I'm on an extremely tight budget but nevertheless want to get back to reading. I've been mostly using pirated audiobooks until now but whenever i want to read phisical, I'm stumped, as I live in a non-anglo country that refuses to produce good literature, so I have to either read translations like a cuck, or pay through the nose for an english-language copy. So my question is: are e-readers any good? If i buy a cheap used one, how long can I expect it to last? Like I said my budget is basically 0 but if I buy one and never spend money again then I can afford it.
>>24683059Get a library card (might even be free in your country) and read actual books, not stare at a screen.
>>24683064i won't have access to english-language books then, and I'm mostly interested in non-fiction that happens to be written by americans and brits
>>24683070Are you sure your library can't access English language books? In America many of our libraries are networked with book share systems so if I want something weird or in a foreign language that isn't available locally some library in a city or attached to a university might be willing to send it over and let me borrow it; perhaps your local library is part of something similar in your country.
>>24683059Look at what's being sold used near you. I don't know what your options are in your country, but whatever your version of Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist is. Keep an eye out for stuff in your budget, and search for reviews of whatever comes up to figure out what's good. Avoid Kindles if you can because they're more locked-down, but ultimately I think it's just a bit of extra work getting pirated books onto those (Calibre is the software you'll probably end up using to transfer books from your computer either way). I got a Kobo Clara HD for $50 CAD four years ago this way, and it's been my primary means for reading since.>non-fictionAre you mostly going to be reading PDFs? Most e-readers have too small of a screen for textbooks to be comfortable to read, though you can improve things by cropping out the margins and shit like that with external software (I've used PDF24 for this).When it comes to physical libraries, even if your local sucks, you might have options for inter-library loans to get harder-to-come-by books. Dunno if that'll open up options for the anglo books you're looking for, but it's worth checking. Would probably have options to loan from university libraries if the system is in place.
>>24683064Enjoy having the feds monitoring your readings.
>>24683059Yeah, ereaders are fine. As with everything, you get what you pay for. Depending on what ereader you get, how old it is, and how much damage it has from its previous owner, you can expect it to last 2-5 years if you take care of it and use it for nothing other than books. Not all ereaders handle PDFs well, so that's something to consider.
>>24683059not reading that essay but get a kindle paper white or if you snag it on some deal an oasis (they are slighty heavier so if you care about being able to just chuck it on a bed or in a bag go with paperwhite) and you will be set forever. Been using mine for ~6 years now. You can sideload easily with like a cable, and if you care about not locking into amazon get one that has an older firmware and jailbreak it (allows for more freedom in filetypes, fonts etc and you don't have to worry about losing books)
>>24683104Not sure, I guess i'll phone them on a weekday and ask. But I HIGHLY doubt it.
>>24683117Out of curiosity, what country is this? English is the international academic/business language so it seems odd a library would have zero access to it.
>>24683124PolandI just live in a small town.
>>24683151~1/3 of your country knows some English, I'd be surprised if your local library can't help you out. Let us know what you discover, I'm very curious. https://cbos.pl/SPISKOM.POL/2016/K_005_16.PDF
>>24683059If you get one don't get kindle, it's locked down and has many annoyiences. Preferably get pocketbook or kobo.
>>24683059digital is the wayinternet search for whatever topicadd "pdf" to get filessearch for "topic pdf">andthen read on computerchange font sizes kek
>>24683116>>24683464>get a kindle>whatever you do don't get a kindlequick rundown on pros and cons?
>>24683404Will definitely call them when they're open, probably monday morning.
get a chinese bigme or onyxboox.bought onyxboox lomonosov and been reading voraciously for a few years now everyday.Same reason as with you, my country (belarus) has absolutely no literature, all bookstores are empty, nobody reads here even in Russian. There's some hipsterish bookstores where you can find random books in French or German, but their selection is limited to 15 books on random themes. And we can't order anything from outside the iron wall.$300 for an ereader is rather steep I guess, but considering how much I read, these were the best $300 I ever spent.I bought 10 inch ereader, so it's good for browsing internet, reading substacks, 4chan, wiki
i got a decent secondhand kobo for $80 and it's all i use now, $80 for access to any book ever on a screen that doesn't burn retina's is more than fair.as the other anon said, e-readers are great (especially if you partake in piracy) just stick away from kindles.
>>24683521Only pro is that it's cheap because they get shekels from you buying books from Amazon, not the sales of kindles themselves.
>>24683538oh and I never had to bother with any of the jailbreaking bullshit, because it's a chinese brand.annas archive, and in 50 second timeout I can get any book I want
>>24683521it's a one-time payment for an energy efficient device that you can store like a thousand books on. don't even have to buy from amazion if you figure out sideloading
>are e-readers any good?yes. just get something that can run koreader>how long can I expect it to last? I dont know about recent models but the first kobo i bought in 2010 lasted 9 years, and while it was slow it only died because I stepped on it.
>>24683582whale
>>24683538>>24683569i'm sure it's quality stuff but the price scares mei was thinking more along the lines of ordering some used piece of shit from olx like https://www.olx.pl/d/oferta/czytnik-e-book-prestigio-CID99-ID16P3oA.html>>24683582what's so special about koreader
>>24683590The reader is super fancy. You can map your own shortcuts, set multiple profiles to change its behaviour depending on what kind of book you're reading, add your own css on the fly, install your own dictionaries, link it with a calibre library, and as far as I know it's the only software with a setting to control the letter spacing. Also I rarely use it but the pdf mode was much better than my kobo's.
post your lockscreen
>>24683059>I'm poor>What do you recommend I buy?Bro only reads PDFs on his phone and uses Google Translate, lol. Do you really buy reading devices? I'm also poor and don't spend a cent on reading.
>>24683820
I use it primarily to read academic articles or pdfs of stuff off of archive.org
>>24683113Newer e-readers may follow "get what you pay for", but my family bought all four of us a generic Kindle in 2011 and all four of them work as well as the day they were first opened. Don't have a backlight, sadly, but the tech hasn't changed much otherwise, beyond having always on internet and more storage (pointless for 3-8mb epub/mobi files).
>>24683064this is retarded because eink screens are totally different from normal lcd bullshit + not every library has an extensive book collection
I bought a new paperwhite in 2019 and it's still going strong with daily use
>>24683059If you don't care about an eink screen you can just read on your phone/laptop/pc without spending any money. I'd imagine the technology on ereaders is pretty similar, the only difference will be the OS. I have a Kindle from ~2016 that is still working fine.
>>24684779phone screens are tiny
>>24683059Why not use the library?
>>24685562Because i'm interested in books by american and british authors and reading a translation when i could be reading the orignal is obviously suboptimal.
>>24683954How do you read without backlight? (frontlight technically)It's not needed outdoors or in transport because there's enough sunlight to illuminate the screen. But I can imagine having my rooms lit so bright in the evenings as to make backlight unnecessary
>>24685580Same way you read an actual book?
>>24685752Screen needs more light than paper does, and too much light causes glare. That's why I asked
>>24683059I have a Kindle Paperwhite. I can just send books off zlib right to it, pretty convenient.All I can really say.
>>24685774>too much light causes glareDon't use direct light if that's an issue for you. I do agree that my old Kindle requires more light than a regular book but only barely so.
