so are new e-reader devices no longer a thing now?

[DNSB]

Heck, even if I compare the cost of my Kobo Sage to my ebook purchases for a year, the Sage is by far the lower cost item.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Heck, even if I compare the cost of my Kobo Sage to my ebook purchases for a year, the Sage is by far the lower cost item.

Having just right now ordered a replacement Sage, I will keep a check on my ebook purchases going forward to see if this is also true for me

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Renate

Are you still using the Clara HD? Have you tried the Clara BW?
The Clara HD is not even Carta 1200.
I went from Onyx Poke5 to Go6 (1200 -> 1300) and I found the upgrade worthwhile.

I still have the Clara HD, but I mostly read on my Nook Glowlight 3. I like its warm light the best. Completely even screen lighting. (This is the one with the old firmware that still had hyphens and reasonable font size selections.)

As far as seeing a Clara BW, the only way I could do that is if I bought one and I definitely don't need another reader at this time — especially not another 6" one.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Heck, even if I compare the cost of my Kobo Sage to my ebook purchases for a year, the Sage is by far the lower cost item.

I think I probably spent less than $15 on books last year, and maybe $25 the year before. This year, so far, $0. Most of my fiction reading comes from the library — and the non-fiction books I read are either public domain, or sell for $1 or $2 on Amazon. (And I've got enough of those to last me for the rest of my life.)

[DNSB]

When you get up into reading 1,000 books per year, the cost starts adding up. All amounts are in Canadian dollars. My Sage and sleepcover were purchased with a 25% off discount so $299.99 + $59.99 dropped to ~$279 (~$202 US at current exchange rates). I use Kobo Plus quite a bit so ~$120 per year plus quite a few Kobo, Amazon, etc. books that I purchase on $0.99 to $2.99 sales. I also purchase quite a few books directly from the authors since that gets the most money into their hands and, hopefully, will encourage them to keep writing. Then we have my must purchase authors/books which have run me up to ~$25 each. A quick total says that in 2024, I spent about $690 on books. Considering my Sage was purchased in Oct. 2021, that cost has now been spread over several years.

Currently, my calibre library says that I have ~16,500 books since I started collecting and reading ebooks. Not all are marked read since that capability was not present in the first versions of calibre I ran and I have never taken the time to manually set those books from 2013 and earlier to be marked as finished.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

This thread got me checking options and comfirmed that here in Aotearoa, there are not many. Pocketbook STILL doesn't sell here and won't list prices for here, although their price in euors is at least 10% higher than Kobo 'equivalents' before factoring in the cost of arranging 3rd party shipping. ...

If you're interested in PocketBooks you might want to check out Techinn.com. They supposedly ship to New Zealand and will list their prices in New Zealand dollars.

https://www.tradeinn.com/techinn/en?...%5D=pocketbook

In the U.S. their advertised prices are significantly less than Amazon's prices (Verse Pro is $157 through them, $185 via Amazon), but it might even out if they charge a lot for shipping. (I put one in the cart to check the shipping cost to the U.S. — $12, so still quite a bit cheaper than Amazon.)

That said, I've never bought from Techinn and so can't personally vouch for the company. But it might be an option.

EDIT: I forgot about duties, so that might change the price also. I don't know for sure. I'm guessing they have to charge them, but they're not showing up in the U.S. "basket."

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by rcentros

EDIT: I forgot about duties, so that might change the price also. I don't know for sure. I'm guessing they have to charge them, but they're not showing up in the U.S. "basket."

Yes, their prices are much more appealing than pocketbookstore.com but that "no import duties to be paid" concerns me. EVERY item coming in here has to have 15% GST (VAT) added, but it's possible techinn doesn't consider that an import duty, as it's not a Customs import levy. I'll have to do some research here and find out what buying experience is like in terms of hidden surprises. Thank ofr the tipoff!

[Amalthia]

I'd like to see Kobo, Pocketbook, and Kindle improve the UI interface and general software.

Most of the updates seem related to hardware but I haven't really seen any great improvements with the software...However, maybe that's just Pocketbook making incremental changes. Though I do read the updates for Kobo and Kindle, but most of the updates again focus on hardware changes, not software so I don't know for example if Kobo has fixed the device crashing problem?

[Sirtel]

What device crashing problem?

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I'd like to see Kobo, Pocketbook, and Kindle improve the UI interface and general software.

Most of the updates seem related to hardware but I haven't really seen any great improvements with the software...However, maybe that's just Pocketbook making incremental changes. Though I do read the updates for Kobo and Kindle, but most of the updates again focus on hardware changes, not software so I don't know for example if Kobo has fixed the device crashing problem?

I've had 5 different Kobo models over the last 7 years, and have not had any "crashing problem" with any of the 7 devices I've owned. What are the problems you're referring to?

[Sirtel]

While software improvements would be nice, of course, I'm fairly satisfied with the Kobo software as it currently is. The last thing I'd want Kobo to do is to lock their devices down like Amazon did. If that was the price of improvements, then no thanks.

Still, there are a few things Kobo could do with their software - improve kepub justification, for example. And lots of people would welcome syncing for sideloaded books.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I'd like to see Kobo, Pocketbook, and Kindle improve the UI interface and general software.

Most of the updates seem related to hardware but I haven't really seen any great improvements with the software...However, maybe that's just Pocketbook making incremental changes. Though I do read the updates for Kobo and Kindle, but most of the updates again focus on hardware changes, not software so I don't know for example if Kobo has fixed the device crashing problem?

Kobo doesn't have a device crashing problem. I've not seen crashing problems with Kobo, Sony, or Kindle.

With Readers, most problems are due to eBooks with errors. These eBooks are usually gotten from dodgy sources and case the problem.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

While software improvements would be nice, of course, I'm fairly satisfied with the Kobo software as it currently is. The last thing I'd want Kobo to do is to lock their devices down like Amazon did. If that was the price of improvements, then no thanks.

Still, there are a few things Kobo could do with their software - improve kepub justification, for example. And lots of people would welcome syncing for sideloaded books.

Kobo could also update to the latest version of RMSDK.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo could also update to the latest version of RMSDK.

Are they still 9-something like B&N?

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

lots of people would welcome syncing for sideloaded books.

Why yes, yes we would.