The Kobo Wireless eReader is the 2nd generation device from Kobo and has just started hitting shelves in the US and Canada in time for the holiday season, and is expected to make it to Australia by Christmas too.
I was finally able to stop reading for long enough to finish up the Kobo WiFi Review. It includes a 10 minute video review, as usual, as well as a few photos, along with all the details about the new Kobo Wireless eReader.
Kobo is currently offering a month-long free trial for their digital version of the New York Times. So I decided to do a comparisons of it with the Kindle and Sony PRS-950’s NYT subscriptions and will post those comparisons later this week, along with direct comparisons of the Kobo WiFi up against the Kindle WiFi and Nook WiFi to see how it stacks up against them. Check back in a few days for those.
What`s your feeling on the price of the Kobo?
It does look like a decent Reader.
I think about getting a secondary Reader for Library books. I`m conflicted about stripping DRM & converting so I could read them on my first choice(Kindle) even though I would delete the book after the loan term.
I just can`t see paying $149 for a bare-bones Reader solely to read Library books.I feel bare-bone Readers should be about $50 and then I would jump on it and not even consider stripping DRM for personal use.
Is their price reasonable in your opinion?
The $139 price is a tough call. It definitely is high compared to the Kindle when considering the type of functionality the Kindle comes with, but Amazon is really good at this and have been doing ereaders for a long time and have the price stripped down as much as possible since they make most their $$$ off ebooks.
Given the Kindle WiFi and Nook WiFi’s features, the Kobo would probably do a lot better at selling for around $119 ($99 would be ideal but they’d probably have to be selling it at a loss at that point).
In another 6 months or so the Kobo WiFi might be down to that. Everything changes so fast. 6 months ago the Kobo original was $149 and now it’s $119. At this time last year the cheapest wireless E Ink ereader you could get was the Kindle 2 and Nook, both for $259, although those were 3G models.
I guess I`m dreaming in technicolor waiting for $50.
Well I`m 5 minutes from the Library so I guess I`ll continue to drive over and forgo Library ebooks for now and stick with the Kindle which I haven`t purchased yet.Waiting to see what happens on Black Friday.Maybe a discount on that nice but expensive case.
I wouldn’t be too surprised to see an LCD ereader drop down to the $50 range in the near future, but not with E Ink–the technology is just too expensive.
Can you download Library books directly to this Reader using Wifi or do you have to use a Computer and ADE and then load the book on to the Reader?
No. It only connects to Kobo. There presently aren’t any ereaders that can do that; library ebooks always have to go through ADE.
Thanks
Easy to use, great price, love the WiFi…love this Kobo! It has ePub, PDF, and Adobe DRM! ~Kobo Community Manager