A Note about Ebook Readers
A while back I caved and bought and ebook reader. The reason for me not trying it earlier are twofold. First, most of my books are cookbooks, and they are often quite niche. These are often only available in print. Second, the price difference between a printed version and a digital version is often small for those, so I opt for the former. But when you're travelling on public transport a lot or are on holiday, carrying physical books can often be a nuisance.
Although there are many readers out there, it was quite easy to narrow them down. As I wanted to use the functionality of my local library, Kindles were out of the picture. The next question was whether to go for Android or not, as I wanted my reader to be a dedicated reader only, so I decided against it. To choose between colour and black and white, I highly recommend going to a store in person and comparing them. For me, the colour ones had noticeably less contrast, and as I don't need colour, I chose a black-and-white model. Ultimately, the choice came down to the PocketBook Verse Pro or a Tolino Shine 5. I got a good deal on the latter, so I chose that as my first one.
With the device in my hands, I put it through its paces on a travel journey and daily life. Overall, I would say it was a good decision. I read more books in the last couple of months than I have in a long time. This was either because it was easy to read a chapter anywhere, or because I read books that I would otherwise never read.
The Tolino software is not perfect. It can be slow to turn pages, there is not a lot of customisation and it crashes on large ebooks, among other issues. Luckily, there is an open-source replacement reading software called Koreader. Is it the most intuitive software to use? No. But does it provide an amazing reading experience and all the customizability you need? Yes! Also, the dictionary integration is amazing for reading books in foreign languages. I use it quite a bit. Currently the Shine 5 is not officially supported, but there is an PR adding support and there is a Docker container to easily build the currently version and it has been working great. Since the library integration service Onleihe does not work with Koreader, I have been switching between the two depending on the book, which has been fine.
Am I going to replace all my books with e-books? Definitely not! I enjoy browsing through my physical cookbook collection for inspiration. Even this week, while searching for a recipe, I found one that I never intended to cook. However, I will read more novels and other books than before.