Only for reading, easily available in EU, low budget: which e-ink device/distro?
I’m looking for something to read books on, copied over from a local collection (mostly .epub). Networking is not desired, a fast USB connection is. A good battery or exchangeable battery would be nice.
Not too large - maximum DIN A5 for the whole device.
I remember from years ago that some devices were deemed unhackable, some much more suitable to install Linux on.
I’d prefer to buy used, so something that was sold a lot in Europe is preferable.
I will not spend much more than €100.
In other words, some old commercial e-reader that was known for being hackable, I guess.
Please do not recommend the new PineNote, it’s (slightly) too large and way too expensive and I don’t think I need that much computing power.
Thanks in advance.
Pocketbook has been good to me, not bound to any particular format or shop, just reads files and a lot of them are fairly inexpensive.
I would assume they’re available in Europe since I believe it’s a German company.
+1 for the pocketbook. It is a Swiss company. Plays all formats that i ever needed. The software is… ok. The Era was about €150 but there are cheaper models.
That Verse model is quite nice for the price!
My wife has been asking about an eBook reader - her kobo broke some time ago, so she makes use of my modded kindle when I’m not, otherwise she reads on her phone.
This seems like a solid option!
And maybe the nice big color one for me…
They are. On a related note, does anybody have any experience with handwriting recognition on the Pocketbook Inkpad? I’d like to get something like that for note taking. But that only makes sense for me if it can read my terrible scrawls.
Even a new one would start at €115, that’s cheap. How’s the battery?
Impressive tbh. I read at least 30min per day in bed with background lighting on and make it for more than 2 month usually (with an Era colour, though).
The verse of my kid has not been recharged ever since they got it in August and they use it for hours each weekend and approx.1 per weekday - with zero light on,though.
Another point for Pocketbook (not relevant for you,but maybe someone else): It works effortlessly with calibre web - unlike Tolinos, Kindles and some Kobos(even those have a better integration when they work).
And at least in Europe the “onleihe” (digital public library) system works extremly well on them. Around 90% of our books are from various onleihe librarys. (Unlike Tolino and some Kobos they support multiple onleihe accounts).(BTW: There are ways to get accounts for some of these - that have extensive english sections) even if you don’t live there)
Service wise: I had issues with initial delivery and they were solid (even though it wasn’t their fault).
Data security wise we looked into the traffic a hit and beside the usual shop traffic (recommendations,etc.) it seems to not do much,but we have it in an isolated network that only allows access to Onleihe, Calibre Web and a RSS aggregator anyway.
Can’t complain at all. Very happy with them, only complaints I have so far is the not as Kobo calibre Web integration (not their fault) and the fact that their OS is not as open as I wish.
Thanks!
But “onleihe” provides DRM, not open formats, yes? Meaning, I couldn’t e.g. use my computer for that, then manually transfer the books?
Officially, yes. Never tried getting them out of the PB tbh, there are easier ways for that (cough Anna).
I have a verse and haven’t charged it in probably 2 months. Granted I don’t use it heavily, mostly a bit at bedtime, but it seems to sip power pretty well.