With Amazon discovering new methods to anger Kindle clients, some individuals are switching from Kindles to Kobos over Amazon’s newest fiasco with the intention to obtain book purchases with out having them locked into Amazon’s ecosystem (which isn’t actually true since there are at the moment three other ways to obtain backup copies of Kindle ebooks, and there’s no assure that Kobo goes to proceed providing downloads ceaselessly, however no matter).
Personally, I believe proudly owning a Kindle and a Kobo is the perfect mixture relating to ereaders, however for causes I don’t perceive some folks insist on solely utilizing one model. Having a Kindle ereader and a Kobo ereader opens up much more choices for you as a reader, and you may proceed to make use of your Kindle with out ever shopping for one other Kindle e-book from Amazon.
You Don’t Must Ditch Your Kindle
I don’t know why folks assume they should do away with their Kindle in the event that they don’t need to purchase ebooks from Amazon anymore. Kindles, like all ereaders, are simply instruments for studying. You don’t should personal a Kobo ereader to learn Kobo ebooks, and it’s solely potential to learn Kobo ebooks on a Kindle in the event you take away the DRM first (isn’t that the entire goal of getting backup copies downloaded anyway?).
You may nonetheless sideload non-Amazon books onto Kindles, and have them backed up and synced on Amazon’s cloud without cost (one thing that’s not potential with Kobo); you may nonetheless borrow library ebooks on Kindles; you may nonetheless use your Kindle to learn ebooks that you simply’ve already bought, and get backup copies of your bought ebooks. You are able to do all of that and by no means give Amazon one other dime.
You may even jailbreak your Kindle and set up KOReader on it to learn EPUB information natively and do every kind of issues Amazon received’t allow you to do with the default software program.
Can’t Add and Sync Sideloaded eBooks
Most likely the one factor that folks miss probably the most when switching from Kindles to Kobos is the truth that Kobo doesn’t provide any form of add and sync function for sideloaded books like Amazon does.
Kobo just lately despatched out a survey to clients asking in the event that they’d be prepared to pay a month-to-month subscription price for a function like that, so it’s one thing Kobo would possibly add finally, however the odds are you’ll should pay for it.
You may sideload ebooks onto Kobos utilizing a pc and a USB cable, however you may’t add non-Kobo books to your Kobo account and obtain them wirelessly like you may with Kindles. However some Kobos do help Dropbox and Google Drive (and it’s potential so as to add them to fashions with out official help).
Amazon Unique eBooks
Kobo’s book retailer has a wide selection of ebooks, however they don’t have every thing that’s out there on the Kindle retailer.
There are a whole lot of ebooks which are solely out there by means of Amazon; most authors that use Kindle Limitless aren’t allowed to promote their ebooks elsewhere due to Amazon’s exclusivity guidelines (for some, KDP is one of the simplest ways to generate profits off of their ebooks). It’s their option to do what they need with their work, even when they don’t like Amazon’s exclusivity guidelines. Not shopping for unique books goes to harm authors greater than it’s going to harm Amazon.
Kobo’s platform can also be significantly missing relating to stuff like comics and magazines, so it will be smart to peruse Kobo’s choice earlier than ditching your Kindle solely.
Restricted eReader Decisions
Not everybody will agree with this, however I simply assume that Kobo’s present lineup is significantly missing within the black and white display screen division. They don’t promote something similar to the Kindle Paperwhite, and their fundamental mannequin, the Kobo Clara BW, feels low cost like the essential Kindle however it prices nearly a a lot because the Paperwhite, regardless of having a smaller display screen.
It’s a must to spend $269 to get a Kobo with a nicer design and a bigger black and white display screen, and that’s for a mannequin that’s practically 4 years outdated now. Kobo affords nothing between these two fashions with a BW display screen.
The Kobo Libra Color is a pleasant system if you’d like a colour display screen, however colour E Ink comes with some notable drawbacks, so the Libra Color isn’t going to attraction to everybody, particularly in the event you’re coming from a Kindle with superior distinction. Kobo actually must launch a Libra BW or one thing similar to the Kindle Paperwhite.
Kobo’s Software program is Extra Person Pleasant
Most individuals just like the software program on Kobo ereaders higher than the software program on Kindles. There are extra customization choices and extra studying settings, you may simply set up hacks and various studying apps like KOReader with out difficult jailbreaks, you may arrange collections utilizing Calibre, OverDrive help is built-in, the homescreen isn’t cluttered with suggestions, and also you don’t should pay an additional $20 to keep away from seeing screensaver adverts.
One exception is utilizing Darkish Mode on Kobos. Some folks don’t like the way it solely inverts the textual content and never all components of the interface like Kindles do. The menus and popups all use gentle mode on Kobos, and the Darkish Mode toggle isn’t simply accessible, being on the second web page of the studying settings menu. See this Kindle vs Kobo Darkish Mode comparability for extra particulars.
No VoiceView or Textual content to Speech
Kobos can match Kindles on most options, however Kobo ereaders don’t help any form of text-to-speech like Kindles do with VoiceView. Kobos help audiobooks purchased from Kobo, however they don’t help TTS.
Kindle Limitless Various
Clearly entry to Kindle Limitless is one thing that’s restricted to the Kindle platform, however in the event you’re a heavy reader Kobo does provide an alternative choice to KU within the type of Kobo Plus. It doesn’t have the identical choice as Amazon due to their exclusivity guidelines, however Kobo Plus is identical form of system the place you pay a month-to-month price to get limitless entry to a catalog of ebooks and audiobooks. Notice that you simply can not obtain Kobo Plus books in Adobe EPUB format from Kobo’s web site like you may with bought ebooks.
