Basically there’s Kobo and Kindle where I’m at that are good. For me I like a bit more premium stuff in terms of having decent build quality etc and that means it’s either Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Libre 2 that fits me. Both have proprietary shit software and their own bookstore but both can be side loaded. I generally prefer buying tried and tested hardware even if there probably exist some niche fully open source device out there but they tend to cost a lot more due to lacking scale of production. I wouldn’t however buy either of those new. I’ve setup reminders on second hand websites in my area and waiting till I find one in a good condition/price. Where I’m at that means for a almost unused device it should be about 10-20% below lowest historic price new. And older models around 50% below cost of a new model, naturally with a lot of variance depending on condition etc.

Definitely the Kobo Libra 2 or the Kobo Nia. I bought both a Kindle and a Kobo Libra 2 and ended up returning the Kindle because book piracy was a pain. The overall Kobo user experience is just a whole lot more pleasant.

I have a Boox e-reader and love it. It’s an Android e-ink device so you get the benefits of being able to load android apps in, and you can put pretty much any ebook on there. That includes loading the Kindle App for Kindle books, other stores e-readers if you don’t want to strip DRM, and free readers like FBReader to read anything you want. They also have a colour device which is interesting for comics.

They have a range of devices, and I have a Boox Nova with FBReader (e-reader but not open source unfortunately) installed from the google play store on the device and Calibre on my PC (which is a cross-platform open source ebook management system). You can use Calibre to load and manage the books on your eReader, and manage and organize a big library of books on your PC or laptop.

It means I can read an ebook from any source (including bought on Amazon, ebooks I’ve bought in other stores android app, or in any app if I’ve removed the DRM from the book, and ePUBs or Mobi from anywhere in FBReader or your preferred ereader from the Play store) on one good e-ink device. You can probably side load Android APKs but I haven’t tried that. It’s also touch screen so can take notes and stuff on it. And because it’s an Android device I can also browse the internet and use android app like email etc. But it’s an e-ink device though so the screen isn’t designed for rapidly refreshing content; some Apps look janky on it and you can watch videos on it but they look a bit janky. It’s good for reading websites, news apps, PDFs, email; that kind of stuff. Not really good or intended for video, or games. It’s a superb e-reader, but with the added freedom of android. No amazon lock-in, no Kobo lock-in.

EDIT: Minor typos corrected

Any of them I think.

One of my friends had the newer one and Calibre still worked fine.

I’ve had the 2 earlier models (original and paperwhite) and both worked fine.

Just make sure to download epub or mobi files as they’ll have decent formatting compared to PDF, txt, etc.

With the epub support on the new model you can even email epubs to it IIRC, but I never tried it, Calibre is the best.

I have a kindle from like a decade ago. It works fine. I just today had the thought as I was carrying it from the beach “why would anyone replace an old kindle?” So my suggestion is get the cheapest oldest model you can. Last week I updated my self hosted ebook library so I have calibre, calibre-web for a nicer front end, and readarr all working in tandem; it’s just about perfect. Books arrive magically on the device once they finish downloading and they download the instant they become available. I don’t know what else I’d want except for maybe a back light. But reading with actual natural light is a pleasure too.

You can jailbreak older software versions of kindle and install KoReader which is such a fantastic software. Open source and very feature rich https://github.com/koreader/koreader Personally I would not buy kindle again as I just don’t want Amazon on my device at all.

I recommend getting the kids paperwhite. Comes ad free and with a good case. Just unsub from the kids book thing if you don’t want it. Paperwhites are backlit so I can fall asleep reading at night with no other lights on. The newer ones also support dark mode and usb-c, finally!

And only buy any Amazon devices when deeply discounted like on prime day.

I use Callibre to upload all bookz to my kindle paperwhite

Oasis. It’s pricy but a good big screen and a grip down one side that makes it easy to hold for long periods. It also feels lighter than the other models. Mines from 2017 and still going strong.

I have a kindle I got in 2020 and no idea where it is. I also have a Kobo Libra 2 that I take with me everywhere. If you don’t want to constantly battle with jailbreaking get a Kobo. The two books I have on Amazon I transferred on with calibre and dedrm plugin

Kindle plus calibre is a very nice setup. Since the base model got a back light, it’s all I need. Kindle is the one thing Amazon does okay, it works really well for reading books and it’s cheap. And it’s pretty easy to get books on it.

Can’t speak for other options though.

Before you buy a kindle, see if librera on fdroid doesn’t suit you fine on your phone.

I’ve got a 2019 Kidle Oasis, I dont know if it has epub support but I use a piece of software called Calibre which can convert epubs to mobi which I think is Amazon’s proprietary format. Haven’t done it for a while now but I think there’s a problem with book covers now? Not too sure.

I have the same interogation atm. Also, as a datageek I’d like a model which can keep/extract reading logs. Haven’t found the perfect one, but I save your post just in case :)

Also, how common is telemetry on e-readers? Like will it send your reading list for targeted advertising somewhere? Because that’s what I’d worry about if you download illegally shared e-books