Hello all. I need your real world experience on e-readers. I'm not sure if I’ll take to it, but I want to find an old used one for $50 or less to give it a try.

My original plan was a simple Kindle, but now I see conflicting information about whether I can get library books on there – my library uses the Boundless platform, which is an epub format, not Kindle. Some threads say you can add epub files to Kindle via the “email to kindle” tool, some seem to suggest you have to use a few pieces of middleware to transfer it over, some say for maximum flexibility you need a Kobo e-reader -- and frankly, I'm tired already. I just want to read books and save the tech troubleshooting part of my brain for my day job.

Where are my ebook nerds? What works for you?

Also: if anyone here upgraded to a new fancy one and has an older unit they want to sell, my PMs are open.

Thanks!

I’m a big fan. I like to read before bed, and it’s nice to have an option to keep reading after lights-out.

I’ve had both nook and kindle, and I think I like the nook better, although now I either read on my phone or from a samsung tablet that I only use for reading and playing dominoes with strangers.

Tablets are a must-have for dyslexics. Being able to switch to non-serifed or dyslexic fonts has been an absolute game-changer in my life. I wish everyone could’ve figured it out when I was in school.

Get the Hoopla or Libby library apps. Those, along with public domain book downloads, are what make e-readers worthwhile. If I’m paying for a book, I want the physical copy.

i've been warned that Amazon intend to withdraw the Kindle 'save to offline backup' feature in a matter of days. with a tiny handful of exceptions i've avoided buying things from that org for going on twenty years and i have zero regrets.

i do lots of my e-reading on an old Samsung/Android tablet, but i'm mostly reading direct-from-publisher pdfs and epubs there - i don't think the store/library app experience is as nailed down.

I liked my Kobo Touch a lot, c. 15yrs ago, and the modern Kobo store looks alright to me, but I haven't tried any of their contemporary devices. most of the time i read from my iphone.

I bought a Kobo Libra for school, because it was cheaper and way easier on my back to buy a 400$ e reader and pirate schoolbooks.

I use it daily and love the flexibility of choice, although my library looks like a Netflix queue from time to time. It's synced directly to Dropbox, updates on wifi, and does nothing else. No drm, no walls, no app bullshit.

Recommended if you read stuff you don't mind stealing or is in the public domain. I have no experience with the marketplace.

I tried to love my Kindle. I really tried.
But I need something in a different format/shape. I've got an Oasis, but I frankly find using the Kindle App on my very old Samsung Tablet to look and feel better to me than the Kindle. Kindle is too small, needs me to turn pages too often. I prefer something that mimics the physical dimensions of pages of books. I've not tried using the Kindle app on an iPad, but that may also be a good format. Small works well if your vision is good, and you can get used to the page turning options. I think maybe because I'm a side sleeper, using the Kindle is annoying when trying to read with my glasses on, lying on my side. Might be better if I used it sitting up, in a comfy chair.

My boyfriend, on the other hand, is happy to use his Kindle nightly before bed, and has no real issues with the page size or the font options or whatever. So, YMMV.

I bought a couple kindle books for school so that I could use the search function, which was academically useful, but I am never going to be able to read a whole book like that. Kindle editions can often cost as much as a book anyways, or close enough that I would prefer to just get a book, or a used book if I want to save a few bucks.

Of course, moving around and travel can make carrying books around difficult, but I don’t do that much of either.

Soon, Bookshop.org is going to be offering ebooks and real books for consumers.

Smash: Bookshop.org supports local and independent stores as an alterative to Amazon
Trash: This venture is a partnership with Spotify

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonifitzge ... gital-era/

Also, as an independent (read: self-) published writer I have opinions about Amazon. I am not a fan of Bezos and in a perfect world I would love to keep my money out of his grubby lil space-hands. My books are not available on the Kindle Unlimited subscription plan because they are exclusive, ergo I could only sell my ebooks via Amazon, which I think is total BS.

2/3 of my books are on sale via regular Amazon b/c that is where the market is (something like 85% of ebooks and 60-70% of print). The third one is free so Amazon won’t list it per policy (other platforms such as Kobo, Nook, Apple, etc. have it)

So…as much as I also loathe Spotify I will give them kudos b/c this is probably our only shot at breaking the Amazon stranglehold.

I have a really old Kindle Paper White. Great. No Amazon required. You can plug into a computer and drop in books. I use Caliber to do format conversions. I’m pretty sure it takes ePub format.

I have an old kindle paper white. I can put anything on it, but you have to go through some weird portal through Amazon. I haven't tried another way, though.

I also found that it's not that bad of an experience to read books on the phone. There's a kindle phone app that works just fine. Kinda silly if you think about it, that we read shit on our phones all the time, but not books. Give that option a try first, I suppose? I wonder if the library also has an app, or what other ereader apps are available. I know that I can check out library books for the kindle paperwhite, unsure why your library can't or won't do that. There's only two formats that I know of for ereaders, the only limitation is how you can put the files on the readers: ePub and PDFs.

My kindle Paper White is 13 years old and from a more innocent DRM free time. I can dump anything on it with a crappy old USB cable.

If some unscrupulous person had a VPN and access to a torrent site, they’d have free reading for life. Obviously
, that would be illegal and you definitely should not do that.