32GB e-ink reader recommendations?

[Phssthpok]

I have a 32GB Kindle Oasis whose battery now needs charging at least once a day. so I'm planning to replace it quite soon. I have a lot of books, so I need a 32GB device, but the Kindle interface doesn't lend itself to managing several thousand books. I keep my master copies as epubs in Calibre, and convert to AZW3 for uploading to the Kindle, so I'm not particularly format-sensitive.

I'm looking for a recommendation for another 32GB device I can consider instead, with definitely an e-ink display but preferably a nicer UI than the Kindle (genre tagging support would be particularly welcome, also being able to browse a list of authors rather than a list of books). Any thoughts?

[Sirtel]

Kobo Sage or Kobo Libra 2. Both are 32GB and the UI is better than that on the Kindles. You can manage series, collections and metadata automatically via Calibre, browse your library by authors and series and so on. Collections can be set with genre tags, if you want.

Kobo Sage is 8'', Kobo Libra 2 is 7''.

[Lys]

If you already use Calibre and have your master library there, in my opinion, Kobo devices offer a great experience with it.

The Kobo UI lists books in four different (and separated) views:
- by Title
- by Authors
- by Series
- by Collection (that you can manage automatically with Calibre and its Kobo driver plugins)

Then, within each view, you can filter by status (Read, To Read, Reading, Books Sideloaded, Purchased, Download through Dropbox) and you can order by some other criteria that slightly change from view to view (Alphabetically, Reading Date, Date books have been added, by Author, by Series, etc)

The Libra 2 has 32 GB of storage + buttons, and it is a great device all around

EDIT: I always forget the Sage has 32 GB as well Bigger screen than Libra, worse battery life, pen support to take notes if it's something you need

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

I keep my master copies as epubs in Calibre

Android device (Boox, Meebook) with Calibre Companion.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Android device (Boox, Meebook) with Calibre Companion.

The OP should be warned that Calibre Companion is abandonware, its development has been dead for a while now. It may still work on Android, but for how long, no one knows.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by Lys

If you already use Calibre and have your master library there, in my opinion, Kobo devices offer a great experience with it.

The Kobo UI lists books in four different (and separated) views:
- by Title
- by Authors
- by Series
- by Collection (that you can manage automatically with Calibre and its Kobo driver plugins)

Then, within each view, you can filter by status (Read, To Read, Reading, Books Sideloaded, Purchased, Download through Dropbox) and you can order by some other criteria that slightly change from view to view (Alphabetically, Reading Date, Date books have been added, by Author, by Series, etc)

The Libra 2 has 32 GB of storage + buttons, and it is a great device all around

EDIT: I always forget the Sage has 32 GB as well Bigger screen than Libra, worse battery life, pen support to take notes if it's something you need

Thanks. The Sage looks nice.

I had a quick look at the Kobo user manual and I couldn't see anything about the features you list -- just a home screen with a few cover images and links to Overdrive and somewhere else, and search by author or title, and organising by collection -- basically exactly the same features as the Kindle UI (although I display the books as a list, rather than cover images, but the user manual doesn't seem to say anything about what the options are for formatting the home screen).

When you say "by author", is this a list of authors which you can click on/expand to get to books by that author, or just a list of books sorted by author (which is all the Kindle can do)?

Can you somehow create collections automagically from Calibre genres?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

When you say "by author", is this a list of authors which you can click on/expand to get to books by that author, or just a list of books sorted by author (which is all the Kindle can do)?

The first.

Can you somehow create collections automagically from Calibre genres?

Yes. By using the Kobo driver for Calibre.

[Lys]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

When you say "by author", is this a list of authors which you can click on/expand to get to books by that author, or just a list of books sorted by author (which is all the Kindle can do)?

Can you somehow create collections automagically from Calibre genres?

Sirtel already answered, but yes: the Kobo behaviour for the author/series/collection view is:

-> list the authors (or the series or the collection) by whatever criteria you want (and filter them by whatever criteria you want)

-> click on the author name (or on the series name, or on the collection name) and you will be directed to the list of books that match your selection (and again you can filter and order the books by whatever criteria you want)


With Calibre you can automagically maintain Series info, Collections structure, and custom subtitles.

If you need/want screenshots, I can take some from my Libra H2O

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The first.

Yes. By using the Kobo driver for Calibre.

Looking at the Calibre Kobo driver, it talks about turning series into collections. Will it work equally if you choose tags instead of series (esp. since a book may have multiple tags)?

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by Lys

If you need/want screenshots, I can take some from my Libra H2O

Yes please!

Would like to see stuff like home screen settings, author list, and anything else you can think of that would impress me.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by Lys

Sirtel already answered, but yes: the Kobo behaviour for the author/series/collection view is:

-> list the authors (or the series or the collection) by whatever criteria you want (and filter them by whatever criteria you want)

-> click on the author name (or on the series name, or on the collection name) and you will be directed to the list of books that match your selection (and again you can filter and order the books by whatever criteria you want)


With Calibre you can automagically maintain Series info, Collections structure, and custom subtitles.

If you need/want screenshots, I can take some from my Libra H2O

Also, is there a "real" user manual somewhere which shows all this stuff, as opposed to the one I found here which makes it look as uninspiring as a Kindle?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Looking at the Calibre Kobo driver, it talks about turning series into collections. Will it work equally if you choose tags instead of series (esp. since a book may have multiple tags)?

That's obsolete info. Kobo can do series now itself, no need to set up series as collections. And yes, you can choose whatever column you want for collections, including tags.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Also, is there a "real" user manual somewhere which shows all this stuff, as opposed to the one I found here which makes it look as uninspiring as a Kindle?

Frankly, I've never read the official Kobo user manual. I switched to Kobo from Kindle in 2019. Most of what I know I've learned from the Kobo forum here.

[Lys]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Yes please!

Would like to see stuff like home screen settings, author list, and anything else you can think of that would impress me.

My UI language is in Italian, but it should be understandable enough

1) Home layout can't be changed (afaik). You basically have the top row with the books you are reading, then a section under that links to your books (on the left), and to the last collection/series/author you opened (on the right).
Below that you have two links to the Kobo shop page and the other does change showing different Kobo services (once it linked to something else, but I can't remember, tbh lol)

The footer has quick access to your library, your services over wifi (Shop, Overdrive, Dropbox if it's supported for your device/country), the menu (Altro) to access the configuration for the device, and finally NickelMenu is not something out-of-the-box, but it's a very nice tool you can install and that allows you to access to functionality not available by default on your device (Dropbox for Libra, for example), or to enable in a more quick way functionalities that are available but that requires multiple taps or to play around with the config file (screenshots, custom screensavers if you don't want to display the cover of the book you are reading and so on)


That's all for library management, I think (as you can see, I use as subtitles the # of pages that the Count Page plugin gives me)

And yes, collections can be whatever you want (one or more calibre columns, regular or custom ones), and you can change them whenever you want because the driver has a nice option to delete empty collections
The only limitation I'm aware of is that if you want to use wifi and sync if you have a lot of collections (70+), the sync process can get struck.

[Lys]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Frankly, I've never read the official Kobo user manual. I switched to Kobo from Kindle in 2019. Most of what I know I've learned from the Kobo forum here.

That's two of us