I have been wanting to have an e-reader so I can stop piling up physical books (takes a lot of space) and im not sure if i should straight buy an e-reader (do they have programmed obsolence issues too?) or an affordable and durable netbook/notebook/tablet

  • ProdigalFrogEnglish
    6•17 hours ago

    I use a Kobo Libera h2o (which I think is discontinued now), and I’ve been extremely pleased with it. Kobo doesn’t lock down the device, so transferring books to it is as simple as plugging into a PC and pressing a prompt that allows it to be opened like a thumb drive.

    Personally I would recommend any of the Kobo devices, which appear to all be waterproof now as well.

    • Günther Unlustig 🍄English
      1•14 hours ago

      +1

      I have a Tolino Shine, which is basically a german rebranded version of the Kobo.
      I believe the OS/ software is different tho.

      I’m relatively happy with it. The battery lasts very very long, I can offline drag and drop transfer .epub and other document files, and even customize my lock screen!

    • @Cdavid@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      1•17 hours ago

      It appears so to really be discontinued but it’d not be a dealbreaker for me, I hate constant updates (i know security updates are for good but still annoying, i dont know if E inks do security updates like usually on mobile/PC though, do they?), interesting about the book transfer, is it natively supported by the device or do you use something like Calibre (which would be fine too)? Waterproof could also not be a dealbreaker for me I guess I could buy a case for it? I certainly wouldn’t stand in the middle of a rain to read

      • ProdigalFrogEnglish
        2•16 hours ago

        Book transfers are supported by the device itself, no extra software required. It genuinely acts as a USB thumb drive once permission to give access to the PC is allowed on the device, similar to an Android phone. Once a book is put onto it and it’s unplugged, it will automatically find the book and add it to the library screen.

        The h2o model is also waterproof, which was a unique feature at the time, while the new Kobo models are all waterproof.