E-book reader

E-book readers can be a great alternative to physical books. They usually have the same weight, height and width of your average book from a bookstore but are not only thinner but can carry the content of your library. Many can even support playback of audiobooks but they are usually the premium models. Modern e-readers have great battery life compared to other mobile devices and use sexy paper-like e-ink screens so it will be easy on the eyes in any setting. If you're looking for information about "e-readers" which use LCD/OLED screens, go to the article about tablets.

Recommendations

Buying Guide

/g/uide to ebook readers (New graphic coming soon)

These are the things to consider when buying an ebook reader. First is the ethical aspect. If you have suspicions of certain companies and if your a privacy/security or FOSS schizo. If you happen to be a freetard, you are going to be disappointed as your only options would be Open Book which is a DIY ebook reader with FOSS operating system as well as software and okreader for Kobo. Both are relatively experiment. Your next option would be to just choose the option comes the closest to your values, probably one that is Linux-based and/or has open source components like Kobo (Kobo's Github), and maybe installing Koreader. Some users avoid certain companies for some moral reasons, usually they are Amazon and ChiCom companies. There are lots of reasons to not buy Amazon such as its business practices, adware, botnet and more but it does have its downsides. Obviously Amazon has the world's biggest online bookstore and online comicstore with services like Goodreads, Kindle Unlimited and Comixology. Pretty much the only one most people/normies know of and buy from. Because of this, most publishers when putting a book out online will usually only cater to Amazon's store. Finding eBooks outside of Amazon's massive ecosystem is slightly more difficult. Of course, that won't be a problem for more advanced /g/entoomen. Amazon uses their own proprietary format so even if you just download it from their website and upload it a non-Amazon ereader it probably won't work. Luckily, there is conversion software but sometimes it has its flaws depending on the formats though it can be further adjusted through manual editing. Some people also avoid CCP products in fear of spyware. If you avoid those companies then the major ones that are left are Kobo, Barnes and Noble's Nook, and Pocketbook. Next is the price range which dependent on your budget and does determine feature set. Lastly is the content of what you are reading and additional features you would like. Most modern ebook readers can handle the more common eBook formats as well as comic/manga formats. Depending on the model, modern devices sometimes have backwards compatibility with older formats that are being replaced. Older ereaders obviously usually don't support the newer formats like AZW3, AZW4, EPub3 and comic formats. Some models support audiobooks.

/g/ Approved E-Book Readers

Modern

Basic

Usually the cheapest models a brand offers. Around 6-7 inches touchscreen with support the common ebook file formats. Most hold around 8-16 GB. Downside is they sometimes have poor backlight.

• Kindle - The standard regular model. One downside is that Amazon has been purposely making recent models in this line (11th generation) hard to root if you plan on doing anything beyond stock.
• Kobo Nia(Official Certified Refurbished)
• Kindle Paperweight
• Kobo Clara(Official Certified Refurbished)
• Pocketbook Verse
• NOOK GlowLight 4e
• NOOK GlowLight 4

Premium

Usually have bigger screens. Around 7-8 inches with sharp e-ink and great lighting. Most have additional features like being waterproof, page turn buttons, more storage, and sometimes Audiobook playback.

• Kindle Paperweight Signature
• BOOX Palma - Phone size unlike others in this range. As its name implies fits in the palm of your hand. Has Android.
• BOOX Poke5
• Kobo Libra 2
• Kindle Oasis
• Kobo Sage
• Pocketbook Verse Pro
• NOOK GlowLight 4 Plus
• BOOX Page

Elite

Usually don't have to go this far. Additional features include more responsive screen, notetaking, additional apps and sometimes color.

• Kindle Scribe
• Kobo Elipsa 2E
• Hisense Hi Reader
• Pocketbook InkPad
• BOOX Note Air 3

---

Discontinued

No shame in buying something from older generations that is either refurbished or used somewhere online.

Basic

The cheap models from a brand's older generations.

• Kindle - Recommend getting at least an 8th or 9th generation if you want support for the newer formats.
• Nook Glowlight 3

Beyond Stock

Might void warrenty if you have one but here is what you can do with your ebook reader outside of stock experience. Includes rooting and installing additional software. (Rewrite coming soon...)

General

• Koreader - Open source document viewer for E-Ink devices written in Lua. One of the most active and popular ebook related software projects. Works on numerous ereader devices as well as desktop and mobile. Uses their own section on MobileRead as their official forums. There lies many answer such as how to install on certain brands and models as well as useful plugins to play around with.
• Vuizur's Wiktionary Dictionaries - Dictionaries pulled from Wiktionary that can be added to your device if you don't like what you get out of the box or want more options than what stock allows.

