This post was going to be about the new Kindle Paperwhite I bought. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great e-reader. But Amazon made one change, and now this post is about how I might be switching to Kobo.

The First Shipment

A week or so ago, Amazon announced a new set of Kindles. With my Oasis getting a little long in the tooth¹, I decided now was the time to upgrade.

I was waiting for a new model of Oasis, with USB-C. But it looks like Amazon had other plans, as they didn’t announce one. So I picked up a Paperwhite signature edition. In short, it’s great. However, Amazon made a damning change.

With the newest generation Kindles, you can not download books to transfer over USB… I don’t like that. I like to have a no DRM back up of the books I’ve bought, and if I get rid of my old Oasis, I loose that ability.

The Kobo

I decided to pick up Kobo to try out. I’ve already backed up my Kindle library to try out on it.

I went with the Libra Colour, as that was the only one with a seven inch screen. And yeah, it’s nice. The color screen, the fact that I don’t get store recommendations outside of the store, and built in overdrive, so far so good.

My main thing was, can I get a DRM free back up of my books off of it. Yes. The toolchain set up was more involved than with the Kindle DRM. But the act of importing, and decrypting is far easier, now that I have it working. Big points to the Kobo

Colors

With the Kobo being a color e-reader, I wanted to see how the screen works. I know it’s an e-ink panel with a color filter on top, but I wanted to see it. So I busted out the super macro lens, and took a look.

This is pretty cool close up. And no, I can’t see any of this with the naked eye.

The Choice

Right now I’m leaning towards returning the Kindle. I’m liking the Kobo. From being able to backup my books, to borrowing books from the Maryland digital library right on the device. I’m liking it. It also has native support for Pocket, so I might start using that.

My only real complaint, is the the power button is in a weird spot. At least I can fully power it off though, unlike the Kindle.