I have an old kindle and I love it. Does everything I need it to. Read books with a backlight, that's it.
this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2025
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I'm still using my 8 year old eink e-reader.
That's probably the problem
I use my job with library books fairly often, though the waiting list is sometimes 6-8 weeks for popular titles.
Of all the people I know who bought into e-readers, they all just went back to books. Kindle is the only one that seems to still pop up, but people hate amazon so much they'd far father buy from mom and pop shops.
I'm going to be honest, I read on my Kobo way more than I read physical books, and I own a floor to ceiling bookshelf in desperate need of weeding. Public library integration through Libby can't be beat, I love that it has a backlight, and it's more comfortable to read long novels especially- and no danger of ruining. Don't get me wrong- I love the tactile feel of paper and the smell of old books, but there's a lot to be said for convenience. Also- library ebooks don't accrue late fees, which have been a major source of guilt for me my entire life.
I jailbroke my Kindle and use KOReader on it which made my Kindle 10x better. But you're right in that I'd support mom & pop before Amazon.
I tossed KOReader on my Kobo Libra 2 recently after a year of thinking it didn't add anything useful. Oh boy, was I wrong.
It's so much faster, I can dial in the formatting exactly how I want it, and I can customize the inputs to my liking. Page turn only on physical buttons, tap a corner to toggle dark mode, etc.
I may look into getting an e-reader later on in the year. The Colorsoft seems intriguing.
If your primary usecase is text, don't get a color e-reader. There are significant downsides to the display quality for very little benefit.
If you are wanting to read comics, manga, or illustrated guides, then you will want the color.
I'm a big fan of the Kobo Libra design. It's friendly to software mods and has a rail for holding it with a nice big button that sits under the thumb for page turning.
I find that the Kindle-style thin bezel gives no comfortable way to hold an e-reader since the only good place to put your thumb is on the screen, the primary input method. It leads to a bad experience and turns people off from e-readers.
E-ink is a slow developing technology so for a while a screen was good for 5 years or so, meaning model churn was low. And readers tend to stick with a device they like until it wears out. That’s not very profitable so premium readers came along with finer dpi and colour and waterproofing and Bluetooth for audiobooks.