Ask HN: Best Open E-Reader?

[lemure]

I have too many books (~200) which I bought but I don’t want to have around. Mostly novels which I’m probably going to donate to local libraries or similar.

However I feel entitled of having a copy of those books in electronic format. Very slowly, I’m looking for .epub files and storing these in a hard drive.

Now, say I want to read one of them on an e-ink device. Which one is going to allow me to load these files without going through proprietary stores (I’m not going to pay twice for something I already own) or jailbreaking the device?

I simply want to spend x$ and have something which will last for a long time.

[stuxnet79]

Kobos[1] and Pocketbooks[2] are a lot more open than Kindles. AFAIK you can transfer .epub files into both devices and these epubs are perfectly readable via the stock OS. If for some reason you find the stock proprietary OS lacking, you can install an open source one like KOreader[3] or Plato[4]

Of course you want a good way of organizing epubs pdfs mobi, and like has already been mentioned Calibre[5] is a great option.

[1] https://www.kobo.com/

[2] https://pocketbookstore.com/en-ca

[3] https://github.com/koreader/koreader

[4] https://github.com/baskerville/plato

[5] https://calibre-ebook.com/

[jjice]

You can send epubs and other formats via the Kindle web service to your Kindle directly. It handles the conversion. I understand if you feel uneasy with this though, as I do as well sometimes.

As others have said, Kobos support many formats (including epub) out of the box via a USB cable. Kobo has some color ereaders coming out the end of this month as well, if that's something that appeals to you. My brief experience with color eink displays is very positive, and I'm considering purchasing one as well, despite owning a Kindle already.

[throwaway38375]

Also voting for Kobo. I have a Clara I just use for reading books.

Really nice device and the price is good too.

I've never connected mine to the internet. I just use it as a giant USB stick with a screen.

Not that I've needed to, but you can take it apart and increase the storage too!

https://yingtongli.me/blog/2018/07/29/kobo-sd.html

[lelanthran]

I lost my kindle (gen1, I think) recently (Someone in my neighbourhood now has the best curated collection of free fiction ever, so I'm not too sore about it).

I'll probably get a new one, but it occurred to me, with all the current excess electronics I have now on my desk (everything from PIC18Fs, esp32s to SBCs running Linux), the only thing I am missing to make my own e-reader is a large and cheap e-ink display.

Any recommendations for a large-ish e-ink display that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

[999900000999]

By the time you buy an EInk display and a battery you might as well buy a full e reader.

E ink programming isn't fun. If this is about the journey, go for it, but the results won't be optimal

[lelanthran]

> By the time you buy an EInk display and a battery you might as well buy a full e reader.

That's the problem I ran into the last time I looked at this - it was cheaper to buy an e-reader at retail prices than just the display at retail prices[1].

I was only wondering if the prices have fallen yet (seems like they have not). There's a bunch of low-power applications with large displays that I could do with an e-ink display.

[1] I don't really understand why the displays are as expensive as they are. It could just be that the e-readers are sold at a loss, and the manufacturer makes a profit some other way (with Amazon, they make their profit on the books, not sure about the others).

[RealStickman_]

There are various chinese vendors offering android tablets with e-ink screens. The disadvantage being less guarantees of future updates and some vendors (Onyx, probably others) don't release their device kernels as required by the Linux GPL.

[vik0]

I never understood why, barring lack of money, people would rather read something on a screen (even if it is e-ink) instead of holding an actual book in their hands and reading it that way. The smell alone of any book (used or new) is worth it

Anyway, I've heard calibre is good. I've never used it though

[amerkhalid]

I have gone from paper books to Kindle and then back to paper books.

I really loved the experience of reading Kindle, especially Kindle Keyboard. It was amazing experience compared to physical books because I had all my books on it, I could also send blogs & articles to it. Physical page turn buttons were easier to use than turning a page but also provided satisfying tactile feedback. The real keyboard was really useful for taking notes.

And when I was tired of holding it, text to speech was good enough to listen to a few chapters. Text to speech was also great when I was reading, it kind of helped me read faster and I remembered what I read longer.

