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572 points bookofjoe | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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pfooti ◴[] No.41864842[source]
I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_.

Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard to get my CBR/CBZ files on directly. The annotation / notetaking featureas are nice (I haven't leaned into them yet, but they work well even on the small screen size), plus all the regular stuff with normal book reading. Also, since it's kobo/rakuten, the libby integration is better (search and select library books right from the device).

The actual reading app is maybe 90% as good as reading on the kindle (or a more specialized reader like perfectviewer on android). There's some annoyingly fiddly features- font size is kind of weirdly variable, when going through CBR files there's no "read next in the folder" gesture nor is there a "this is read/unread" state in the google drive ui, so you always have to remember which book you are finishing when opening the next in the series.

I tried out one of those boox readers with the android apps, which would be even better software-wise, but the boox hardware seems like garbage (for an N=1 at least). My display came with several rows of stuck pixels, and apparently it's a good thing that I ordered from amazon instead of the boox store, because the reviews indicate getting an RMA from boox directly is a pain.

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oblio ◴[] No.41867668[source]
These Kindles look great but I want to upload my own books.

I wonder if there is a way to do that safely, long term.

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1. fransje26 ◴[] No.41867856[source]
I've been doing that for years using the Calibre app. No problems so far.
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2. oblio ◴[] No.41868220[source]
Since I'm a total noob, I guess:

PC + USB cable + Kindle = books transferred the old fashioned way?

I'm very tempted by the thing another commenter mentioned, with not giving the Kindle internet access, if it works, I need 0 smart features.

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3. curiousigor ◴[] No.41868411[source]
It's PC with Calibre app + USB cable + Kindle = books transferred (not just drag and drop if you thought this as the old fashioned way).

It's a step between but think of Calibre as your own book "store". It's an ebook management app that can automatically convert almost any ebook format into the one your device needs but at the same time also gives you the option to edit the ebook details and stuff like that. It's honestly great, I'd totally recommend it.

4. widowlark ◴[] No.41869711[source]
yeah just dont turn on the wifi, you can even update the kindle via usb to get some new features if you like.