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Comment by aw3c2 | Hacker News Reader

I want to buy a DRM-free ebook reader. I will read mostly epub, but support for HTML and TXT would be nice. Extra points if it supports archives. Any suggestions?

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You could buy one of the really ugly Chinese e-ink readers, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Kobo makes several very nice ereaders which support EPUB, MOBI, HTML, TXT, even CBR/CBZ out of the box. They technically support DRM through the books sold in their marketplace, but you never have to use that.

Kobo's look perfect, thanks!

I've been a long-time e-reader user. Started with my tiny HP Jornada in 2002 (Pocket PC anyone?) and I've been through many phones, tablets and e-ink readers.

Obviously it all depends on personal reading preferences but my favorite reading devices are the backlit e-ink/e-paper devices.

- Tablets are heavy. You should be able to hold a reading device with one hand for a long time without an uncomfortable weight. - Tablets are battery hungry (even though this is usually not a big problem for me). - There's less distraction with a "reading-only" device.

I understand that you don't want to support Amazon (which rules out Kindle Paperwhite) or B&N (which rules out Nook GlowLight). In the past I used Sony PRS devices and I was very happy with them but I've never used the new ones such as the backlit PRS 700. Maybe something like PocketBook?

Have a look at this old HN discussion. There seems to be some good advice: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4682793

Get a Nexus and use something like Moonreader+?

http://www.moondownload.com/

You can simply use a tablet with a DRM-free OS. There are open source reader programs like fbreader for example.

I'm not sure about dedicated reader devices (like with ink-screen or the like).

Get a Kindle but never register/activate it. EPUBs can be converted to MOBI with calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/

That already supports a product which proliferates DRM (Kindle). So it's not the best approach if you want to support the DRM-free cause. Plus you can't really purge Kindle of DRM in the system unless you wipe out the whole OS and install something alternative.

That's in theory. In practice Amazon either subsidizes or doesn't have much of a mark up on the price of the Kindles; and hopes to make it up by selling DRM products.

May be. Then it's just symbolic. I.e. buying the product shows support for it in the eyes of Amazon (even if they don't profit from physical devices they benefit from popularity). Not buying it should imply that you want to discourage their insulting and unethical attitude of treating users as criminals by default.

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