Paperwhite 5 or Libra 2?

[BookCat]

I'm not sure about the current Amazon firmware, but Kindles tend to be an out-of-the-box easy-to-use ereader for newbies. Kobos are better, but need more fiddling-with and make good second ereaders once someone has spent time learning how to use one and hanging out on mobileread.

Unless the new ereader user will access this site for help and advice and wants a good ereader which needs love and care (Kobo), a kindle might be the best option.

[Josieb1]

I hate the latest Kindle Software and I have both an Oasis and a Libra 2, as well as others, I’d still never recommend a Kobo to all but the most PC proficient users. Amazon is the best for a person who just wants to buy, download and read.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I hate the latest Kindle Software and I have both an Oasis and a Libra 2, as well as others, I’d still never recommend a Kobo to all but the most PC proficient users. Amazon is the best for a person who just wants to buy, download and read.

Why would that be? I can buy books on my Kobo ereader and download them without needing a computer. I can even get books using Kobo Plus similar to using Kindle Unlimited except for not having an artificial limit on the number of books I can add to my Kobo Plus collection. Not many of the books I read are Amazon exclusives and I have no issues with books bought from other sources such as Baen.

For library loans, using the local library with my Kobo is a snap while no local Kindle user can borrow ebooks without a computer.

[cgsmom]

Kobo plus is not available in the US. I have noticed that some books are more expensive on Kobo than on Amazon. My library has most of my favorite authors books available on kindle. I like to sync with my phone for sideloaded content. To be honest, I have avoided owning a Kobo because of the way everyone talks about all of the customization. It sounds a little confusing. Kindle just works. My Nook is getting a little flaky and I will probably go back to Kindle. I just have to decide if the page turn buttons are worth as much to me as Amazon thinks they are.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

Kobo plus is not available in the US. I have noticed that some books are more expensive on Kobo than on Amazon. My library has most of my favorite authors books available on kindle. I like to sync with my phone for sideloaded content. To be honest, I have avoided owning a Kobo because of the way everyone talks about all of the customization. It sounds a little confusing. Kindle just works. My Nook is getting a little flaky and I will probably go back to Kindle. I just have to decide if the page turn buttons are worth as much to me as Amazon thinks they are.

I've noticed the opposite as well. However, Kobo will price match a price on Amazon with a few pennies extra tossed in. I haven't noticed Amazon doing any price matching.

If your library has Kindle format ebooks available, it will likely offer the same books in epub since as far as I am aware, Overdrive is the only library back end offering Kindle loans. In which case, you can borrow them directly from your Kobo.

As for the customization? It's available for those who want to make use of it. It is not necessary to use a Kobo. I will assume that you are aware of the Kindle Developer's subforum and the number of customizations & add-ons offered there. At this time, I am not using any customization on my Kobo's other than adding the screensaver images and sideloaded fonts directories.

I do edit most ebooks before loading them but that's my choice and due to the fact that I can do something about the wide margins, wierd line spacing, odd font size choices, etc. I tend to prefer a boring consistent look. No starting the first page of a chapter halfway down the screen, no halfpage graphics as scene breaks, etc.

As for Kobo Plus not being available in the USA? At least Kobo will sell you an ebook. B&N will not even talk to a non-USA customer. I was impressed when Amazon moved their Canadian ebook customers to Amazon.ca and managed to remove a good chunk of my purchased ebooks since the American publisher did not have the right to sell the book in Canada. That was 6 hours of my life on the phone convincing the customer non-support personnel that I either wanted a full refund on each and every book or the equivalent ebooks from the Canadian rights holder added to my content.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Why would that be? I can buy books on my Kobo ereader and download them without needing a computer. I can even get books using Kobo Plus similar to using Kindle Unlimited except for not having an artificial limit on the number of books I can add to my Kobo Plus collection. Not many of the books I read are Amazon exclusives and I have no issues with books bought from other sources such as Baen.

For library loans, using the local library with my Kobo is a snap while no local Kindle user can borrow ebooks without a computer.

I use a Kobo (after years using just Kindle) because I create my own ebooks out of word documents and sync them to my kobo using calibre. I also bought a lot of ebooks from other retailers and it’s easier to load them all into calibre and put them on a kobo. The average ebook reader isn’t interested with that.

I have two friends who both own kindles. They just want to read their books and they use both the kindle and the kindle app, both sync to last know reading position. I use two kobo’s, a big one at home and a smaller one in my handbag. I have to manually search to get to my latest reading position when I switch devices.

Also Amazon is much easier to deal with than Kobo and I know that from experience. As much as I love my kobo e-readers I don’t buy books from Kobo anymore and I certainly wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I have two friends who both own kindles. They just want to read their books and they use both the kindle and the kindle app, both sync to last know reading position. I use two kobo’s, a big one at home and a smaller one in my handbag. I have to manually search to get to my latest reading position when I switch devices.

