• conciselyverbose
    9·
    4 months ago

    Hoopla and Libby are both free to you and with your library card, so that’s a benefit. Libby IMO has the best selection, including more popular stuff, because the limited copy style of lending means that they can pay for (and get licenses to) more hugely popular stuff. You have to wait for some stuff, though.

    I’ve read a lot more through Everand as a paid library than I ever did through kindle unlimited. I use it more for audiobooks than ebooks, but both are included with the subscription. They’re both pretty limited libraries, and both have pretty bad discoverability, but if you’re just looking for reasonable quality and not specific titles, you can find stuff.

  • helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world
    8·
    4 months ago

    Is there a way to get hoopla on an e-reader? Assuming no… edit, forgot about the android ereaders. I would go for that + hoopla.

    If you’re reading on a tablet or android e-ink, I’d probably go with Hoopla. If I had a Kindle, I’d have to go K Unlimited*. As for content, Kindle probably has more [citation needed], but hoopla has alot.

    E-ink beats all for reading text, personally I can’t read books on a LCD screen. Tablet is great for picture books and comics.

    Hoopla can be gotten free via library card, so that immediately gives then a +1 over Amazon.

    Amazon has so many negatives, I hate to give them more money.

    This next part is not really related to the question, so here’s the TLDR: personal anecdote about reading free public domain ebooks…

    * I actually do have a kindle, but don’t do Unlimited.

    Personally, I have found some great sources of public domain e-books. Reading classics for the sake of enjoyment and not a class has been great. I’ve found Most English books in the 1850-1920 era are easy to read. Sometimes I have to look up an odd word, but that not any different than new books.

    I do buy a few modern ebooks I want, but probably 70% of my reading these days is free public domain stuff.

    The ones I know of include;

    Project Gutenberg - very large collection, formatting may vary. Some books are just walls of text with 0 line breaks or paragraph indents.

    Standardebooks.org - takes public domain books from places such as Gutenberg and turns them into well formated ebooks.

    Bookwise.io - more public domain books, but a web-reader formated specifically for mobile devices.

    Lastly, if you or anyone reading this does decide to go the free-ebook route or buys them regularly - Calibe is the iTunes of eBook management. (But FOSS) https://calibre-ebook.com/

  • TheRealKuni@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    4 months ago

    I’ve not used hoopla, but I’ve used Libby. Libby lets you check out ebooks and then read them on e-Ink Kindles, I’m not sure if hoopla does (you might need their app).

    Either way, if your library offers such services, might as well use them!

  • sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world
    5·
    4 months ago

    I haven’t used Hoopla, but it appears to be a free connection to library content. I don’t know how payment is given to creators, if at all.

    I’ve had a great experience with KU, which is like $15/month. The authors are paid for their work, including indie authors, although they are paid more if you buy their Kindle book (rather than rent it).