Latest news with #non-Kindle
NBC News
07-03-2025
- Business
- NBC News
The 6 best Amazon Kindle alternatives, tested by our editors
The Amazon Kindle is one of our favorite e-readers, but it's not everyone's favorite. Maybe you want to branch out from the Kindle store and try out other ebook distributors. Maybe you don't own many Amazon products, so the whole 'Amazon ecosystem' thing isn't that useful to you. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of excellent alternatives to the Amazon Kindle. We've tested a few, and share our recommended picks below. How we picked the best Amazon Kindle alternatives To pick the best Amazon Kindle alternatives, we tried models from brands like Kobo and Boox, and kept the following criteria in mind when using them: Compatibility: One of the main reasons to get a non-Kindle device is access to non-Kindle storefronts. Our top picks can purchase and read content from multiple storefronts, in multiple file formats. Screen: Different kinds of screens are better suited to different tasks — a tiny black and white screen isn't very comfortable for reading comic books, for example. We made sure to include e-readers with different screens suited to different tasks. Battery life: Nobody wants another device to remember to charge. Most of our top picks have days or weeks of battery life, enough for vacations and weekend getaways. The best Amazon Kindle alternatives in 2025 Many of our top picks came from Rakuten Kobo, an Amazon Kindle competitor, with other options coming from brands like Boox and Apple. Below each recommendation we share specifications we think you should know when shopping. Best overall: Rakuten Kobo Clara BW If you are looking for a low-cost e-reader this is the one to get. It's Kobo's lowest-priced e-reader and is very similar to a kindle, with a glare-free black and white screen design that's perfect for reading text. You can purchase books directly from the Rakuten Kobo store, rent books from your local library with the built-in Libby / Overdrive app or read ebooks you've purchased from other stores. The device is compact and lightweight, and is IPX8 waterproof — well-suited to travel. You can also get it in a colour version, the Kobo Clara Colour, but that version is a little pricier. NBC Select contributing writer Maria Cassano tested this color e-reader for a few weeks after the brand sent her one to try out — she recommends it to any avid reader. It's easy to read books from the Kobo store and the public library, plus you can read online articles by syncing the device with the Pocket app. But the color touchscreen, page-turning buttons and note-taking stylus (sold separately) are what really solidified this e-reader as one of Cassano's favorites. You can read more in her Kobo Libra Colour review. NBC Select commerce editor Jordan Bowman has been testing the Boox Palma 2 for over three weeks — it's now his go-to device for reading any and everything. I say everything because, unlike our recommendations from Kobo, the Boox Palma 2 is not strictly an e-reader — it's actually a stripped-down Android phone with an e-reader-style black and white display. That means you can do anything you would normally do on your phone (TikTok included), but the slow screen lends itself most to reading. It is compact and pocketable, much more than our other recommendations. Bowman uses it to read articles online and on apps like Libby, Shonen Jump and more. 'The written word is your oyster when it comes to the Palma 2,' says Bowman. I've mentioned Libby multiple times already: it's a free public library app that makes it easy to rent ebooks (and audiobooks) from your local library's catalog. I've used it for over five years to read books on my phone, tablet or e-reader — it's available on every device we recommend here. All you have to do is sign in with your library card, then you can search your library's collection, place holds, checkout titles and send them to your device(s). It's my favorite way to discover new books and audiobooks. Best for note taking: Rakuten Kobo Elipsa 2E This is Kobo's best e-reader for note-taking. It comes with the Kobo Stylus 2, which has a convenient built-in highlighter button and eraser cap. You can use the stylus to write and annotate any ebook or document you have on the device. It's also easy to import and export files to your Dropbox or Google Drive account. Plus, the larger 10-inch screen is much more comfortable to write on than the brand's smaller devices. Outside of note-taking, the Elipsa 2E works similarly to the other Kobo e-readers on this list — you can read all kinds of ebooks and also listen to audiobooks by pairing any wireless earbuds. I use an iPad and the Libby app anytime I want to read a graphic novel or comic book. I linked the lowest-priced iPad, the iPad 10th generation, above, but really any iPad can handle comics and graphic novels — I personally use an older iPad Air (4th Generation) for this kind of reading. While e-readers like the Kobo Libra Colour have color displays, none can match the vivid, colorful screen of an iPad. And for graphic novels and