Requirements:

  • Able to pirate books and load them on
  • Nice if it can integrate with my arr stack (Sonarr, Radarr, etc)
  • reasonably priced
  • not locked down to anything

That’s it really just a simple e-reader that I can add what I want.

Edit: this is the first post where I got a lot of comments where I wasn’t too overwhelmed to reply to them all. Hard when you wake up to so many replies but trying to be better thanking people for their input.

  • cfi@lemmy.world
    11·
    6 days ago

    Regardless of what reader you go with, look into KoReader, a custom reader app that you install on top of existing firmware. Offers a lot of features that stock firmware doesn’t, like OPDS catalog connections

  • steal_your_face@lemmy.mlEnglish
    13·
    7 days ago

    I have a kobo Libra 2. Its the first ereader I’ve bought and it’s super nice. I use calibre to load my books. Looks like kobo only has refurbished units of it now, though.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    3·
    5 days ago

    The reader should mount as a USB drive, you put files on it like epub, PDF, or HTML in your own directory structure, and you can browse this and read the files. Nothing else needed.

  • jacksilver@lemmy.world
    7·
    6 days ago

    I saw Boox called out, but not the Boox Palma². I just got it and it’s been pretty nice. The major draw is the form factor though as it’s phone sized making it pretty portable.

    It runs android and I’ve set it up to work with AudioBookshelf and Komga

    AudioBookshelf, while designed for audiobooks, allows you to download books for offline reading and seemed the best all in one for books self hosting. It also has a native android app.

    Komga seems pretty amazing for manga and comic books (haven’t settled on an app, just using the browser now). The e-ink display isn’t the best for reading this medium, but it’s not terrible for black and white comics.

    Since both of those are self-hosted solutions they could integrate with readarr pretty easily (although audiobookshelf’s folder structure can be frustrating).

      • jacksilver@lemmy.world
        2·
        4 days ago

        It’s really great software, and the android app is great (given it supports offline mode). I just wish the folder structure was simpler/flexible. Makes me tempted to try to make a pull request, but haven’t done something like that in ages.

  • WandowsVista@lemmy.world
    7·
    7 days ago

    +1 to Kobo as well, although I’m admittedly unfamiliar with the pirate apps (arr).

    no issues downloading books and adding/editing my library with calibre and you can connect it to your library card to rent ebooks if you’re feeling frisky.

    or you can bypass the login steps and change out the firmware and add games and other utilities. it’s as customizable or not as you want.

    lots of refurbished options through rakuten and ebay

  • BioMyth@lemmy.mlEnglish
    9·
    7 days ago

    I like the Kobo options a lot, I have a device from them that was the Kobo Aura HD from Ebay that was $50 dollars in great condition. Kobo has better support for loading whatever you want on it without any annoying issues and it is running linux under the hood and has a lot of expand-ability because of it. These days I use a kindle paperwhite 4 and honestly, it just isn’t as well thought out. It is waterproof & has a higher resolution display but I found the Kobo OS was faster & the device with buttons had a much better design overall. So, I wish I had gone for an up to date Kobo alternative when I upgraded. So, go Kobo, don’t look back, & get second hand if you want to save some $$$.

  • DrownedRats@lemmy.world
    8·
    7 days ago

    Kobo was on my short-list not long ago. They seemed like the most polished non-amazon option to me. I haven’t switched for now because my old kindle 2 is still clinging to life and because of it being long out of support from amazon I just keep it disconnected from the internet and sideload whatever I want.

    With that said though, now that some decent kindle jailbreaking options are available, an old second hand kindle from eBay might actually be a very good option.

  • Skydancer@pawb.social
    5·
    7 days ago

    Portability is key for me. Others here have recommended the Boox Palma, but for the price difference I’d have to go with Moann’s Inkpalm Plus.

    Arr stack integration for e-readers is going to be Readarr linked to a Calibre instance, as described here.

    • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      Yeah, Readarr is unfortunately the black sheep of the Arr stack. Ebook torrents are notorious for failing/stalling, and the Readarr team has had some major issues with their metadata server in the past year or so, meaning adding new authors/books is often impossible.

      It can be nice for tracking what you’re missing, but I end up using manual searches for most of my ebooks. Ebooks tend to work best with direct downloads, (Z-Library, Anna’s Archive, etc) so an Arr service reliant on torrents is spotty, at best. It isn’t even actively being developed, and the devs still attached to the project have even said that it will likely stagnate and fall into disrepair unless a serious dev is willing to take over the project.

  • dbx12@programming.dev
    4·
    7 days ago

    I see you’re coming from a .de domain so chances are you might have a Thalia (store) in your area. I’ve bought a Tolino Shine about 6 years back and I really like it. Sure, you can buy them online too, but I liked the option to try it out before I buy.

  • UnfairUtan@lemmy.world
    3·
    7 days ago

    I bought my first e-reader a month ago, it’s the Boox Go 7 and I’m really pleased so far. The fact that it’s also an android tablet let’s me download apps for Mangas, music, etc.

  • drcobaltjedi@programming.dev
    3·
    7 days ago

    I have a Kobo n437, I swaped the internal sd card with a 32gb one and installed InkBox/Quill OS.

    You’ll need a bit of linux skills to use a bigger storage solution to its full potential. The project is currently on hiatus as they port the OS over to the pine64 e-reader.

    Worth noting otherwise, currently pictures in epub formated books don’t load (at least on mine don’t know about other models) so youll want to convert them to pdf.

      • drcobaltjedi@programming.dev
        2·
        6 days ago

        The process isn’t hard or time consuming, but I understand, this sorta stuff isn’t for everyone. I’m just a huge proponent of “this is my device it’ll do as I say”

        • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.deOP
          2·
          6 days ago

          That’s very true but it becomes another dependency for me to manage, which is fine if that’s your thing but I struggle with motivation sometimes.

          For instance my media server crapped the bed last night and debugging today felt like a chore. Turns out that I didn’t properly manage the docker side of things and where it stores things so I ran out of space on the server disk. My plan is to move the docker stuff to a vault in truenas and automate clearing old images and stuff, but as I say it’s a chore at times so don’t want to be adding another thing I need to manage as when in a bad headspace it’ll not get done.

          Now this also highlighted an issue I must have, not been back to check docker compose, in that Plex doesn’t have access to my libraries now so the config must be wrong as Jellyfin worked perfectly. Means I’ll need to spend the time to resolve this so my users can continue on Plex which they prefer, I also prefer Plex but Jellyfin seems to work better on iOS.

          Hope you see this response as me just expressing my use case and I have no judgement on you for sharing as I like to know what’s out there still.

          • drcobaltjedi@programming.dev
            1·
            6 days ago

            It’s all good man. Different people have different wants and needs. Your hands are a bit full with other stuff so setting up an ereader the way I have with mine is just too much om your already full plate.

            Have a wonderful day and I hope you can find a good solution for yourself.

  • phlaym@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    2·
    7 days ago

    I‘m very happy with my Pocketbook Era. Nice device, works with the onleihe system my library uses. Would buy the exact same one again

  • truxnell@aussie.zone
    2·
    7 days ago

    I recently somehow broke my Boox page, and I replaced it with a PocketBook Era. It’s my favourite device, great battery life, integrated with calibre like a dream and the OS is really nice to use after fighting android on the Boox.