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Big Mac
Jan 3, 2007


It feels kinda stupid but I got a screen protector for my Kobo so I can just stick it in my pocket without getting any scratches. Got lucky with a warranty replacement for the first one, learned my lesson from that one getting scratches.

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Silly Burrito
Nov 27, 2007

rufius posted:

Kindle doesn’t need side loading either with library books.

Not side loading but you have to use Amazon to send the books to the kindle. You can’t just download them from the library directly to the kindle.

Stupid_Sexy_Flander
Mar 14, 2007

Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?
Grimey Drawer
Nook, haven't had a Kobo reader yet.

Zero One
Dec 30, 2004

HAIL TO THE VICTORS!

Silly Burrito posted:

Not side loading but you have to use Amazon to send the books to the kindle. You can’t just download them from the library directly to the kindle.

I provided Libby with my Amazon account once and now it just works automatically. I borrow a book and it shows up on my Kindle instantly.

Devorum
Jul 30, 2005

It's getting time to replace my 2019 Oasis. Battery was never great, but now I have to charge it every 3 days or so even on airplane mode. Lasts less than 24 hours on WiFi.

I've seen the Libra 2 recommend a lot...but I'm pretty deep in the Amazon ecosystem, unfortunately. How hard is it to deDRM these days?

What other recommendations are there? The Boox devices? The Paperwhite looks great, but I'll miss the physical buttons. No interest in another Oasis.

inferis
Dec 30, 2003

Devorum posted:

It's getting time to replace my 2019 Oasis. Battery was never great, but now I have to charge it every 3 days or so even on airplane mode. Lasts less than 24 hours on WiFi.

I've seen the Libra 2 recommend a lot...but I'm pretty deep in the Amazon ecosystem, unfortunately. How hard is it to deDRM these days?

What other recommendations are there? The Boox devices? The Paperwhite looks great, but I'll miss the physical buttons. No interest in another Oasis.

If you have some way to try them in person or don’t mind doing a return, I recommend at least trying the cheap base model kindle unless you need the yellow LEDs or waterproofing. The weight alone was a huge qol upgrade for me although if I’m using a stand I still use the oasis for the larger screen.

rufius
Feb 27, 2011

Clear alcohols are for rich women on diets.

Silly Burrito posted:

Not side loading but you have to use Amazon to send the books to the kindle. You can’t just download them from the library directly to the kindle.


Zero One posted:

I provided Libby with my Amazon account once and now it just works automatically. I borrow a book and it shows up on my Kindle instantly.

Ya - this is what I was talking about. Once you link it, you just “check out” stuff on Libby and it gets sent to the kindle. Connect to WiFi and it shows up.

rufius
Feb 27, 2011

Clear alcohols are for rich women on diets.

Devorum posted:

It's getting time to replace my 2019 Oasis. Battery was never great, but now I have to charge it every 3 days or so even on airplane mode. Lasts less than 24 hours on WiFi.

I've seen the Libra 2 recommend a lot...but I'm pretty deep in the Amazon ecosystem, unfortunately. How hard is it to deDRM these days?

What other recommendations are there? The Boox devices? The Paperwhite looks great, but I'll miss the physical buttons. No interest in another Oasis.

FWIW I went Paperwhite -> Oasis -> Paperwhite. I don’t miss the buttons and I was heavily in the “must have buttons” camp.

No experience outside the Amazon ecosystem.

Big Mac
Jan 3, 2007


rufius posted:

Ya - this is what I was talking about. Once you link it, you just “check out” stuff on Libby and it gets sent to the kindle. Connect to WiFi and it shows up.

My Kobo does this no problem. I forget, but I think I can also just browse Libby/Overdrive from the device itself.

Also it having Pocket integration has been truly delightful.

Space Fish
Oct 14, 2008

The original Big Tuna.


Kobo devices can check out library copies of ebooks directly from the device, no separate Libby required.

inferis
Dec 30, 2003

Depending how restrictive your library is about how many holds and checkouts you can have, kindle has the advantage that Libby and Amazon don’t really talk to each other past the initial loan so you can return the book in Libby and keep the kindle loan for the whole period.

Devorum
Jul 30, 2005

inferis posted:

If you have some way to try them in person or don’t mind doing a return, I recommend at least trying the cheap base model kindle unless you need the yellow LEDs or waterproofing. The weight alone was a huge qol upgrade for me although if I’m using a stand I still use the oasis for the larger screen.