comics, where half the fun is enjoying the artistry and detail in each illustration, a high-resolution screen is a must, in my experience. The downside is battery life: this iPad 10th generation has up to 10 hours of battery life — that's nothing compared to the days or even weeks of our other picks. How to shop for Kindle alternatives Regardless of the type of e-reader you are shopping for, there are a few things to keep in mind as you shop. Where (and what) you can read E-readers from brands like Amazon and Kobo are mostly restricted to a single bookstore: the Kindle store or the Kobo store respectively. While both brands also support alternatives like the Libby app, these traditional e-readers are more limited than devices like the Boox Palma or Apple iPad. If you are looking to read any and everything: news articles, library books, comic books or internet PDFs, a device that runs Android or Apple software may be more flexible than a traditional ereader. But if you are an ebook purist, traditional e-readers have the simplest interface and longest battery life. Screen size and resolution A big, colorful screen is best, right? Not always. How sharp and crisp text and imagery appears on your screen depends on a few things: screen size, brightness, resolution and pixels-per-inch (PPI) to name a few. If you are just reading ebooks, a simple e-reader like the Rakuten Kobo Clara BW is more than enough. But if you really want colorful comic book pages to pop, something like a tablet will render each page with more detail and resolution than a color e-reader display. Why trust NBC Select? I am a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology and fitness including recent stories on TVs, running shoes, streaming devices and more. For this piece, I leveraged my and other NBC Select staff experience using e-readers outside of Amazon Kindle. I also researched top-rated options on the market.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Best E-Readers and Kindle Alternatives
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. It's no secret that the movies, music, and books you purchase online aren't really owned by you, and book lovers got a stark reminder of that when news broke that Amazon was killing off the ability to download books from Kindle to desktop. The feature shuts down after Feb. 26, and while it's still possible to save books over WiFi, Amazon killing the download via USB feature makes it much harder for readers to change file types if they want to, for example, read a Kindle book on a non-Kindle device. More from Rolling Stone How to Watch 'Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke' With A Little Funk and Sole: Here's How You Can Get the Limited Edition Dr. Martens x BT21 Collection Online Where to Buy Last-Minute Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach Jr. Tickets Digital content may only be licensed, but it's understandable for consumers to expect, at the very least, reliable access to the stuff they paid money for. Amazon removing this feature makes it that much trickier to control the content you bought and paid for, given that Amazon can potentially remove ebooks from users' Kindle libraries. It's not a hypothetical, either. In 2009, Amazon deleted George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm because of copyright issues. Pulling an unlicensed title from the store is one thing, but Amazon deleted the books from the devices of people who already purchased them (if only there was an author who warned about that kind of thing). Kindle books are saved on a proprietary format which only works on Kindles. Most other e-readers use a format called ePub. If you're looking for an alternative to buying books on Amazon, but still want to use your Kindle, Amazon's Send to Kindle format can convert ePub files to be read on Kindle. Beyond formatting issues, it's important to note that many books have DRM restrictions, which limits the ability to share between devices. That means that while launched an ebook platform, there are limitations to the ability to read Bookshop's ePub files on an e-reader. While Kindle dominates the e-reader market, they're not the only option, and if you'd prefer to go around Amazon's increasingly walled-off ebook ecosystem, there are a handful of options to choose from. For transferring books, many e-reader fans use Calibre to convert file types, though it's important to note that DRM restrictions can come into play. If you're looking to make the switch, here are a few non-Kindle e-reader options to consider. BEST OVERALL $139.99 Buy Now at target Buy Now at walmart Kobo supports the ePub format, and makes a variety of e-readers at different price points, including color versions and note-taking versions. Kobo also lets users borrow books from the library using Libby or Overdrive. Kobo e-readers also have clear, easily legible screens with minimal ghosting, and users can play around with the warmth and brightness for comfortable reading in a variety of settings. Plus, if you read a lot of articles, Kobo has long supported Pocket for easy offline reading. The Kobo Clara Colour