Despite my feelings about the company, I have a Kindle Paperwhite.
However, I don’t buy any ebooks from Amazonthat’s the line I draw.
Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to do.
Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek | DALL-E 3
Before I caved in and bought a Kindle Paperwhite, I tried a Kobo for a while.
My goal was to have a completely Amazon-free reading experience.
It was mostly fine, but ultimately, I wasn’t that happy with it.
PBS
So, I decided I would get a Kindle but just not buy anything from Amazon.
Four years later, it’s been working fine.
Kindles have very good integration with Libby, the app for libraries.
It’s a killer feature thatputs Kindles above Nook eReaders.
This is one of my most-used Kindle features.
Two worth checking out are Project Gutenberg and Open Culture.
Project Gutenbergis a digital archive of more than 70,000 free epub and Kindle ebooks.
The focus is on older works that have expired U.S. copyrights.
In that case, you’ve got the option to simply buy from a different ebook store.
The key to this is along-time computer tool called “Calibre.
“First, Calibre can transfer ebook files that you downloaded fromanywhereto a Kinde eReader.
On top of that, it also has its own built-in shop that scours online stores for books.
Those same classic stories that have expired copyrights are available for free from Amazon, too.
The second method is a bit more of a stretch.
Since I already have the subscription, I can take advantage ofPrime Reading.
Does it feel contradictory to use a Kindle while trying to avoid Amazon?
Yes, it does.
But we all have to draw our boundary lines somewhere.
At the end of the day, my top priority is to actually read books.
Kindle eReaders seem to make that the easiest for me, so this is what I do.