I really like the yellow LEDs, so I'll take them when I can.


rufius posted:

FWIW I went Paperwhite -> Oasis -> Paperwhite. I don’t miss the buttons and I was heavily in the “must have buttons” camp.

No experience outside the Amazon ecosystem.

I had a Paperwhite before the Oasis and really liked it, so maybe I'll just end up going that way.

Silly Burrito
Nov 27, 2007

rufius posted:

Ya - this is what I was talking about. Once you link it, you just “check out” stuff on Libby and it gets sent to the kindle. Connect to WiFi and it shows up.

Good to know. There was always that intermediate step for me. Not a huge issue, but checking it out on the Libby website would always send me to the Amazon page to "officially" check it out. Good to hear they've streamlined that.

virinvictus
Nov 10, 2014

Silly Burrito posted:

Good to know. There was always that intermediate step for me. Not a huge issue, but checking it out on the Libby website would always send me to the Amazon page to "officially" check it out. Good to hear they've streamlined that.

I hate that I can’t access this in Canada on my kindle.

RPATDO_LAMD
Mar 22, 2013

🐘🪠🍆
So apparently kobos have a risk of randomly (?) corrupting their internal database which causes buggy behavior when trying to sideload.
The fix to this I found via the mobileread forums is to wipe the data on the kobo by either factory resetting or just unlinking and re-linking your account, which makes it forget about every book and rebuild the db from scratch but has the side effect of forgetting your position / read status in every book. (And at least for the unlinking method it doesn't actually delete the book files on the device either).
Luckily the kobo utilities plugin for calibre has the ability to sync read positions so I could restore them all from my calibre library after resetting the thing.

Discussion Quorum
Dec 5, 2002
Armchair Philistine
Alright I just got my shiny Kobo Libra 2 and I'm already about to chuck it out a window (in the direction of Kohl's, my friendly neighborhood Amazon return dropoff).

Apparently if you want to be able to sync more than one library system, you have to play some very fun games with the legacy OverDrive system and hope and pray that all of the applicable libraries have the right settings on their end and if they don't, well, :shrug:

2005 desktop Linux levels of jank tbqh

8-bit Miniboss
May 24, 2005

CORPO COPS CAME FOR MY :filez:

Discussion Quorum posted:

Alright I just got my shiny Kobo Libra 2 and I'm already about to chuck it out a window (in the direction of Kohl's, my friendly neighborhood Amazon return dropoff).

Apparently if you want to be able to sync more than one library system, you have to play some very fun games with the legacy OverDrive system and hope and pray that all of the applicable libraries have the right settings on their end and if they don't, well, :shrug:

2005 desktop Linux levels of jank tbqh

It's unfortunately a pain now since Rakuten sold Overdrive in 2019. It barely works when trying to do the multiple library workaround and Overdrive itself under its new owners have been pushing users to Libby instead.

KICK BAMA KICK
Mar 2, 2009

Yeah I was disappointed to get my Kobo after noticing the library support in the bullet points and then find out my library dropped Overdrive since the last time I had used it. The stuff I'd hypothetically be able to get from them is not really expensive if you just wishlist and wait but still, annoying.

Discussion Quorum
Dec 5, 2002
Armchair Philistine

KICK BAMA KICK posted:

Yeah I was disappointed to get my Kobo after noticing the library support in the bullet points and then find out my library dropped Overdrive

I think this is probably the issue with my main library, which simply will not work using the multiple-library workaround. I can sign into the library on my Kobo using my library card credentials directly, but not via my OverDrive account (which means no multiple-libraries workaround). And yes, it is extremely disappointing considering it's one of the big selling points that gets bandied around.

I contacted their support (e: Rakuten) and they told me that they're working on it. Guess I've got a few weeks to decide whether to:

a) Switch libraries manually whenever I need to until they roll out whatever their new solution is (not that big of a deal but very annoying in principle, considering why I chose Kobo)
b) Return it and get a Kindle instead (like Jeff Bezos doesn't get enough of my money already)
c) Sideload my books via ADEahahahah hell no

RPATDO_LAMD
Mar 22, 2013

🐘🪠🍆
sideload your books via calibre imo

8-bit Miniboss
May 24, 2005

CORPO COPS CAME FOR MY :filez:
An alternative is getting an Android OS based ereader and install Libby and read books that way.

I'm not that desperate to do that however. I like Kobo's devices very much.

HamburgerTownUSA
Aug 7, 2022
Ok so my partner has tasked me with finding an eReader that fits her needs, and I know gently caress all about this side of ereaders.