is waterproof and travel-friendly, and you can listen to audiobooks from the Kobo store. You can sideload ePub and PDF files from your computer, although DRM-protected files can't be legally sideloaded. The Clara Colour has 16GB of storage, which is less than some options, but still enough for up to 12,000 ebooks. BEST ALTERNATIVE $199.99 Buy Now at barnes&noble Nook is manufactured by Barnes & Noble and supports ePub. Unsurprisingly, Nook makes it easy to buy books directly from Barnes & Noble, though borrowing books from the library is more difficult. The Nook Glowlight 4 supports Bluetooth for listening to audiobooks, and it also has a waterproof rating of IPX7 for worry-free beach reading. It supports sideloading and ePub and PDF formats, and there are over 2 million titles that are either free or under $5. BEST FOR ANDROID $279.99 Buy Now at target If you're looking for a more versatile (but pricier option), Onyx Boox runs Android, allowing you to run a variety of apps typically not available on other e-readers. The library supports a variety of formats, including ePub, and you can access files through apps like Google Drive and Dropbox. The catch with Boox is that they're not as widely available and they're pricier, but if you want a powerful, portable e-ink device, Boox is worth considering. ALSO CONSIDER $159.99 Buy Now On Amazon Buying a Kindle e-reader doesn't mean you have to exclusively buy Kindle books if you'd rather not be locked into Amazon's ecosystem. The Send to Kindle feature lets you sync books from your device to read on a Kindle, including the ePub format. Kindle also lets readers borrow books from the library through Libby. The Kindle Paperwhite has a 7″ display and is designed for 25% faster page turns for any speed readers. The device is waterproof and features a waterproof display. Best of Rolling Stone The Best Audiophile Turntables for Your Home Audio System
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Yahoo
This Super Useful Kindle Feature Will Vanish Next Week. You'd Better Do This While You Can
I'm quite the bookworm. I am an active member of two monthly book clubs, and I fly through two or three books per week, depending on length and, well, how invested I am in the story. This means I've read thousands of titles over the years. And one of my favorite tools to assist with this hobby is my Kindle. I love that I can take it anywhere, especially when I'm traveling, and I have access to hundreds of stories without having to pack hundreds of heavy books. If you're a Kindle lover like me, then you need to be aware of some changes coming to Amazon's e-reader. On Wednesday, Amazon will permanently remove a key Kindle feature: the ability to download and transfer copies of books to your computer. For over a decade, we users have been able to download copies of books on Kindle devices, and then use a USB cable to transfer them to a computer to control ourselves and share from there. Starting next week, this will no longer be possible. Below, we'll break down how to save your books -- while you still can. Read more: Best E-Reader for 2025 After Feb. 26, users will still be able to buy books on the Kindle Store and download them to a Kindle via Wi-Fi or a cellular network. If you mostly read Kindle ebooks on a reader or in the app, you won't be impacted by the removal of this feature. This is simply Amazon's way to eliminate users' ability to download ebook files and convert those files to other formats compatible with non-Kindle e-readers. And why would you want to do that? Well, if you bought a book on Kindle, but Amazon eventually loses the license to that title -- or if it's banned or removed -- you'll no longer be able to read it. That is, unless you download it and keep it on your computer. If you'd like to transfer your Kindle books to your computer before Feb. 26, visit sign in to your account and go to Accounts & Lists > Content Library > Books. Find the title you wish to download, then click More actions > Download & transfer via USB. A pop-up will appear asking you to select your Kindle. This doesn't mean you need to connect a Kindle device; it's a required step to activate the Download button, which you'll need to click once you've selected a Kindle. After you click Download, your book will be saved to your computer in Amazon's AZW3 format, which is designed specifically for Amazon Kindles, so it won't open on other devices without additional software. From there, you'll have the file permanently saved to your computer, and can convert it to other formats like PDF. Note that you can't download multiple Kindle books at once, meaning that this process can be time-consuming if you have hundreds of titles you wish to save. After this download and backup feature is discontinued, you'll still be able to manually transfer ebook files and other documents to your Kindle via USB using Amazon's apps or third-party tools, such as Calibre, an ebook management software. You just won't be able to download copies of purchased books from your Kindle to your computer anymore. Read more: How to Get Free E-Books From Your Local Library
