One Massive Reason to Consider Kobo Over Kindle

I bought a Kindle a few years ago. I’m not a massive reader, but I do love the idea of reading on trips and the likes. It was so long ago since I really read anything that I wanted to jump start myself again. For me, that’s usually making a purchase. Want to start working out? New runners. Starting a new job? Get an iPad for paperless note-taking. Want to start reading? Buy a new e-reader.

Naturally, my first thought was Kindle, but then I figured I should look at the alternatives and boy am I glad I did. I picked up the Kobo Clara Colour and love it. But not for the reason I bought it.

Ok, I Bought It for Colour e-Ink

I’m just going to get it out of the way. The main reason I now love the Kobo Clara Colour isn’t the colour e-ink screen. So feel free to just buy the Kobo Clara BW (that’s BW for black and white).

But that is the main reason I bought it. Kindle still doesn’t do colour and I figured I might like reading some comics or something. To be honest, my early plays around with colour content haven’t been good. The magazines are complicated to make sense of and the colours are washed out.

The colour e-ink screen uses battery faster than regular e-ink and also isn’t as bright as traditional black and white e-ink.

90% of regular reading doesn’t need colour and the other 10% isn’t essential anyway. Oh, I do get a colour cover which is great. But you really really don’t need it.

In fact, I got the Kobo Clara Colour at a better price because it’s not selling as well. My stubbornness knows no bounds because I now knew I was buying the lesser device. For colour. That I didn’t need.

Just buy the black and white one.

I digress. The point I’m making that’s far more important that the two Kobo models. I want to talk to you about the slam dunk reason to pick a Kobo over Kindle.

Free eBooks on Kobo (from Irish Libraries)

Aside from the colour e-ink thing, I did do some digging into whether I could read e-books from the library on a Kindle. It turns out you can’t. Who knew that Amazon really only had interest in your reading books that they sell you.

The Kindle is the iPhone of e-readers. I keep calling my Kobo “a Kindle” because it’s the best known e-reader by a long way. But it really shouldn’t be. Amazon is just happy to be a loss-leader in this space. That means they’ll make a small loss on selling you a Kindle, knowing you’ll have to come crawling to them for all the content and pay for that instead.

It’s genius business. Horrible business, but also a little genius.

But I’m a member of the Dublin City Libraries and I know they let me read e-books. Surely there would be a way to download an e-book from the library and read it on my e-reader. As it happens, because I went with Kobo, there was.

How to Download Irish Library e-Books to e-Readers

First things first. Get on over to your local library website and get yourself a new account.

Now that you’re a library member, congrats. You’re part of the elite and have access to an incredible amount of resources. Seriously, you’d be amazed what libraries have to offer. Ballyfermot has a video and audio recording studio and most libraries have a home efficiency test kit. Libraries are class.

Next, you will need some sort of computer. Both Windows and MacBooks will work. To transfer files from your machine to your Kobo e-reader, you’ll need Adobe Digital Editions.

Now, search for and download whatever books you want. Irish libraries use BorrowBox. This is the same app that lets you read on tablets and phones. After you’ve searched and found the book you want, download it and click the file that gets downloaded. This shortcut/link will open in Adobe Digital Editions.

Connect your Kobo e-reader by USB cable to your machine and drag the file across when your Kobo e-reader appears in Adobe Digital Editions.

That’s it. You’re ready to read digital books from Irish libraries on your e-reader.

I haven’t tested this extensively, but I will say that achieving this much was relatively easy. And once you crack this, it’s free books for life. Score.

It’s not a perfect solution, mind. Kobo will sell you books too and Kobo’s premium service hasn’t had a book I was looking for yet. Also, just because these are digital books doesn’t mean there is an endless supply of them. You might have to wait for someone else’s loan to end before you can pick up a digital copy of a book (just like the old days).

But as I head into my second week with my Kobo e-reader, I don’t regret it and I’ve read more in the past week that I probably have in the whole year up till this point. And that’s saying something. I’m not calling this a review. I might do a deeper review of my new Kobo Clara Colour. But for now, I’d implore you to consider not buying a Kindle, and instead buy an e-reader that supports BorrowBox.

Written by

Marty
Martyhttps://muckrack.com/marty-goosed
Founding Editor of Goosed, Marty is a massive fan of tech making life easier. You'll often find him testing something new, brewing beer or finding some new foodie spots in Dublin, Ireland. - Find me on Threads

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