Here's what she wants:

She wants to be able to take notes on top of the books she is reading, both directly on the book (like writing in the margins or writing something under/above a sentence), as well as something like writing a note on a "sticky note" type of situation.

She wants it to have a light so she can read and write at night in bed when she wants to.

Something with a screen that's give or take around 8" would be nice, but a 10" wouldn't be out of the question if it performs well.

She currently has a 10th gen Kindle, and the books she wants to annotate are books she's purchased from the Kindle library, however, she has no problem with having those books converted to pdf or epub or whatever to break the DRM poo poo so that it can be used elsewhere. Right now, she is just reading stuff on her kindle, and jotting down notes on a separate notepad, which is of course, kind of cumbersome, and a pain to do at night.

We looked at the Kindle Scribe, but she doesn't like the implementation of writing on books (only having the whole "sticky note" style, with a small icon denoting a note on the page).

I looked at previous pages of this post, and saw several mentions of the Supernote Nomad, and it looks awesome for a variety of reasons (I really dig things like the repairability and ability to expand storage), it does have that one big caveat that it lacks a light (and I do understand why they opted to not put one on there).

So, is there anything out there that can do the whole note taking thing that can hang with the A6X2 in note taking and writing performance and feel that also has a lit screen (ideally with the option to choose color temperatures)? Or has anyone tried using an external reading light with the A6X2? The idea of being able to sideload android apps is also appealing (if Mihon runs decently on it) but not necessary.

We would really prefer to choose an eReader vs just getting an iPad or full Android tablet, and our working budget is ideally sub $400 but we don't mind spending more if it performs and does everything she wants.

HamburgerTownUSA fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Mar 25, 2024

duckdealer
Feb 28, 2011

For a light for my supernote I use: https://www.vekkia.com/products/bookmark-book-light

Works well for my needs at least!

KICK BAMA KICK
Mar 2, 2009

Kobo Elipsa 2E is at the top of your size and price ranges but looks like it hits the bullet points for note-taking options and lighting. Looks like they sell the previous iteration of it in a bundle with some accessories for a little less, idk what you're giving up there. Can't speak to performance personally.

RichterIX
Apr 11, 2003

Sorrowful be the heart
I might be super wrong and someone can correct me, but the reason that the Scribe can only do "notes" on ebooks but you can scribble right on PDFs is because it can't account for the scribbling if the book has to reflow. I'm not sure how the other writable ereaders mitigate this but it may be something to watch out for as something that might not always work exactly how she wants it to.

Shart Carbuncle
Aug 4, 2004

Star Trek:
The Motion Picture

RichterIX posted:

I might be super wrong and someone can correct me, but the reason that the Scribe can only do "notes" on ebooks but you can scribble right on PDFs is because it can't account for the scribbling if the book has to reflow. I'm not sure how the other writable ereaders mitigate this but it may be something to watch out for as something that might not always work exactly how she wants it to.

Yeah, that's the reason. In order to make it so you can write directly on an ebook, it would have to look you into whatever the current font size and margins and stuff are, and create a fixed page layout. It might make sense to make that an option on some devices, but Kindle is all about the whole dumb ecosystem; you're supposed to be able to keep your progress and bounce between your Kindle, your phone and your computer or whatever, which would all have different layout needs.

HamburgerTownUSA
Aug 7, 2022
Thanks for all the food for thought folks, it's been very helpful.

Had more discussion with my partner with some of the points brought up:

She isn't at all married to the Kindle ecosystem, and has never felt the need to change font size/type, so if the ability to write on a page locks it in to a set layout, that's ok.

She isn't against using an external light as long as everything else works how she wants it. I have showed her videos of both the Supernote Nomad, as well as the Koba Elipsa 2E, and she is leaning more towards the Supernote. If our local Walmart has the Kobo in store for her to physically look at/try out, we'll give it a look.

I am giving her my old Lookbook P78 to try out the whole "Kindle book converted to something else" thing, and I have ordered the Vekkia Bookmark light to experiment with on the P78 (with the light turned off) to see how she gets on with having an external light on an eBook reader (and she can use it with her current setup for when she writes her notes on a notepad).

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FreelanceSocialist
Nov 19, 2002
If you think she might ultimately want an Elipsa 2E (and you're in the US), let me know and I'll post one over in SA Mart for you. It includes the fancy sleep cover, as well.

FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Mar 29, 2024

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