It is still a message. And we should encourage it.
It is always better to move in right direction even if it's just an inch.
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2026
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The video is basically saying: don’t force yourself to switch from your Kindle. If you don’t already own an e-ink device and really need one, of course don't buy kindle! What really stuck with me is how the video points out that ethical consumerism is kind of impossible to achieve. I really want to argue with that but honestly I can’t.
So the solution is not throw away your kindle, but political and social activism.
Or buying shit used+piracy and sabotage.
that of course, but don't forget political and social activism
I think books are the most annoying thing to pirate. The formats are always fucked up, or it’s in a jank file type and I never get good results converting them. It really needs improvement.
I did not watch the video.
But the message from title(video title is worse) sounds like common defeatist attitude. Ive personal issues with people who just promote defeat and have negative effect.
I've two kindles 12+ 6+ years old and 1 kobo 2+ years. Neither have been connected to internet apart frok initial setup.
It's obvious to not promote consumerism by buying unnecessarily but stll a good reminder.
In the video, they provide an opinion on multiple things you can do instead of just buying a Kobo. Certainly not defeatist.
Kobo, Kindle, and Boox all have their questionable history. There is no one e-ink company with a good reputation.
political and social activism is what matters
True, Its matter of lesser evil.
Kobo allows me to easily add books and koreader. So its better than kindle.
Not ideal at all.
But it is possible to achieve consumerism that is as ethical as possible.
Kobo, Kindle, and Boox all have their questionable history. There is no one e-ink company with a good reputation.
Which one is ethical enough to buy from?
Instead of switching, one can jailbreak Amazon devices too
And don't buy books (or anything) from Amazon
Yes! 100%
It is hard to buy drm free ebooks, but some are not too complicated to dedrm. (or so I've heard)
I bought all my ereaders used and sold the previous ones I had. Currently have a boox one with android where I can do anything I want.
Kobo, Kindle, and Boox all have their questionable history. There is no one e-ink company with a good reputation.
political and social activism is what matters
There are diy options like the OpenBook from open source designs and there is the PineNote that last time I checked wasn't really usable to daily drive.
Those options are more expensive, more cumbersome and you can't get them second-hand, but they are an option.
If anyone is looking for ethical ebook readers, take a look at:
- The open book
- diptyx
Both are open source.
Theres a new category of esp32 eink devices.
Its also perfectly ok to use your old device and disconnect it from the internet. And just side-load everything.
I have both a kindle and a kobo. Neither have been connected to the internet and work just fine.
I have had a terrible experience with kobo btw. $450 for a stupid ereader that, three years later, is glitchy and slow af, doesnt sync to my phone or ipad kobo app if i want to read on those, does not hold a charge, and a lot of ebooks I bought when I first got my kobo no longer work (either some kind of formatting error or just blank pages)! Also, they literally have ZERO customer service except for a team of like two Indian people who will give you the runaround for days. Kobo is an absolute scam. I use my ipad mini with the PocketBook app (there are plenty of others that are just as good) and just download ebooks for free from Anna’s Archive or get from my libraries on libby.
Z-Library.
450 bucks is a hard no from me lol. I’ll just read on my phone. Even Apple Books accepts my pirated and owned books into my library.
Hm. All you said is opposite of my experience with Kobo. I have a Forma bought in 2019 that does not lag, has great battery life (after almost 7 years) and all my ebooks work. I have some that I purchased directly from Kobo, some from ebooks.com and some from local stores (no DRM). The Kobo software always has been snappy, I always tell people that Kobo has quality build AND good software, unlike PocketBook (I had InkPad 3 Pro and Era) which lacks in that regard.
I agree that sync tends to be flaky between multiple devices.
I bought a Kobo Libra Colour a couple months ago because I wanted to try a color e-ink reader. Now I have two and I couldn't tell which one is better because each has some pros and cons over the other model. :)
I had multiple Kindles before switching to PocketBook and Kobo.
I wonder if your particular device had some issues or maybe it was a particular model. Forma was the high end Kobo device, now discontinued.
That’s good. I was inclined to think i got a dud but my experience trying to read my vast purchased kobo library on the kobo app on my iphone, ipad, and boox palma 2 (the app is basically unusable for me and my account now), plus my terrible customer service experiences with kobo, have left me with an overwhelming idea that kobo as a company sucks and their products are inferior to kindle products.
I installed koreader on my kobo. Its lighting fast now.
Your self-destruction doesn't hurt them. Your chaos won't convert them. They're so happy to rebuild it. You never really killed it. Excess ain't Rebellion. You're drinking what they're selling.