In January, I found myself with an unexpectedly healthy post-xmas bank balance, so treated myself to yet another new gadget - an ereader.  I chose a Kobo Mini, in white.

Three months later I've read 33 books in about 135 hours.  It's great!  e-ink is very natural to read from, and the reader itself is small and hand sized.  Definitely better for taking on holiday than a stack of paperbacks.

Why Kobo?  Or more to the point, why not a Kindle?  I only need three letters to answer that: DRM.  Amazon can shove their proprietry locked in files and 'whispernet' up their arse - I'd much rather deal with epubs and calibre (which I've got tweaked to handle bookshelves and 'convert' to .kepub for extra reading stats. useful).

However the downside of buying a 'non standard' size is that it's nearly impossible to buy a case for it without spending lots and lots of money.  I also didn't want one of those permanently attached flip cover things, as all that's doing is adding bulk, and thus defeating the point of buying for size!

For a while it lived in a sock, then eventually I bought a £3 neoprene slipcase, chopped it up a bit, sewed the pieces back together, and stuck some velcro on for a flap.  It's working well so far, even if the stitches are a bit wonky!

tags: books gadgets