Kobo Libra now or wait for Kindle Oasis sale?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by saak

The Overdrive support in the USA is certainly a big plus.

I haven't used Overdrive with a Kindle and have only toyed with it on my Kobo. But the basic way it works for each is:

On Kobo, you browse Overdrive just like you would the Kobo store and instead of clicking Buy Now, you click Borrow with Overdrive. Very simple.

With Kindle, you need a PC to browse Overdrive and check out a book. Once you do, it is sent to your Kindle without having to connect it to a PC.

I do wonder if the slightly different shapes (Kobo Libra having the side with buttons slightly elevated at an angle vs Kindle Oasis being rather flat all around) make a difference in ergonomics and ease of holding for long periods of time.

I haven't held a Voyage or a Libra.

Just looking at them, the Oasis seems like it would be more comfortable to hold. But from asking people on here that own both, the Libra is equally comfortable or more comfortable. That doesn't make sense to me, but it is what I've been told.

[haydnfan]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

With Kindle, you need a PC to browse Overdrive and check out a book. Once you do, it is sent to your Kindle without having to connect it to a PC.

You don't need a PC, a phone or a tablet will do.

[haydnfan]

Originally Posted by saak

Could you elaborate on this for me and for others who do not understand why battery life drains due to indexing issues?

When a book is downloaded or sideloaded onto a Kindle, the Kindle has to index the book to make it searchable for words and phrases. That takes time and battery life. If you load your entire large library on it all at once you can quickly and repeatedly drain the battery while it does it. People not understanding this process will leave very negative reviews because they think the battery life is on par or worse than a smart phone.

The rest of us that know better just plug the Kindle in and let it go overnight. When it is done indexing the battery life is fine especially if you keep wifi off and the frontlight at a low setting.

There are many criticisms I could make about Kindle, but battery life is not a valid one.

[Deskisamess]

Loading a ton of books at one time can also cause one or more books to get "stuck" while indexing. This chews up the battery, and prevents other books from being indexed. When that happens, books need to be removed from the device and redownloaded.

Books like study bibles can take hours to index as well. I don't know if the newer models have the same issues as the older Kindles, but I'm assuming the behind the scenes processes have not changed all that much.

The battery life on the 2nd gen Oasis is dismal. Combined with my reading style and habits, mean I need to plug mine in every 3 days. It's not a huge problem when at home, but I take a Paperwhite when traveling. My Oasis also goes from 30% battery to zip in huge leaps.

I like the screen size and the lighting is better than the 4th gen Paperwhite, but wouldn't repeat the purchase if I had it to do over again.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

You don't need a PC, a phone or a tablet will do.

Yes, yes, yes. Point is, you need a device other than the Kindle. Whereas on a Kobo, the whole process can be done on the Kobo itself.

[Quoth]

I have three kindles. I use them to test ebooks sold on Amazon.

All my reading is on a Kobo Libra. My first Kobo was the Aura H2O original and I still have it. It's also good, better than the Kindles, but not as good as the Libra.

I use one Kindle for UK book purchases and one Kindle for USA book purchases, if it's not on Smashwords. I then select Download to PC rather than Whispernet (phone or tablet or Mac or Linux also works as a "PC" for the download) and have a backup. I use Calibre and a plugin to convert to epub for the Libra.

Also not all Amazon books have DRM, unless you allow whispernet, when even ones supposed to be DRM free have added DRM!

Downloading via WiFi on the Kobo from Smashwords or Gutenberg works, but a phone, tablet or laptop makes more sense.

[Scaledish]

just wanted to say three things

1. unless you are into BUYING magma/comics 8gigs is NOT a issue. a book is at most like 4mb. if your borrowing comics via overdrive... theyl be gone in 20 days... and you wont have more then 5 of em at a time.

2. have a forma. the light problem is a small issue... its not evenly distributed... but is fine... that being said... dunno what I am missing out on.

3. overdrive on kobos are so nice. love it. i serch a book... then just borrow it... ON the device. for kindles you need to use a computer I think... and as a heavy library user... that ruins it.

[Deskisamess]

I use my public library all the time. I have a hold list, a wish list, and a loan list. On my iPad it takes maybe a minute to borrow the book, and send it from Amazon. It's not difficult or time consuming at all. I use my iPad all day, and the library site seems snappy and works well.

Typing a search on an e-ink device would take at least that long, although I've never borrowed directly from a Kobo. My Glo didn't gave that feature.

[hollowpoint]

Originally Posted by saak

The key flaws of each I am aware of:


Kindle Oasis:

1. locked into bs Amazon ecosystem, where they can literally delete your books (see what happened to people's copies of 1984 after a publisher dispute with Amazon),
2. do not support epubs so have to convert my own to mobi, though I have Calibre and this isn't a huge problem
3. lower battery life (?)
4. no Overdrive support (also not sure about this one)
5. have to pay Amazon just to remove ads (seriously? on such a pricy product?)

So I haven't read the entire thread, probably will overlap with some responses, but I've gone full circle and back to Amazon, so I have some thoughts on these 'flaws'.

* It's not locked into 'bs Amazon ecosystem.' You can use free Calibre to convert ebook formats into AZW3, or even easier, you can change the file extension on an .epub to say .png, email the file to your Kindle account, and Amazon automatically converts it for you. On that converted book, you get almost the full experience that you do with Amazon-purchased books (which is far better than you get with say Kobo, when you buy books outside THEIR platform). You get synching across all devices, including page locations, notes, and highlights. And this works for all hardware platforms: web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Kindle. Not sure what more you could expect. I'm trying to think of what other ebook platforms give you that much with books purchased outside their store. Google Play Books kinda/sorta, if you convert to epub and upload to your Google Play account, you can upload a limit of 1,000 books. But they won't sync to Kindle devices. And Azon places no such limit on numbers of books, or on hardware. Bottom line: there is no lock-in whatsoever. It's a very simple strategy really, you do only 2 things to avoid lock-in: (1) Use Calibre to DeDRM every Azon book you buy, so you can back it up offline, and convert it to other formats for future for use on other ereaders should the need ever arise, and (2) You convert books purchased elsewhere into your Azon account, so you can read them on all your devices.

