Kobo Aura One

I also have a kobo aura one and was just recently researching potential upgrades and was shocked even looking outside of strictly kobo that I couldn't find anything that was a clear upgrade or equivalent on various features against it. For a product almost ten years old it's so weird.

Once I saw that Kobo was going all in on the color e-readers I decided I'm going to sit this whole trend out and bought another Aura One. Between it and the one I currently own they should carry me for a long, long time. The Aura One is essentially perfect. The only gripes I have are the USB port and non-removable battery. It is a bit slow with the stock OS but with KOreader it runs amazingly well.

I don't recall ever needing anything special on my Aura H2O. It's one of the reasons I chose Kobo in the first place. Just copy any file onto it. If you mean stripping drm I used Calibre for that but mostly I just avoid buying books with drm where possible.

I read standard .epub files with KOReader on my Kobo Aura H2O. It's faster, nicer-looking, and more customizable than the stock reader, and the installation instructions were complete, correct, and easy to follow.

There are non-amazon ereaders, e.g. kobo. - The standby screen is the book cover of your most recent read. - No amazon shenanigans. Works just fine with calibre or the local library (onleihe). - I bought my kobo aura hd in 2013 IIRC. Battery is still fine. Apparently newer models even have an ifixit partnership https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/21137184146071-Repai... That said, there are some additional drawbacks which make me like physical books still: - For physical books you have an intuitive understand and memory where in the book something happened, e.g. in the first quarter or on an earmarked page. On an ereader every book and every page feels the same. - Easy multi page view and crossref. For instance, I can have two textbooks about the same subject open and easily compare different sections by just using bookmarks and spreading them on my desk. For that I would need multiple ereaders. Same reason a tablet with pen is nice but feels limiting. - DRM is annoying enough to be basically an ad for piracy. Get the ebook, download, add it to adobe software, connect cable, transfer to ereader, disconnect cable, still doesn't work, reauthorize device, maybe it works. Meanwhile without drm: add to calibre, get book via wifi, done. - Maybe better with newer tech, but eink was still somewhat lower resolution and contrast compared to a printed book. Also, page turning is fast enough but not seamless.