I have several friends and co-workers who own Kobo ereaders and also use the Kobo app on iOS and Android. A book purchased from Kobo and downloaded by the ereaders and apps will synchronize the reading position so I see no real advantage to using a Kindle under those circumstances.

This does not happen with books not purchased from Kobo so a point in favour of Amazon though that does require me to use email/Send to Kindle so Amazon has a copy of the book. Since my personal preference for 90% of my books is to sideload via USB, neither Kobo nor Amazon will synchronize reading position between devices.

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Also Amazon is much easier to deal with than Kobo and I know that from experience. As much as I love my kobo e-readers I don’t buy books from Kobo anymore and I certainly wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

In my experience, I haven't found it any more difficult to deal with Amazon or Kobo other than the time that my ebooks were booted from Amazon.com to Amazon.ca which results in a 6 hour phone call trying to convince the $%^&*}s that I wanted either a full refund on or the replacement of the ebooks that were removed from my account with copies that were from publishers who had the Canadian publishing rights. An experience that I ranked up with dealing with Beastly Tel back in the days of yore for unpleasantness.

As usual, YMMV.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I have several friends and co-workers who own Kobo ereaders and also use the Kobo app on iOS and Android. A book purchased from Kobo and downloaded by the ereaders and apps will synchronize the reading position so I see no real advantage to using a Kindle under those circumstances.

This does not happen with books not purchased from Kobo so a point in favour of Amazon though that does require me to use email/Send to Kindle so Amazon has a copy of the book. Since my personal preference for 90% of my books is to sideload via USB, neither Kobo nor Amazon will synchronize reading position between devices.

I’m reading my Amazon purchases on my Kobo.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I'm not sure about the current Amazon firmware, but Kindles tend to be an out-of-the-box easy-to-use ereader for newbies. Kobos are better, but need more fiddling-with and make good second ereaders once someone has spent time learning how to use one and hanging out on mobileread.

Unless the new ereader user will access this site for help and advice and wants a good ereader which needs love and care (Kobo), a kindle might be the best option.

The OP asked here. So I would expect the OP to be back after purchase.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If your library has Kindle format ebooks available, it will likely offer the same books in epub since as far as I am aware, Overdrive is the only library back end offering Kindle loans. In which case, you can borrow them directly from your Kobo.

Most eBooks available on Overdrive US are available in ePub & Kindle. But there are some that are not Kindle but ePub and ePub and not Kindle. But these are the minor exceptions.

The two advantages that Kindle had over Kobo are gone. One was the better dictionary and the other was the ability to adjust the weight on side loaded fonts. Kobo has caught up and those advantage no longer exist.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The two advantages that Kindle had over Kobo are gone. One was the better dictionary and the other was the ability to adjust the weight on side loaded fonts. Kobo has caught up and those advantage no longer exist.

There's still the global search. And the ability to sync sideloaded content.

Of course Kobo has more advantages as of now.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

There's still the global search. And the ability to sync sideloaded content.

Of course Kobo has more advantages as of now.

Global search is meh! And the sync emailed content is not something that can be done out of the box. That's an advanced feature. Most people will be reading a book on the Reader and that's it.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I’m reading my Amazon purchases on my Kobo.

Most of the time, I read my Amazon purchases on my Kobos and I've read my Kobo purchases on my PW4 though it's main use is the few ebooks I obtain from Kindle Unlimited. Format conversion is probably a common enough scenario for MobileRead users.

I think we can agree that most of the people posting on MobileRead are not the average ereader customer who is happy to download books from the vendor of their ereader and/or library books. Considering how many of my acquaintances who read ebooks simply read on their phone or tablet and see no reason for a another device to read on makes it easy to understand that I am a fan of what are niche devices at best.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

There's still the global search. And the ability to sync sideloaded content.

Of course Kobo has more advantages as of now.

I use the Power Search plugin for calibre for the few times I've wanted to do a global search on my library. Considering the issues that have been mentioned about indexing getting stuck on Kindles—which I've personally run into a couple of time—I prefer to use a more powerful device.

If syncing sideloaded content would allowing KF8 as an output format, I might be happier with it. Even with removing mobi from the permitted input formats, the last test I did converted an epub into a KF7/mobi format to send to my PW4.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I use the Power Search plugin for calibre for the few times I've wanted to do a global search on my library. Considering the issues that have been mentioned about indexing getting stuck on Kindles—which I've personally run into a couple of time—I prefer to use a more powerful device.

If syncing sideloaded content would allowing KF8 as an output format, I might be happier with it. Even with removing mobi from the permitted input formats, the last test I did converted an epub into a KF7/mobi format to send to my PW4.

I don't use syncing either, and while I'd like global search on a Kobo, the lack of it is not a dealbreaker for me. Still, for many people syncing is a must-have, from the numerous posts in the Kindle forum here I've read over the years.