Recommend an ereader?

I have a kobo h2o libra and like it. I got it for the overdrive bit which I like the idea of (though don't use all that much) and when I did a small comparison, kobo store books were cheaper as well than kindle. I also didn't want to feel like I had to have prime to really benefit from it. It was also waterproof, with buttons, at a cheaper price point than the equivalent for Kindle (oasis I think) at the time. I do like the physical buttons.

Haven't tried kindle though!
 
tiberuk said:
I've had 2 kindles since I was about 15 . My current one is about 9 years old and now has a very short battery, I can't justify replacing it until it breaks completely but it's still soldiering on
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My OH has kindle with a short battery. Turns out a firmware update brought it back to life. Might be worth looking into
 
Sudden said:
I have a kobo h2o libra and like it. I got it for the overdrive bit which I like the idea of (though don't use all that much) and when I did a small comparison, kobo store books were cheaper as well than kindle. I also didn't want to feel like I had to have prime to really benefit from it. It was also waterproof, with buttons, at a cheaper price point than the equivalent for Kindle (oasis I think) at the time. I do like the physical buttons.

Haven't tried kindle though!
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I have the same one, didn't even know about the Overdrive feature.
But tbh, i use Calibre to manage my Ebooks and never use any of the Kobo features.
Also Kobo support more Ebook formats and if you know where to look there are plenty of sites you can get free books.
 
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I just use the Kindle app on my iPad Air, works fine, missus has it on her iPad mini as well, if you have an iPad do that but if not I can vouch as many others for the kindles as my Dad used his for 10 years while suffering from cancer and it didn't let him down once
 
NotTheOne said:
My first was Kindle Keyboard, lasted forever until one day it just stopped.
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Mine still works, sort of. One day, the centre button in the little keypad stopped working. Of course, that's the most used button and without it, it's utterly useless. Everything else still works though. I've taken it all apart and cleaned it but it didn't make any difference.
 
I finally caved and traded in my ancient keyboard Kindle for a Paperwhite a couple of years ago. Kind(le) of regret it though because I only got a fiver trade in for it, and it was still in perfect working order and could have been used as a backup. It did have a hairline fatigue crack in the case plastic from on of the bottom corners of the screen, just from the stress of pressing the page buttons. In fact I think that was one of the main drivers for them going button-less in later designs, as it was clearly a design flaw. But the crack did not affect the usability at all, so yeah still wish I'd kept it.
 
Maundie said:
I just use the Kindle app on my iPad Air, works fine, missus has it on her iPad mini as well, if you have an iPad do that but if not I can vouch as many others for the kindles as my Dad used his for 10 years while suffering from cancer and it didn't let him down once
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You can Do that and it's free, but it really isn't the same experience as e ink
 
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I have a paperwhite I got years ago for £40. Love it.

Quite happy being in the Amazon ecosystem as you get discounts for buying the kindle + Audible versions....I quite like being able to flip between reading at home and listening in the car, and it syncs your position between the kindle and audiobook.
 
Seems like everyone likes theirs irrespective of what brand.

I was surprised they were as expensive as they are. I will have a look on black friday and get either the kobo or kindle (I don't have prime) as seems like doesn't matter and you aren't locked into amazon.

Just needs to be waterproof.
 
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I have also considered going from physical books to e-reader but I kind of like reading a physical book.... I may try the free app on my phone first to see if I get on with the digital versions of books first. I appreciate it's not quite the same as a dedicated e-reader but £100+ for a decent reader is just a waste if I hate it.

To physical book converts - how did you find the transition? Was it instant love or was there a period of uncertainty for a period of time before it just clicked?
 
I used to be against e-readers and preferred a physical book but my wife bought me a Kindle Paperwhite back in 2016 when I was due to go into hospital and I loved it straight away. I am now on my second Paperwhite and have the latest version after the battery failed on the original. Switching the books from one to the other was a case of plugging them both into the pc and dragging the book folder from one into the other, job done. If you only have Amazon books you can do it through their eco system but I have many non Amazon books as well. I have well over a thousand ebooks now and have sold just about all of my hardbacks and paperbacks once replaced by the ebook version on Ebay. One type of books I will not switch though is my reference books which I prefer to keep in proper book form. I have three big bookcases of those and my collection is still growing.

