Originally published at: Kindle finally supports ePub but will kill MOBI | Boing Boing
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Just install Calibre and don’t worry about it.
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I had my Son install Google on my Kindle Fire, it sucked before and now the sucking is worse, just glad I got it second hand for $20.00 US.
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Yeah, I’ve got an older Kindle Fire that I’ve tried to vanilla-fy as much as possible, but it’s never been much use to me other than for watching movies on long plane flights. For actual reading, it’s largely useless. I’ve taken to calling the Fire line “e-readers for people who hate reading.”
Meanwhile, my 7-year-old Kindle Voyage is still going strong, and will have to be pried from my cold, dead hands.
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That’s hard core reading enthusiasm, and I like that.
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Anyone know if I’ll be able to continue using my 10-yr-old 5th generation Paperwhite? I download mobi files from Project Gutenberg and use Send to Amazon.
Will Send to Amazon convert Project Gutenberg’s epub files to something (AZW3, maybe?) my old reader can use?
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So they aren’t supporting ePub on kindle, just converting it for you into (what one can only assume will be) their proprietary format. They just cut out a middle-man and opened up a potentially new revenue stream that was previously free of capitalism.
yay. I’ll just keep using calibre until Bezos figures out how to kill them next.
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Mine as well. I got it new in 2014?
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Is there a Calibre workaround for the latest Amazon DRM? I haven’t found a combination of plug-ins that can strip the DRM and turn it into something readable on a Kobo?
And it would be nice if Amazon decided it would open up its no-doubt DRMed new ePubs to the rest of the world; but I have a sinking sensation they will be tied to Kindle by high-tech shitfuckery.
Is there a good e-reader out there besides Kindle? Maybe a Chinese knock-off?
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Not sure about the recent DRMs, but I’ve had good luck in the past with stripping DRM from my Amazon-purchased stuff using instructions from the standard sites. It’s a constant arms race, though, and you have to time it just right so you’re at a point where the latest DRM has been cracked, but Amazon hasn’t yet swept in to take the ability away again.
I hear good things about Kobo e-readers - once my Voyage finally gives up the ghost, that’s probably where I’ll go.
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Kobo is indeed great. In addition to continuing to support seriously old models with firmware updates, they’re relatively friendly toward hacking Kobo devices to run third-party reading software like KOReader. (While they don’t officially support doing this… unlike Amazon, they don’t take steps to prevent it.)
For the long-term support, it probably helps that the devices run Kobo’s own Linux-based OS and not Android (something of a rarity these days). But it also takes a committed manufacturer to keep supporting older devices. According to this fan site, the original Kobo Touch model from 2011 got last month’s firmware update.
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Kobo, use a site like https://z-lib.org/ for book previews and then purchase through the kobo store.
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I use a 7" Lenovo android tablet with the Kindle app for books from the Kindle store and the Aldiko app for every other type of e-book.
Works for me, your mileage may vary
I still use mine to borrow library books using Overdrive, which supports ePub format. Hoopla upgrades won’t work with older Kindle Fire units anymore. 
If I can’t use it for library books in the future, that will force me to read the thousands of free books downloaded during the past ten years. 
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there is a calibre plugin - look up ‘apprentice alf’. However, you need to download the ebooks from amazon, you can’t decrypt them (azw3 ebooks) off the kindle. Once decrypted in calibre, you then upload to the kindle.
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the kobo libra2 ereader - 7" inch screen, slightly sharper text than my x-gen paperwhite, much better menu/interface, does epub. It appears to have a quicker CPU as it can actually handle simple PDF files, my kindle is incredibly slow at displaying PDF pages, it often just hangs. The kobo has minimal ads and you can avoid them. I keep mine permanently offline and upload books from my laptop (after putting them in calibre).
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IMHO Kindle is not a good e-reader. It’s not yours, and the books on it aren’t yours. Amazon can wipe it without your consent
My extended family and me have been using Pocketbook readers, all the models we bought over the years are good, price is ok, and the oldest is at least 7 years old now and still works great. They support their own free cloud service, sending books by email, dropbox, calibre, and of course you can simply plug them in and copy ebooks. Some models support audio books.
Larger models with color e-ink display exist, I heard- good things from people who read comix, but I find them too expensive, and too big.
Edit: added links.
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Kobo are excellent readers and give you much more control over the look and feel of the books by customising the fonts, pagination, margins and so on. Side-loading and library rentals are much easier than in Kindle and their PDF support is ‘better’ than Kindle, not brilliant but better.
They also tend to be a generation ahead of Kindle in terms of functionality, so if you want to know what Amazon will ship next year, look at this year’s Kobo.
Not to mention they have devices with 8” and 10” screens and pen input where Kindle have no obvious equivalents.
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@Marlon_Brandobo @Elmer @LordInsidious
Thanks for the tip. I had a Kobo once. It was a nice contraption. Unfortunately, I somehow broke the screen. As Rakuten no longer operates in my country, today I have no way of fixing it.
I’ve seen that some people are selling their used appliances. It might be a good idea to get one of these.
Thank you. I saw this tablet yesterday in the shopping mall. But it is out of my budget. I’ve got these two old tablets. Good people here helped me install a new SO. But I couldn’t make the Kobo App run.
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