I bought a Kobo Clara years ago, and it supports regular MOBI and ePub files.
My book purchases are no longer liked with the reader and I’ve never had a problem in all these years. And this wasn’t even the best or best value for money device I could have bought.
Today there are so many other better alternatives in all price points and form factors.
Without data I believe that more than 99% of ereader users have no idea what a MOBI or ePub file is and have never attempted to manually move a file onto their device. Instead, they go to a digital book store, click "buy", and content appears on their device.
Amazon does that as well as (better than?) any competitor, and crucially their store has the books people want.
I don't want a subscription store filled exclusively with LLM-generated trash. I don't really want to have to find which of a thousand websites will sell a DRM-free copy of something so I can buy it, download it, transcode it in Calibre into a format my device reads, and transfer it to my device. I'd much rather pay a few dollars, click a button that sends some money to the author and sends a book to my device.
This whole comments section reeks of "I don't understand why anyone uses Windows when Linux is so easy to get to", managing to simultaneously assume every user has a degree in computer science and overlooking all the rough edges.
(If you mean transferring them to the Kindle reader, you can of course download the books directly on-device.)
Note that Kobo will price match plus credit 10% of the difference. It’s pretty quick and I’ve never had one of my requests denied.
If that's no longer possible then there's no point in using Amazon for this, yes.
For me, the Kobo lacks something like the Send to Kindle feature.
I can send books I've obtained from outside the Kindle Store (DRM free sellers, Humble Bundle, public domain etc.) and then store them in my Kindle library.
These are then synchronised across all of my Kindle devices and apps - completely for free
Kobo does have integration with cloud storage, but it's not the same feature.
Plus it has the Kindle Store, which has the biggest selection of books for sale.
Because Amazon abuses its position to get there, right? I see how it makes it more convenient, but I also see how that is a reason for not buying a Kindle.
Maybe more intensely, if a book is available on Kindle Unlimited, Amazon has exclusive rights to the book and it is not available on any other digital store.
Surely there are bugs, but here it is, if you'd like to give it a spin: https://github.com/seanboyce/ubiblio
Interestingly enough, I had tried to find a way to add an 'email to my device' option, but it was too fiddly. I got it working with OAUTH + gmail, but setting it up was not exactly user-friendly. The simple download option worked much better.
Anyway just a weekend project I extended a little. Don't expect much polish :D
However the screenshots in the README show (for me anyway) as broken links, even though they work when clicked on. I can see you're linking to the images in the blobs. If it helps, for my own stuff in the README I link relative to the README file in the actual source. So for one of yours for example I'd use: ./ubiblio_menu.png
This also has the advantages of both being self-contained and also working locally (eg in the VS Code preview) before you've pushed the images.
It's not 2004 and it's not an iPod.
> I’m not sure why anyone buys Kindles when there are so many better options available.
My point is that the kindle _is_ an excellent experience and that’s why people buy them.
I won't pretend to know if there are enough people like us to impact Amazon's calculus, but I hope there are.
I actually picked up a refurb unit to have as a spare since Amazon discontinued it.
I would love a modern USB-C or wireless charging version of it. Roughly same size and form factor, physical buttons, backlit, and completely waterproof.
That said since they discontinued that model line I would have no real reason to stick with kindle when my two on-on hand finally kick the bucket aside from convenience.
The Kobo Libre Colour seems to be the current closest option, so we shall see how it stands the test of time for when I finally leave my last Oasis on a plane or whatnot.
I have an 2016 basic kindle that I use often, it is sideloaded with KOreader (official software didn't support epubs when I bought it) and I mainly use it for non-amazon books through Calibre or cable transfer.
First, Kindle Oasis has a great form factor. I want a reader that is shaped conveniently to hold with one hand and flip pages without having to lift my thumb. Oasis does exactly that.
Second, I find that Amazon is the most likely to have books that I care about. Other catalogs aren't as extensive, and depending on your preferences, this can get really noticeable.
Lastly, I already have a very large Kindle library from way back, and switching to a different incompatible device means abandoning all of that.
Access to my purchased books from either device anywhere, and flawless progress syncing.
I don’t take my kindle everywhere, sometimes I just have my phone but still want to read.
I don’t believe this is as easy with Kobo as with Kindle (or even possible). If it is I’ll switch.