazon took them off their Kindles (though I guess I understand them removing the keyboard… even though I liked it).

    I actually like mine so much, I bought a second of the same model after I somehow managed to lose my first one. So the one thing I wish they had was integration with Apple Airtag or one of the other device tracking networks!

    • speck@kbin.social
      3·
      6 months ago

      Can you do things like highlight text on a kobo? And can you then export with all the edits?

      Also, can you the plug into a computer and transfer books over?

      • DesertCreosote
        4·
        6 months ago

        You can definitely highlight text. I haven’t tried exporting with edits, though, so I can’t speak to that.

        You can plug it in and transfer, but again, I haven’t personally done it. I get most of my books from the library, so I just use the Overdrive stuff for that.

        • speck@kbin.social
          2·
          6 months ago

          I should follow the law of the internet and insist that you can’t export edits and that’s why Kobo sux and then someone can let us know if it can!

          In all seriousness, I appreciate the input, thank you! I just don’t enjoy reading on my ipad as much as I did on the Nook I had, back when. So the recent posts about e-readers has me considering getting one. But I also need the ability to highlight and jot notes when I read.