E-readers, e-books, and e-lucidation

[Blackhawk]

We don't have a general topic for these, so... why not?

I've got a Kindle Paperwhite that I've been using for four or five years. I'm planning on replacing it with a Kobo (or similar) when it's practical to do so - it ties my PC for my most used electronics device.

With that in mind, and as I buy ebooks going forward, I'd prefer not to lock myself into Amazon's content. Slowly but surely, I'm trying to divorce myself from Amazon. And while it's easy to convert .epub format to .mobi to read books from other sources on the Kindle, it's a pain to get Amazon's proprietary .azw format stripped of DRM and converted to work on other devices.

So, where do people buy ebooks that's safe, reliable, and allows direct download of the files rather than strong-arming you into their app/hardware?

[hitbyambulance]

i have been keeping up to date on modern e-ink devices - mostly readers, but some other things as well.

DRM-free books:


also libro.fm has DRM-free audio books


exclusively, i get my material from the library and classics (public domain) ebook websites like Project Gutenberg, standardebooks and Global Grey. (i paid a £50 donation to https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/index.html to be able to download ALL the site's ebooks in one shot. the owner occasionally has a sale where you only have to donate £10, but you can still just download whatever you want anytime for free, it's just onesie-twosie).

if your library doesn't have a good selection, check for reciprocal borrowing from the library for nearby library systems. if that's still not good enough, you can purchase an online library card from some libraries for full access to their catalog: https://everyday-reading.com/where-you- ... rary-card/

e.g.:

INDIANA

Public Library Access Card (aka PLAC card) – is the name for the statewide library card allowing any individual to purchase a card for $65 a year, allowing them to borrow materials directly from any public library in Indiana. These cards can be purchased at any Indiana library!

finally, this might interesting for your kids - blue state 'refugee' library cards for people 26 and under from intellectually, emotionally and financially oppressed red states. here is Seattle Public Library's:
https://www.spl.org/programs-and-servic ... s-unbanned

[LawBeefaroni]

Public library. CPL uses Overdrive and is switching to Libby for audiobooks.

Crap, this reminds me, I need to renew my library card.

[Pyperkub]

Just a heads-up, but you may have to jump through a few more hoops to upgrade out of the Amazon ecosystem:

Amazon’s removal of support for My Content & Devices USB transfers and its simultaneous move to using the MTP protocol. These two events combined likely led some to believe that USB support would not work at all on the 2024 Kindles. This is not true, though.

Let’s start with the change in My Content & Devices. You can access this via Amazon.com by signing in and heading to Account > Content Library > Books. Here, you’ll find a list of books you’ve purchased from Amazon. If you have a Kindle launched earlier than 2024, you should see an option under the drop-down menu next to a book that says Download & transfer via USB. As one would expect, this downloads the book and then allows you to transfer it to your Kindle by hooking it up to your computer with a USB cable. However, if you have a 2024 Kindle registered to your account, this process will not be available. Instead, you’ll need to connect your Kindle to the internet wirelessly. Doing so will automatically move all the content you see here to your Kindle — no USB cable is needed.

[Blackhawk]

If I'm in the mood to read a specific series, say, something from the 80s with a dozen volumes, what are the chances of any particular library having the whole thing available?

[Blackhawk]

Just a heads-up, but you may have to jump through a few more hoops to upgrade out of the Amazon ecosystem:

Amazon’s removal of support for My Content & Devices USB transfers and its simultaneous move to using the MTP protocol. These two events combined likely led some to believe that USB support would not work at all on the 2024 Kindles. This is not true, though.

Let’s start with the change in My Content & Devices. You can access this via Amazon.com by signing in and heading to Account > Content Library > Books. Here, you’ll find a list of books you’ve purchased from Amazon. If you have a Kindle launched earlier than 2024, you should see an option under the drop-down menu next to a book that says Download & transfer via USB. As one would expect, this downloads the book and then allows you to transfer it to your Kindle by hooking it up to your computer with a USB cable. However, if you have a 2024 Kindle registered to your account, this process will not be available. Instead, you’ll need to connect your Kindle to the internet wirelessly. Doing so will automatically move all the content you see here to your Kindle — no USB cable is needed.

I'm happy to leave the Amazon ecosystem behind without looking back. I may lose a few books (although I can still read them on the Kindle), but I'm fine with that. I tend to go a long, long time between re-reads of novels. Decades.

[hitbyambulance]

Public library. CPL uses Overdrive and is switching to Libby for audiobooks.

technically... Libby IS Overdrive, it's just the customer-friendly re-branding.

[hitbyambulance]

If I'm in the mood to read a specific series, say, something from the 80s with a dozen volumes, what are the chances of any particular library having the whole thing available?

can you give me an example or three?

here, for example is SPL's collection of Robert Jordan ebooks: https://seattle.bibliocommons.com/v2/se ... RMAT=EBOOK

[Blackhawk]

If I'm in the mood to read a specific series, say, something from the 80s with a dozen volumes, what are the chances of any particular library having the whole thing available?

can you give me an example or three?

Well, I just looked up Alan Dean Foster on three huge public libraries, and one had two of the 15-book series I just got done reading on ebook. The others had zero.

[hitbyambulance]

If I'm in the mood to read a specific series, say, something from the 80s with a dozen volumes, what are the chances of any particular library having the whole thing available?

can you give me an example or three?

Well, I just looked up Alan Dean Foster on three huge public libraries, and one had two of the 15-book series I just got done reading on ebook. The others had zero.

yeah i'm gonna say a lot of pulpy older genre series are not going to be high priority acquisition items for the library. you can always try to request them, however.

[Blackhawk]

Since all of my ebook shopping to date was via Amazon, I just didn't realize how pervasive DRM was.

I'm amending my question: What are the good non-Amazon sources for standard .epub format ebooks?

[gilraen]

Public library. CPL uses Overdrive and is switching to Libby for audiobooks.

technically... Libby IS Overdrive, it's just the customer-friendly re-branding.

I wouldn't call it "customer-friendly". The reason publishers pushed libraries to get rid of Overdrive is because Libby doesn't let you transfer mp3 files out of the app and keep them for free.

[gilraen]

I'm amending my question: What are the good non-Amazon sources for standard .epub format ebooks?

Kobo has their own ebook store.

[Smoove_B]

Kobo has their own ebook store.

Yes. And they seem to have lots and lots of older, harder to find print books that have been translated to eBook format - especially science fiction and fantasy.

[Punisher]

I had never heard of kobo before but recently got a humble bundle for a complete discworld book set and had to redeem through kobo.
I'll eventually need to figure out how to get them onto my kindles.

[Blackhawk]

I had never heard of kobo before but recently got a humble bundle for a complete discworld book set and had to redeem through kobo.
I'll eventually need to figure out how to get them onto my kindles.

You'll need to download Calibre, install a third-party DRM remover plugin, import them into Calibre, then strip the DRM and convert them to .mobi, then upload them to your Kindle.

[hitbyambulance]

I'm amending my question: What are the good non-Amazon sources for standard .epub format ebooks?

did you see the Reddit link i posted earlier? lots of sources mentioned in there

[hitbyambulance]

good sources of info:

https://goodereader.com/blog/

https://www.mobileread.com/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ereader/

[Blackhawk]

I'm amending my question: What are the good non-Amazon sources for standard .epub format ebooks?

did you see the Reddit link i posted earlier? lots of sources mentioned in there

I did, and I appreciated it. I had changed the question, though, to eliminate my misconceptions about DRM in ebooks (I thought that most didn't have it, while it seems that most do - at least those carrying the mainstream publishers.)