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Ask HN: Viable Alternative to Kindle and Kindle Store?

9 points by iamnotwhoiam ↗ HN
I've been a loyal Kindle user for about 8 years. I have all the normal qualms with it, but I have to admit the books are convenient and cheap. Now I've suddenly run headfirst into a DRM issue that's preventing me from reading a book I need for work and I'm ready to throw the whole thing out, provided there is something better.

Is there a reader and store that provides similar availability, price, and convenience but without DRM so that I can share my books and read them 50 years from now?

9 comments

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toomuchtodo
https://remarkable.com/

https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873... (epubs)

https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265871... (PDF)

(disclosure: i have one, I love it, no other association, I intend to eventually build some sort of Internet Archive integration for it)

iamnotwhoiam
Where do you buy books for it?
toomuchtodo
I try a variety of sources, and use Calibre [1] to manage my ebook library. First Amazon (Calibre will strip the DRM), and I'll step through Barnes and Noble, ebooks.com; failing any of those, libgen (and I'll buy a used dead tree copy to pair with it). I do my best to be a responsible intellectual property consumer.

[1] https://calibre-ebook.com/

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iamnotwhoiam
Calibre suggests an email service that doesn't let me create an account, can't convert the mobi file I need, and doesn't know how to deal with any of the other books on my Kindle. They aren't stored on the Kindle as mobi files, so /shrug
toomuchtodo
Sorry to hear it doesn't work for you. Wishing you luck finding a solution to meet your requirements.
speedgoose
I have some nostalgia feelings while looking at this website design. It even has an now very old powerbook g4 on the main page.
Raminj95
The remarkable is one of the best things I have bought. It has single handededly made me read more and take so much more notes and read much more interactively and thus learning more. But it is not that good for reading PDF's if that is something you are looking to do. Also it's not possible to read on half the page and take notes on the other which is a feature I would really like, anyway just my 2 cents :D