With Amazon discovering new methods to anger Kindle prospects, some individuals are switching from Kindles to Kobos over Amazon’s newest fiasco with a view to obtain book purchases with out having them locked into Amazon’s ecosystem (which isn’t actually true since there are presently three alternative ways to obtain backup copies of Kindle ebooks, and there’s no assure that Kobo goes to proceed providing downloads without end, however no matter).
Personally, I believe proudly owning a Kindle and a Kobo is the very best mixture in terms of 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’ll proceed to make use of your Kindle with out ever shopping for one other Kindle guide from Amazon.
You Don’t Need to Ditch Your Kindle
I don’t know why folks assume they should eliminate 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 need to personal a Kobo ereader to learn Kobo ebooks, and it’s totally doable to learn Kobo ebooks on a Kindle if you happen to take away the DRM first (isn’t that the entire objective of getting backup copies downloaded anyway?).
You’ll be able to nonetheless sideload non-Amazon books onto Kindles, and have them backed up and synced on Amazon’s cloud totally free (one thing that’s not doable with Kobo); you may nonetheless borrow library ebooks on Kindles; you may nonetheless use your Kindle to learn ebooks that you just’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’ll be able to even jailbreak your Kindle and set up KOReader on it to learn EPUB recordsdata natively and do all types of issues Amazon received’t allow you to do with the default software program.
Can’t Add and Sync Sideloaded eBooks
In all probability the one factor that individuals miss essentially the most when switching from Kindles to Kobos is the truth that Kobo doesn’t supply any sort of add and sync function for sideloaded books like Amazon does.
Kobo lately despatched out a survey to prospects asking in the event that they’d be keen to pay a month-to-month subscription payment for a function like that, so it’s one thing Kobo may add ultimately, however the odds are you’ll need to pay for it.
You’ll be able to 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 assist Dropbox and Google Drive (and it’s doable so as to add them to fashions with out official assist).
Amazon Unique eBooks
Kobo’s book retailer has a wide variety of ebooks, however they don’t have every thing that’s out there on the Kindle retailer.
There are quite a lot of ebooks which can be 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 become profitable 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 be critically missing in terms of stuff like comics and magazines, so it might be sensible to peruse Kobo’s choice earlier than ditching your Kindle totally.
Restricted eReader Decisions
Not everybody will agree with this, however I simply assume that Kobo’s present lineup is critically missing within the black and white display screen division. They don’t promote something similar to the Kindle Paperwhite, and their primary mannequin, the Kobo Clara BW, feels low-cost like the fundamental Kindle however it prices virtually 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 almost 4 years previous now. Kobo presents nothing between these two fashions with a BW display screen.
The Kobo Libra Color is a pleasant gadget if you’d like a coloration display screen, however coloration E Ink comes with some notable drawbacks, so the Libra Color isn’t going to enchantment to everybody, particularly if you happen to’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 different studying apps like KOReader with out difficult jailbreaks, you may arrange collections utilizing Calibre, OverDrive assist is built-in, the homescreen isn’t cluttered with suggestions, and also you don’t need to pay an additional $20 to keep away from seeing screensaver advertisements.
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 mild 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 assist any sort of text-to-speech like Kindles do with VoiceView. Kobos assist audiobooks purchased from Kobo, however they don’t assist TTS.
Kindle Limitless Different
Clearly entry to Kindle Limitless is one thing that’s restricted to the Kindle platform, however if you happen to’re a heavy reader Kobo does supply a substitute for 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 sort of system the place you pay a month-to-month payment to get limitless entry to a catalog of ebooks and audiobooks. Notice that you just can’t obtain Kobo Plus books in Adobe EPUB format from Kobo’s web site like you may with bought ebooks.