Sadly, after my Kindle Keyboard died, I end up buying new Kindle. the reading experience on it was not as great but I had spent so much money on e-books. So I kept it.

But now I have kids. I don't want them to see me on another device which to them is same as phone/ipad. Also all books are on it, there is no way to turn on child mode on Kindle before handing it to them.

So now I only buy physical books. They are easy to share, I can easily see from distance what books my kids are reading, they cannot accidentally purchase tons of books, and if one book is damaged, it is just one book.

[paulcole]

I can’t imagine dealing with physical books again. No interest in owning and storing them and no interest in going back and forth library to borrow.

My kindle is incredible. Wonderful screen, easy to pay money to read the books I want when I want.

I don’t get the people who fetishize printed books. I like reading, I don’t like books.

If I want the book smell, I’ll buy a scented candle lol.

[vik0]

I suppose it's a matter of preference at the end of the day.

I can't imagine myself holding a kindle or any other tablet-like reading device and reading books that way, unless a book I want to read is somehow prohibitively expensive (which again comes down to what I said in my first comment, money.)

Plus, I can't build a nice, physical library with a bunch of pdf and epub files. You might say that having a physical library is stroking one's ego a bit, which I agree with, but hey, it's an ability that's exclusive to physical books and not electronic files stored in some drive. And so is using books to prop stuff up, but that's mostly used with books one thinks are not of good quality and don't deserve to be read/read again.

[amerkhalid]

> Plus, I can't build a nice, physical library with a bunch of pdf and epub files.

I moved back to physical books as I posted in my other comment. Building a nice library that I can give to my kids is one of my goals. Hopefully, they will be happy to have those books. And if they don't want it and then we can donate books to a library or a school. It is a win-win situation.

[paulcole]

> And if they don't want it and then we can donate books to a library or a school.

Do this while you're still alive. Don't make it your kids' duty to deal with your stuff after you're dead.

I told my dad that anything he values he needs to give away because I'm junking it. I live in a tiny apartment and have no interest/room to store a collection of stuff that I don't care about.

[jjice]

I had the exact same mindset about six months ago, before I was given a Kindle. I love paper books and I couldn't imagine why anyone used an ereader.

I have a Kindle Paperwhite, but it seems like the following of what I'm going to say applied to all modern ereaders.

The screens looks fantastic. The way in which they replicate the visual appearance of paper is surprisingly good.

Reading in the dark. They have excellent backlights and warm lights that you can configure. Reading in bed was always kind of a pain for me since I needed a separate light, but an ereader is a standalone situation. It's fantastic for reading on a plane for that reason as well.

Size and weight. I read a lot of software books that are 10"x7" (I believe that's the standard size for a lot of them) and they can get bulky to hold and carry around when you're not just reading at home. This is especially true if I'm commuting on a train or traveling. When I travel, I read more than usual, so I'd always bring another book. Having two 10"x7" books that are around 400-500 pages each is a real travel burden. My ereader has _so_ many books, including my primary reading at the time, all for probably less than 200 grams.

Selection. This one is more niche, but the reason I was initially excited when I was given a Kindle was that a book that I've wanted to read for a while only had a short run of English translations and the paperback ran around $120. The ebook was $10. It ended up being a fantastic story that got me back into reading fiction.

[runjake]

I love and grew up with paper books too. I have so many that I’m running out of places to keep them around my house.

I also read several books at the same time and carrying one Kindle is easier than carrying around a stack of books.

[brokenmachine]

I do like physical books, but I personally don't enjoy having to move to change pages.

I usually read lying on my side and that means that every second page I have to hold half the book hovering in the air which gets tiring.

An ebook is way more convenient. I can lie in one position and it doesn't change, and I don't spend half my time changing pages and getting comfortable again.

Also they have built-in backlights so I don't have to light up the whole room to be able to read.

[al_borland]

You can manage the files with Calibre[1] and sync them onto an e-reader like the Kobo with a click.

[1] https://calibre-ebook.com/

[roelj]

I only have experience with Kobo e-readers and there you can connect the e-reader over USB and just put the epub files in the root folder.

[horsellama]

Not really what you’re looking for but close

https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book