Ask HN: What eInk reader you use to read articles/books?

1 points by lapaz17 3 years ago | 9 comments

latexr 3 years ago |

Kobos are¹ good. You can load them with your own files and they support a nice range of formats. Before loading EPUBs, convert them² for better performance³. Old models keep getting software updates for years, and those can improve performance.

PocketBooks⁴ look interesting, especially in the colour e-ink offers⁵ but I can’t personally attest to that.

Take a look at the Good e-Reader website⁶ for reviews of several brands and models.

¹ https://www.kobo.com/

² https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/

³ Though you don’t have to; unconverted EPUBs load fine.

⁴ https://pocketbook.ch/

⁵ https://www.theverge.com/21507390/pocketbook-color-review-e-...

⁶ https://goodereader.com/

rektide 3 years ago | |

Haven't been using it as much but the builtin Pocket integration is also really convenient & slick for reading articles.

The Kobo also has a fantastic aftermarket world of open source software. https://github.com/topics/kobo?o=desc&s=updated

For a while folks were starting to get their own regular distros running on Kobos too but I'm not seeing much follow-through.

The reMarkable probably has an edge in overall open source tooling. They definitely have a much better page showing off what's available, https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-remarkable.

But Kobo is quite impressive & flexible. Great out of box & hackable ecosystem. Prices are reasonable, the base software is pretty great, and as you say, software updates just keep coming. I was running an ancient but lovely Kobo Aura HD until a year or so back, a fairly ancient device, & was still getting updates, getting faster/snappier & ever improving navigation/UI. My newer cheaper device has been great. Kobo has been such an excellent company to their users; it's been, ah, "remarkable" to see.

jneumann004 3 years ago |

I love my kindle paper white. It has great battery life, and is a convenient size to just throw in a bag or my back pocket.

webmaven 3 years ago | |

Same.

BTW, I purchased the discounted "sponsored" version that shows ads but employed a minor "hack" to turn off the promotional messages.

I also don't purchase any ebooks from the Kindle store (which makes those promotional messages particularly pointless and annoying) as there are plenty of legitimate sources that provide DRM-free ebooks in standards-compliant EPUB format that I can back up on my own computer in perpetuity, and transform into Kindle-compatible MOBI files on demand for transfer to the device via USB.

Tagbert 3 years ago | | |

I did purchase the non-sponsored Kindle in the most recent version but had sponsored versions before and the promotions were pretty inoffensive. I only switched this past time as I decided I wanted the actual book artwork to show on the screen instead of a promotional image.

pivo 3 years ago |

In the past I'd only ever used an iInk reader at the beach. I just didn't care for their small screens, but lightness and water and sand resistance made sense in that environment.

Recently I decided to try a Kindle Scribe and I'm now completely taken by it. There's something so much nicer about reading on an eInk screen that's approximately the size of a real printed page.

I only use the scribe for reading, though I may try using it for notes when the software improves. I don't really care about that through. In any case, I find myself reading much more than I used to. It's not water proof though, so I probably won't take it to the beach.

ofalkaed 3 years ago |

I want to like e-readers but they all are lacking for me, at least on my last look. Is there one that will allow me to double space a book and annotate it between the lines and switch the double spacing/annotations on/off? From what I have seen the ones that allow annotations do it in a hyperlink style, I just want to be able to mark it up with a red pen like I can a normal book but get double spacing thrown in for free so I am not restricted to writing in the margins.

MilnerRoute 3 years ago |

I have a lovely old Kindle DX -- it's at least 10 years old. What I love is it's got a larger screen -- I think it's the largest one I've ever seen. The only thing better than an e-ink screen is more of it...

billy_bitchtits 3 years ago |

kindle scribe. I'd buy an onyx for the full android experience, but I don't trust the shady chinese servers / software you would need to use with one of those.