Inksky
I didn’t switch because I hated Kindle. I switched because I got scared.
Late last year I was looking at my Kindle library — 84 books, mostly bought on sale over eight years, a few full-price preorders I’d been excited about — and it hit me: I don’t own any of these. I own a license to read them on Amazon’s terms, on Amazon’s devices, until Amazon decides otherwise. That’s not paranoia. Amazon has pulled books from people’s libraries before. They can do it again.
That was the seed. But it took three more things to actually make me move.
The OverDrive revelation
I’m in Canada. Kindle’s Libby integration doesn’t work here. For years I assumed borrowing library ebooks on any e-reader was a US-only luxury. Then I learned Kobo has OverDrive baked into the device — browse your local library, borrow with a tap, sync over Wi-Fi. No computer, no ADE, no sideloading.
The first time I borrowed a book directly on my Kobo Libra Colour I laughed out loud. It felt like cheating. I’ve read more library books in the two months since switching than I did in two years on Kindle, because the friction vanished. That alone justified the switch.
EPUB freedom is real
Drag a file onto the device. It appears in your library. No Calibre conversion, no “your device doesn’t support this format” warnings, no mysterious cover-art breakage. EPUB just works. When I buy a book from a DRM-free store like Standard Ebooks or a publisher’s site, I put the file on my Kobo and read it. On Kindle I’d spend ten minutes converting and fixing the metadata and still get an ugly cover thumbnail.
The format freedom also means I’m not afraid to build another library. If Kobo evaporates tomorrow, my EPUBs work on PocketBook, Boox, my phone, my laptop — anywhere. That’s real ownership.
What I genuinely miss about Kindle
The switch isn’t all sunshine. Kindle has some things Kobo just doesn’t match:
Goodreads integration is better. Kobo syncs with Goodreads but it’s a half-hearted implementation — you can’t rate or review from the device the way Kindle lets you. I now track reading on my phone, which is fine but slower.
The Kindle store is still bigger. Kobo’s store covers 90% of what I want, but I’ve hit two “not available in your region” walls on new releases that were sitting on Amazon. I ended up buying those paperbacks. In 2026.
Whispersync across devices. I used to read on my Kindle, pick up on the Kindle phone app, continue on the web reader. Kobo has an app and syncs progress, but it’s clunkier and the app isn’t as polished. I now carry my Kobo more places, which is a trade-off.
Lighter body. The Kindle Paperwhite is noticeably lighter than the Libra Colour. For longer reading sessions, I sometimes miss that featherweight feel.
Would I switch back?
Not unless Amazon opens up. Give me EPUB sideloading without conversion. Give me OverDrive everywhere, not just the US. Let me back up my purchases in a standard format. Those are the table stakes now.
The 84-book library still haunts me a little. I didn’t lose those books — they’re still on my old Paperwhite, and I can read them there. But I won’t build a second locked library. The switch taught me that ecosystems aren’t about specs or store size or hardware polish. They’re about who holds the keys. I’d rather hold my own.