After obtaining my valued physical copy of Annie’s Song by Catherine Anderson, I plunged headfirst and deeply into the waters of historical romance. I queued up several used books from various online bookstores, and while that was fun, this new hobby forced me to acknowledge the limitations of my room. That is, that my small living space cannot keep up with all the books I’m planning on reading. Since about six weeks ago, I’ve been tearing through books at a rate of about one every three days. Physical book reading is entirely unreasonable in price and shelf space when I have this extreme voraciousness for steamy historicals. Almost invariably I felt pushed to reconsider a dedicated e-reader.
Alternatives
At first I thought of my smartphone. I always have it with me, but the constant notifications are a major distraction. Even if I suspend notifications, the temptation remains to survey the status of my life including bank accounts, emails, bills, the latest new and stock prices, and so on. I’m conditioned for the smartphone to be a high-bandwidth, brief interaction device where one distraction leads into the next to make the very most of the 60 seconds or so that I may have before it’s my turn at the checkout counter. Even with an iron will and perfect device settings, the screen is small, and then my reading competes directly with battery life for more critical communication functions. The smartphone duties are too diverse and too demanding to saddle it up further with e-reading westward expansion Americana.
A tablet could be better. I briefly considered an iPad Mini purchase, but the device is just so capable that simply displaying text on the screen felt like a crying shame from its typical use cases. The price is quite high and asks a lot of my use cases to justify the purchase. When I learned that battery life would be on the order of hours and probably not enough to comfortably finish one book on a single charge, a tablet felt too limiting; I don’t want to think of battery levels often when I simply want to get back into my book. And, the OS still suffers from the same distraction-first design language.
I used to own an early Amazon Kindle. I bought it with a holiday deal, but I never fully loved the device because of Amazon’s iron fist. I want to back up my books and feel like I own my favorite works in the same way I would feel ownership of physical books on a bookshelf. When I read that Amazon is closing off the remaining access options to the raw files and completely locking down devices going forward, I knew Kindle wouldn’t do.
Kobo Clara Colour
Kindle dominates the e-reader market, but it sent me down a rabbit hole of looking into alternative devices. I found the Kobo Store, with its open design and easy access to the EPUBs for backing up my book collection. I deliberated for no more than a day before buying into a white Kobo Clara Colour and have since racked up 45 hours of reading time on the device. Kobo doesn’t lock in the user the way Amazon does, even though they offer subscription options for those who prefer. I don’t mind paying more for books piecemeal if I can freely download and use my books as I see fit.
Kobo seems to provide all the comfort of having an integrated bookstore without the stifling assumptions and expectations. If I want to download my books for archival (or even to strip DRM legally using open source tools), I can do that. If I later want to use a non-Kobo e-reader with my purchases, I can do that too. Kobo isn’t dictating to the user while providing much of the same ease-of-use conveniences that I’d expect on any Kindle–thinks like: syncing my place, reading with my app and device of choice, purchases on-device, automatic downloads, etc. I feel respected without advertisements on the device homepage and simple, matter-of-fact controls that do not complicate the experience. The slow shipping served to build my anticipation over the week plus it required to arrive. My basic review of the device follows.
The Clara Colour has the right size and feel I’d expect for an e-reader. I can use it comfortably in one hand, and the ability to see color book covers even in a limited watercolor-esque saturation simply feels right and brings me a sense of closeness with the books when their cover art pops on the screen. I know that black and white e-readers have better contrast, but the happiness I derive from seeing the digital shelf in color is worth the minor screen door effect imposed by the young color e-ink technology. With that said, the black-and-white only option provides the best text display experience if you aren’t so drawn to seeing book covers or illustrations in watercolor.
Highlights and annotation works well, although I wish the display wasn’t so sensitive as sometimes it registers touches not intended. I take care to hold the screen more deliberately as a result. The color temperature adjustment can be configured by time of day or a fixed setting, but there’s no option to modulate the effect and have automatic adjustment at the same time. Battery life is extremely good. I’ve yet to charge the device once after about 45 hours of reading time though it looks like I’ll need to charge it for the first time soon.
Closing Thoughts
If the value of a smartphone is its ever-present, extreme portability, and the value of a laptop/desktop is in its large, comfortable keyboard and display, then the value of the e-reader is in its singular focus. The blatant rejection of all other functionality outside of reading a book permits the necessary level of focus to enjoy digital reading. Kobo takes this one step further by stepping back from its own business interest and not advertising or recommending on its home page. Its singular focus creates the necessary negative space for me to be truly present with the books I want to read.
There’s not much to it in the best way possible.
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