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E-readers: Kobo vs Boox? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/books@lemmy.world
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I've been getting back into reading and while nothing will beat a physical book, having a device with multiple EPUBS seems like a good way to save space and money. After a bit of searching, I'm down to two options: Kobo (specifically the Libra Colour) and Boox (specifically the Go Color 7). I've discarded tablets because they're just a larger phone and thus blue light-induced eye strain. I've also discarded the Kindle because of Amazon's business practices. I known that Kindles can jailbroken (which I wouldn't mind doing) and I could buy one second-hand on eBay but I prefer to give my money towards a better competitor.

Which one do you think is better? Have you used their previous e-readers? How do they compare?

Thanks in advance!

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[–] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 child)

Depends what a little bit on what you’re looking for. As a disclaimer, I am a Kobo user. Whether you go with a single purpose device or a multipurpose device like the boox depends a little bit on how focused you want to be able to be. I like my dedicated E reader because it makes it harder for me to just pop over into some other application to “I’ll just check something, quickly” because for me those never end up quick. Kobo has a good store, with a nice interface and the DRM is easy to strip. It also works well with side loading DRM-free content.

A boox would give you more storefronts to choose from but you’re more locked in to whatever DRM those stores choose.

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    DRM shouldn't be a problem thanks to software like Calibre and websites like Gutenberg and Zlibrary. The Kobo does seem geared towards long reading sessions and reading along with an audiobook. The Boox, on the other hand, seems to combine the best of e-readers (e-paper and e-ink) with the modability of an Android device. Since you're a Kobo user, I have to ask: How easy is it to add "alternatively sourced" ebooks to the Kobo? Is it done through Calibre? Can I also use third-party reading apps like KOreader? Since the Boox is Android-based, I have a rough idea of of adding ebooks and installing alternative reading apps but I don't if the process would be different on a Kobo.

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

    It's very easy. It can be done through calibre, yes, although I prefer self-hosting a library that the kobo syncs to. I've used Calibre-Web, and recently moved to BookLore (NOTE: if anyone from the future reads this, the Booklore dev had a very public crashing-out (reddit link); the new one seems like it's gonna be Grimmory), and the latter is really, really nice so far. I have three people set up with their own accounts on BookLore, and we share one general library, but each person also gets their own personal library to do with as they please, and each person can choose what they want on their kobo, and it all syncs just by hitting the sync button on the kobo (you point the kobo to your own "store" instead of the kobo store). If you want to keep the stock store with the ability to also load "alternatively sourced" books, that's also easy with OPDS, also supported (very well) in BookLore.

    Kobo can also be pretty customizable too, for what it's worth. KOReader is highly customizable, but if that's not your jam, there's also kobopatch which can change the default OS to some degree. Also NickleMenu, NickleClock, etc. There's plenty available to tune a kobo, imo, and I'm someone that's generally very "tinkery" with stuff.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

    Very easy, if you are the “all my metadata must be perfect” type person then it plays well with Calibre, if you are a just “put it on I don’t care” , all you need is a web browser and WiFi connection or something that recognizes a flash drive including tablets/phones.

    The point about DRM is more that for stores like Amazon, you can only remove the DRM anymore if it’s on a physical Kindle connected to Calibre with the right plugin. That doesn’t work on multipurpose tablets like the boox.

    Koreader works great on kobo, installing is a minor effort.

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