* I addressed converting to Azon formats. As easy as sending an email, or clicking a button in Calibre, then syncing to your device.

* I'm not sure about this 'lower battery life' thing. Oasis, maybe. I don't have the current one. I had the previous gen one, and I had a Kobo Forma, I didn't see any significant difference in battery life, if I took the same steps such as disabling wifi, setting a moderate lighting level, etc. All I can say is, I've never seen that proven to my satisfaction, and I never experienced a big delta in battery life between Kobo and Kindle devices.

* Overdrive support. That one is true, the slick Kobo integration with Overdrive is not there in Kindle. I am fortunate I guess, my local library is one of the better library systems of anywhere I've lived in the US, and they have a Kindle book checkout experience that is nearly as smooth as using Overdrive. When you checkout and select Kindle format in the library using the Overdrive or Libby apps, it sends you over to Amazon, where you login and checkout the book (ETA to clarify: in this case I'm talking from the mobile Kindle app, it's true with the e-ink devices as somebody said above, you need a PC or device with regular web access to checkout so it's more hassle--which is why I never checkout on my Kindle PW4, I do it via Android). It's not THAT hard, takes maybe an extra 20-30 seconds to checkout a book. An interesting side benefit of tying to your Amazon account is something I actually LIKE: it permanently keeps the notes and highlights you make on the book in your Amazon account, associated with the book, even when the loan ends. So if you later re-borrow the book or buy it, you can still access and add to those notes. Try THAT with Overdrive and Kobo.

* Pay to remove ads. Yeah that's annoying. So if it annoys you don't do it. Or pay the $20.

I have the weird dilemma that I SLIGHTLY prefer the ergos of Kobo's e-ink devices, especially the Forma, to anything Amazon has. Also if you like to tinker and hack, Kobo devices are a little more amenable to that. Also, like you I do wish Amazon would just use the epub format like the rest of the world, rather than keep stubbornly clinging to their own data format. But literally, other than those few things, there's really nothing preferable about the Kobo 'ecosystem', bookstore, devices, or anything else. Even Kobo mucks with the data format (kepub vs true epub). And the one real advantage they have in my mind, the fact I like the ergos and some details of the Forma a little better than Amazon's offerings, is not enough of an advantage to matter.

So there you go. I'd say Oasis--or even PW4 (what I did) and use that when you don't feel like reading on your Ipad--go with Amazon and don't look back.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by hollowpoint

An interesting side benefit of tying to your Amazon account is something I actually LIKE: it permanently keeps the notes and highlights you make on the book in your Amazon account, associated with the book, even when the load ends. So if you later re-borrow the book or buy it, you can still access and add to those notes. Try THAT with Overdrive and Kobo. .

Since you go to great lengths to show how an apparent disadvantage of the Amazon ecosystem can be overcome using Calibre, it's only fair to point out that this apparent disadvantage of Kobo can also be trivially overcome using Calibre.

[hollowpoint]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Since you go to great lengths to show how an apparent disadvantage of the Amazon ecosystem can be overcome using Calibre, it's only fair to point out that this apparent disadvantage of Kobo can also be trivially overcome using Calibre.

Exactly, Calibre is useful for all cases regardless of device or file format. Hopefully I didn't imply otherwise, I was only trying to address some of OP's perceived 'flaws' with the Amazon/Oasis scenario, without looking at his Kobo comments.

[Uncle Robin]

I will add one Kobo-specific feature that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread - the price match guarantee. I haven't used it often, but every time I have, it's been a great success, making the purchased books cheaper than either Amazon (the majority of cases) or Google Play books (a few instances). It may not be a deciding factor, but it's one worth considering, as it ensures that if one leaves the Amazon ecosystem (as I did), one can still profit from the fact that Amazon's listed prices are frequently lower than Kobo's listed prices.

[Dr. Drib]

^

I own two Kobo ebook readers, and I'm OK with them. (I also own Kindles, too.) I have a question that you may be able to answer. I've never accidentally bought an ebook from Kobo or did any price-matching, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that Kobo doesn't give back cash credit to one's account, but rather gives credit to one's account for additional purchases. Is that correct?

Please correct me if I am in error.

Thanks.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Kobo doesn't give back cash credit to one's account, but rather gives credit to one's account for additional purchases. Is that correct?

Thanks.

That is absolutely correct. That's why I haven't used it often, only when I had more than one book I wished to purchase, using the "store credit" to reduce the combined cost of the purchases.

[John Hopper]

"There is no difference in the libraries in relation to traditionally published books, the only difference is when it comes to indies. I don't know what you mean by "lookup.""



I think the OP meant that the Kobo's Merriam Webster dictionaries (English and foreign language) are inferior to the dictionaries on the Kindle. I certainly agree with that. The MW dictionaries are very basic and a lot of words I look up are simply not there

I would add that note-taking is much more painful on the Kobo Libra, due to the lack of predictive text on the virtual keyboard. As someone who makes a lot of notes on non-fiction, that is a big factor for me. Plus not being able to export the notes without software fiddling.

I have both devices and each has strength and weaknesses, I pretty much agree with most of the rest of what folk have written here.


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