One thing I don't like about the Kindle is the update method Amazon uses. You can be happily reading a book and all of a sudden it will lock up then the update screen appears, no warning that it is going to update, nothing. I hate that and even worse, once it's done instead of dropping you back to were you were reading it drops you on the home page which I never use anyway. Most of them you can't even tell that anything has changed. Why can't they just put a message on screen saying a update is available so that you can update when you are ready to? They seem to have taken a leaf out of Microsofts book when it comes to updates.

Also if you buy a Kindle get Calibre as well as it is invaluable.
 
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Richie said:
I have also considered going from physical books to e-reader but I kind of like reading a physical book.... I may try the free app on my phone first to see if I get on with the digital versions of books first. I appreciate it's not quite the same as a dedicated e-reader but £100+ for a decent reader is just a waste if I hate it.

To physical book converts - how did you find the transition? Was it instant love or was there a period of uncertainty for a period of time before it just clicked?
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I prefer a physical book too. But they take up a chunk of space camping and especially if they get wet
 
For me it was more about the fact I struggle with reading smaller paperback books, hardback is fine. With paperback books, I just find the text too small and squished together to not make my brain hurt.

Another benefit of an eReader is the backlight, no more keeping a lamp on at night, struggling to read in sunshine or outside at night.
 
Feek said:
It’s all about Kindles. I’m on my third now, an Oasis and it's the best one I've had, I absolutely love the buttons to turn pages rather than having to touch the screen. Yes, of course Kindle is very tightly integrated with Amazon but you can upload books manually to it using Calibre.
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I love the Oasis. Best Ereader that I have ever used. The only downside is that it's a little bit bigger than than the Paperwhite. It's just so much like reading a real book. Fits perfectly in the hand and is really comfortable to hold for long periods.
 
Richie said:
I have also considered going from physical books to e-reader but I kind of like reading a physical book.... I may try the free app on my phone first to see if I get on with the digital versions of books first. I appreciate it's not quite the same as a dedicated e-reader but £100+ for a decent reader is just a waste if I hate it.

To physical book converts - how did you find the transition? Was it instant love or was there a period of uncertainty for a period of time before it just clicked?
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413x said:
I prefer a physical book too. But they take up a chunk of space camping and especially if they get wet
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Getting an E-reader is totally worth it. I had the same doubts before getting my first Kindle years ago. Just like you guys I didn't think the experience would be anything like a real book. Had both and Ipad and an Android tablet and decided to try the various reading apps on them. Didn't like them at all, and had decided that I would never get an E-reader.

Then for my 40th birthday my sister bought me a Kindle Paperwhite and it was instant love. First book I read on it was the Lord of the Rings. And for a while I switched between physical books and the Paperwhite but eventually I stopped reading physical books almost completely. The E-reader was just so much easier especially when travelling or reading at night. The newer E-readers are even better where you can change the brightness, tone and backlight. And some of them are waterproof.

It's just a warning that trying the Kindle app or whatever reading app on your phone/tablet is nothing like reading on E-reader. The only way to see if you would like an E-reader is to try an E-reader. You don't have to buy a new one. There are loads of second hand ones available.

My personal favourite E-reader is the Kindle Oasis. It feels like reading a real book and is perfectly weighted to sit in your hand.
 
If I don't have prime will the kindle hold me back?

Would the kobo model be the Clara?

There's a hell of a lot of models. And they are more expensive than I hoped (I'm not a big reader)

Also. I don't want anything massive as this is mainly to be used out and about
 
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Have kindle, will travel. Mine goes everywhere with me. The train, the doctors, the dentist, kids football. It just works, even though once you're in the river based world, you're in...
 
Feek said:
It’s all about Kindles. I’m on my third now, an Oasis and it's the best one I've had, I absolutely love the buttons to turn pages rather than having to touch the screen. Yes, of course Kindle is very tightly integrated with Amazon but you can upload books manually to it using Calibre.
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I'm only on my second ereader, I went Sony 505 as an early adopter when they became available here (still got it!), and then a Kindle Voyager for the buttons, unfortunately the voyager is now 8 years old and it looks like actual buttons are thing of the past on the new models :(
On the plus side they've finally started releasing colour e-ink kindles.

Calibre is absolutely brilliant, especially if you like entire series of books/have a very large library.



jsbombjack said:
Have kindle, will travel. Mine goes everywhere with me. The train, the doctors, the dentist, kids football. It just works, even though once you're in the river based world, you're in...
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One of the reasons I got my original Sony was because of the amount of time I spent doing things like waiting at doctors, and because I am a massive reader and it meant I could carry multiple "books" with me in less space and weight than one paperback.
 
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