[tfsh]

Kobos doesn't require a subscription. I switched from a Kindle to a Kobo Clara Colour recently and it's honestly one of the best tech choices I've ever made. Kobos are hackable by default, so you can literally plug them into Chrome and flash new software onto them via WebUSB (or just via the file system). The real kicker for me though is the support with Calibre, I have a massive collection of maybe 2000 books, and this perfectly syncs with my Kobo supporting filtering, collections, etc. attempting this with even 10 books with my Kindle would routinely break down, books not appearing even after waiting hours for it to index, corrupt file systems, etc, the entire device is designed to push you towards Amazon store, including the scammy "pay £20 more to remove adverts" and them disguising the actual price as "reduced".

The fee GP pointed to is a monthly subscription similar to Amazon's Kindle book club offering.