Hi, help with Kindle Oasis vs Kobo Libra 2

[MonicaOP]

Hi, I have had Kindle devices since I started reading in this devices but I don't think I can afford another Kindle Oasis, so I was wondering what do you all think about the Kobo Libra 2.

I need a device with buttons, I'm really not a fan of passing pages with touchscreens, also I don't know if there is a plugin like Kindle Collections that work with Kobo Libra 2, I miss it so much!!!

I need a device that can let me upload a lot of fanfics and chinese novels, that works with mobi and epub and that has light on it's own.

Also if I could see the lengths of the books as I did with the kindle keyboard it will be amazing!!

Thanks for any help. Be well, Monica

[Sirtel]

With a Kobo, you don't need the collections plugin. Calibre sends both the collections and series info to your Kobo automatically. Collections can be based on tags or any other custom column you want, the column must be specified in the Kobo driver settings.

Mobi support on a Kobo is pretty awful, better to convert your mobis to epub or kepub.

You can't see the length of books by default. But you can add the page count to the calibre comments section and this information will be included in the book details on your Kobo. You can presumably also use a subtitle field for page count (I haven't tried that myself).

Lastly, the Kobo Libra 2 is a bit slower than the Kindle Oasis 3 (but still a lot faster than the Keyboard), but its screen is better - sharper and more contrasty. The frontlight is also very good, at least on mine.

[Quoth]

The slower speed might only be evident with comics or PDFs.
Certainly my Libra, Libra2 and Sage are all better than the Oasis gen 2 I had (32G + 3G) which I gave to someone that really only uses audio books on phone.

I use Kobo utilities for Annotation/highlight/bookmark export on Kobo, though you can enable a menu option for text file per book export on the Kobo. Also you can use Kobo Utilities for reading position & status read/write.

I used Kindle for years and now only have it for testing (DXG, KK3, PW3) or download of bought Kindle ebooks to PC for Calibre (PW3). Far better support for annotation, series, collections and PDF now supports per book crop.

[rantanplan]

Kobo is (IMHO of course) better in all aspects except that they make it hard to migrate to them. Yes, you can manually copy epubs / kepubs, use Calibre etc but they don't have a cloud for managing your existing library or sync your reading progress. You always have to use workarounds for synching like https://kobli.me/ that may just stop working or reach the end of life.

Amazon at least gives you the option to send them epubs as documents, pocketbook has a 5 GB cloud for existing epubs, Tolino offers 20 GB for existing epubs IIRC. But Kobo doesn't do any of that.

[Quoth]

The cloud is someone else's server. I'm not interested in putting my content on someone else's server.

However some Kobo models have Dropbox and Google. Also books you buy from Kobo can be downloaded again.

If going from eink Kindle to anything else, then Calibre is the best migration tool. Download all your bought books to PC and add to Calibre after adding that eink Kindle's serial number to the suitable plugin.

Cloud is actually only of any value to migrate if you haven't Windows, Mac or Linux. Calibre is a better tool.
And if you have a tablet with a file manager and DRM free ebooks and a USB host mode, you don't need the "cloud".

Amazon only syncs their apps and ereaders.

I've migrated 3 Kindle users and all their existing content to Kobos without the Cloud.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The cloud is someone else's server. I'm not interested in putting my content on someone else's server.

Yes, and that gives me ease of use. I don't care if you don't like it or don't want to use it, because nobody is forcing you to use it, it's an opt-in feature. You can just ignore it. But that doesn't mean that the feature isn't useful.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Kobo is (IMHO of course) better in all aspects except that they make it hard to migrate to them. Yes, you can manually copy epubs / kepubs, use Calibre etc but they don't have a cloud for managing your existing library or sync your reading progress. You always have to use workarounds for synching like https://kobli.me/ that may just stop working or reach the end of life.

Amazon at least gives you the option to send them epubs as documents, pocketbook has a 5 GB cloud for existing epubs, Tolino offers 20 GB for existing epubs IIRC. But Kobo doesn't do any of that.

Dunno. I was a Kindle user for a decade, but I never found much use for whispersync or the Kindle cloud. Managing my library with Calibre was easier, finding my place in a book was faster manually than via syncing, and using Dropbox for cloud backup was more useful. So migrating to Kobo didn't change anything at all for me. I switched between two or more Kindles, now I switch between my two Kobos, and it isn't hard to find my place quickly enough. Frankly I never understood the attraction of Amazon cloud, although I did use it in the beginning. Managing my books there was abysmal and whispersync was too slow. YMMV.

[rantanplan]

Interesting, for me syncing is almost instantly. Maybe their software did improve on this ��

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Interesting, for me syncing is almost instantly. Maybe their software did improve on this ��

It certainly wasn't instant 10 years ago, but then Kindles were much slower overall. Also I kept my Kindles offline most of the time, because I wanted no software updates suddenly sprung on me and to conserve battery. So switching wifi on, waiting for syncing to finish, switching wifi off took more time than finding my place manually.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It certainly wasn't instant 10 years ago, but then Kindles were much slower overall. Also I kept my Kindles offline most of the time, because I wanted no software updates suddenly sprung on me and to conserve battery. So switching wifi on, waiting for syncing to finish, switching wifi off took more time than finding my place manually.

Sync on two devices to sync.

I wonder how many people actually read the same book on more than one device?
No-one I know personally and I know at least 16 people using ereaders or apps (none seem to use both), here, IRL.

[DNSB]

Hmmm... when my PW 10th gen installed 5.16.4, I did a reset/cleanup and it took a bleep of a lot longer to sync my Amazon books back to the PW that it took syncing 3 times the number of books in my Kobo account when I did the same on my Clara HD. The Clara HD also allowed me to hit download all after the initial 5 book automatic download while the Kindle required me to download them individually.

I will admit that there might be way to force download all on the Kindle but that is not in an easy to find location and a quick web search did not find anything other than display all books and tap on them to download.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I wonder how many people actually read the same book on more than one device?

I do, actually. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I do, actually. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I'm sure also.

[MonicaOP]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I do, actually. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Oh I re-read my fanfics a lot!! Specially when I'm down I usually go back to my favourites!!

Tons of thanks for all the help in making a choice for my new device. The good thing is that I don't really have a lot of books from Amazon, 99% of my content, that is in the thousands, is filled of fanfics!!

Be well Hugs!! Monica

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Sync on two devices to sync.

I wonder how many people actually read the same book on more than one device?
No-one I know personally and I know at least 16 people using ereaders or apps (none seem to use both), here, IRL.

I do. My "syncing" is remembering the page number from the one eReader when I pick up the second. That's the main reason why I like (and use) ePubs rather than KePubs.