I have never heard of any of this. It sounds interesting, so I'll be sure to check your community out!
quantumlover
More people should do this. I know they won't, but they should
This is a really weird comment. Who is Aaron? I have an ereader community and this is for letting people know about it. What AI is in my community? I write about ereaders and I don't use AI. I'm not offering to filter anyones news or entertainment or coasters. I got a message from the admin of my instance saying that it's a good idea to post new communities here.
True, but I do stick to a huge amount of DRM-Free books that are offered legally, like Baen books, gutenberg, manybooks. For modern mainstream ones, I do buy the paperback version for my shelf, then do what I have to do to get the DRM-free version if you catch my drift. I want the author to be compensated. But when I buy something I want to own it for real, not license it.
But people the biggest consumers of ebooks are women and the genres are romance, light mystery, etc. That consumer target, buys via kindle, reads, deletes and on the the next one. I don't agree with Amazon donig what they are doing at all. But the vast majority of consumers just don't care. Which is how a lot of these sorts of things work. Frustrating for those of us who do care though!
Kindle is only locked if ya buy ebooks from Amazon. No Kindle has ever been locked for me, because I've sideloade all my DRM-free ebooks, for the last 20 years that I have been using ereaders, including Kindles.
The key here, and this is for any ereader, is never buy an ebook using anyone's specific DRM. Ever.
I think some people are misunderstanding the "locked" Kindle part. Those of us who are inclined to sideload and hack anyway, don't care. And the normies never ever transferred anything via USB anyway.
You can buy a brand new Kindle today, and still load your own books on it. That hasn't changed at all.
I don't support Amazon's take on this, but Grandma Jones likes reading the latest cozie mysteries on her Kindle, and she buys them from her Kindle directly anyway. She doesn't even have a USB. So it's hasn't changed for her at all either.
TL;DR: Nothing has changed for me. DRM is the real evil, and lots of places besides Amazon try that shit.
Another option is a community mini library, which if you haven’t seen one looks like this
Yep, I donated one of these to a school on my street. I also upkeep it by checking on it 2 times a week. But upkeep isn't really needed, since the books get traded back and forth on their own. It one of the more popular ones in my small town.
Sure, but I can't carry multiple books in my pocket. I have plenty of paper books, but ereaders are the way to go for me. Just have to invest in ones that are easy to change batteries and screens if they break. My kindle3 battery lasted 14 years before I had to change it. Changing it took 15 minutes. Now should last another 14 years. That's a good run for tech.
But yeah, no changing batteries on paper books. Truth be told tho, they don't make paper books as well as they used to either. For many, the glue binding fails after time.
Or just never buy actual ebooks from amazon. DRM-free is the only way to be totally free. Kindles have some good ereaders. I just never have bought an ebook or downloaded one from Amazon.
But luckily there are plenty of other ereaders besides Kindle. I do remember back in the day tho, it was Kindle or Sony. Those were the choices. I still have my Kindle 1 and the first US Sony ebook reader, and they still work!
Oh good to know! I didn't think to look for "epaper," I just searched for ereader and didn't see anything, so decided to start my own.
But we should have room for both, because not all ebook readers are e-ink, especially the older ones. I prefer e-ink eraders, but plenty were around before e-ink.
I know a lot of people love and prefer audiobooks, but I just can't listen without getting distracted. Even when I go on my daily run, which seems like it would be perfect for audiobooks, I end up not really listening. The only time I've ever been able to enjoy audiobooks, is on a plane. Because there is literally nothing for me to do, and reading makes me sick on a plane.
My nighttime bedtime reader is a PocketBook InkPad Lite with 9.7-inch screen. It's got a large screen, and soft front light. I have so many, because I just like the tech, but I have talked myself out of buying anymore. I try to keep on a budget now. Well, except for today, I ordered a miniature phone sized e-reader called the Xteink X4. Now I'm done tho buying them though!
I mostly read fiction. Right now I'm reading Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien. It’s a post-apocalyptic survival fiction novel from the late 70s, told in first person by a teenage girl trying to survive on her own.
Yesterday, I just finished up reading Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, believe it or not! That girl is my spirit animal, because I talked just like she did when I was a kid. No wonder my parents would kick me out of the house and tell me to play outside as soon as I started talking about my day! 🤣
My fav Kindles are the 3rd gen Kindle Keyboards, and KOreader doesn't really work on them.
My PocketBook InkPad Lite with 9.7-inch screen is my nice one that doesn't leave my house. I've never messed around with flashing it or anything. I installed KOreader on it when I got it, and this is my nightime-gonna-read-bedtime book. I bought it for $110 on ebay. I'm not looking forward to the day it dies.
This looks awesome! Can't wait! Sure, would have been nice if it was more grimy, but I'll take it.