Nook

* GApps and SearchMarket?

• Install multitouch Fast Mode kernel
• Disable Android and B&N bloatware by using a SystemAppRemover (or oandbackup?)
  • AFfileDownloadService.apk
  • AccountAndSyncSettings.apk
  • AirRuntime.apk
  • ApplicationsProvider.apk
  • BnAuthenticationService.apk
  • BnCloudRequestSvc.apk
  • ContactsProvider.apk
  • CryptoServer.apk
  • DemoMode.apk
  • DeviceManager.apk
  • DeviceRegistrator.apk
  • GlobalSearch.apk
  • gtalkservice.apk
  • Music.apk
  • NookCommunity.apk
  • Phone.apk
  • QuickStartActivity.apk
  • Social.apk
  • SysChecksum.apk
  • Talk.apk
  • TalkProvider.apk
  • TelephoneProvider.apk
  • WaveformDownloader.apk
• Downclock CPU
• build.prop:

# Tweaks
persist.sys.use_dithering=1
persist.sys.purgeable_assets=1
debug.sf.hw=1
video.accelerate.hw=1
debug.performance.tuning=1
ro.compcache.default=18
ro.kernel.android.checkjni=0
ro.HOME_APP_ADJ=1
# Dalvik options
dalvik.vm.execution-mode=int:fast
dalvik.vm.heapsize=128m
dalvik.vm.deoxopt-flags=m=v,o=y
# Battery
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=1
pm.sleep_mode=1
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=180

• Remap buttons with NookTouchTools
• Useful apps:
  • Cool Reader
  • Perfect Viewer
  • APV PDF Viewer Pro
  • Mango
  • Root Browser/ES File Explorer
  • Calculator MobiCalc
  • aCalendar
  • Launcher8
  • GoKeyboard

Kobo

It's possible to install a proper Android system onto the Kobo Glo. However, this does require some work and has a few drawbacks (battery life is the main one). Since the device uses an internal microSD card for booting you should be able to acquire a second one and swap back to the first one in the event that you fuck it up.

The method for doing this uses images acquired from a Tolino Shine reader which has nearly identical hardware:

• http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?s=6166012b387a015430bb4c1826c990dc&p=2681530&postcount=64

• InkBox - An open source reader and operating system for Kobo. Still being worked on.
• Plato - An open source document reader for Kobo's e-readers. Very similar to Koreader but written in Rust. Supports DjVu. Still in experimental phase.

Complementary Software

Library Management

• Calibre - Created by kovidgoyal of the MobileRead forums who also happens to be the creator of the Kitty terminal emulator. The best and most versatile tool for everything ebook related. It can displays your personal library of ebooks and make many edits and changes to them such as metadata fetched from the Internet. It can interact with your e-book reader device. It has its own eBook reader client. It can download news from online newspapers and turn it into e-books for convenient reading. It has many python-based plugins that add more functionality.
• Librum - Mostly just a ebook reader application but does have library management capabilities.

Home Server

• Kavita - Self-hosted digital library which supports a vast array of file formats with a focus on Manga and Comics.
• Readarr - One of the many Softwarr out there with a focus on eBooks and audiobooks. Collection manager for Usenet and BitTorrent users. Can do interesting things with this. Has a dedicated wiki along with other *arr software for documentation, guides and troubleshooting.
• OpenBooks - Downloads ebooks from irc/irchighway.

Removing DRM

• DeDRM - Calibre plugin for removing DRM.

Converting Files

E-books come in a variety of formats. Unfortunately, there are times when you need to convert from one to another.

• Calibre - (Cross-platform) Mentioned above. Converts between almost every e-reader supported format.
• KindleComicConverter (KCC) - (Cross-platform) Converts and optimizes manga and comics to epub, mobi, and cbz formats.

See Also

• DjVu file format.
• OpenInkpot Although the project is now pretty much dead, you could obtain an old e-reader that the FLOSS system openinkpot supported (https://web.archive.org/web/20160314074551/http://morgue.openinkpot.org/). The following models (from http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Openinkpot) were supported:
  • Azbooka
  • Hanlin V3 since release 0.1
  • Hanvon N516 since 0.2
  • Hanvon N510 since 0.2

External Links

• Mobile Read - Forum for reading digitally on the go. Best forum on the web for all things relating to ebooks and ereaders.
• Mobile Read Wiki - Mobile Read's Wiki which is a helpful for noobs to learn the technical aspects of the eBook world.
• NookDevs - A dead wiki that had guides of how to root and do other tricks with the Nook. Can be seen on Wayback Machine and Archive.today.
• E-ink Reader - Older, abandoned Russian site for breakdowns and other things relating to ereaders.