I was going to get a Kindle, but the appalling state of the dollar is making that difficult. Today I came across the Kobo which is sold by Angus & Robertson. Does anyone have one?

Hi there

tickledpink72 - I am looking at this issue as well.

The local Library now lends e-books and they suggested the Kobo as you need an e-reader that is compatible with ePUB files. The Kindle is not compatible with ePUB files.

Anyone bought one yet or do you have an e-reader that is compatible with ePUb files?

I found this review
http://www.electronista.com/reviews/kobo-ereader.html

I am looking into them. This one was not one of the 6 recently reviewed by Choice magazine. But, in reading this review I do like the look of it and the fact that it doesn't have all the other things like MP3.

Will be interested to hear from anyone using one

I have one and I love it.

Its just a reader - but that was what I wanted, I didn't want a mini-laptop. It is cheap enough that I don't freak out about taking it on holidays. It fits about 1000 books. It has some weird technology (like an etch-a-sketch) that is easy on your eyes (no LED behind the screen like a computer). Uploading is easy.

You can also get them at Borders BTW.

Mummalovin - thanks, that website gives a really good review, more info than the Kobo website.

KT1978 - Glad you like it. I think that has made up my mind for me to get one.

Now just need to convince my DH to let me have it for my birthday next week. My library is inconvenient to get to, so being able to download their e-books will be great.

I downloaded 3 apps on my iPhone... ereader, Stanza and Kindle. I read off my iPhone now. It works perfectly and I will continue to do this. If I did not have an iPhone I would consider getting one. Make sure you are able to get a whole range of books.

I have one and I like it

Thanks lovely ladies. I went to A&R today and was given a demo of the Kobo.

A&R are getting covers and gel protectors next week for them as well so i will wait for them to arrive. YAY!

I do. It's very good.

I am currently reading The Passage.

It is so much easier to read in bed. The Passage is almost 900 pages so I couldn't hold it comfortably in bed but on the Kobo it's just effortless!

It's just like reading off paper, there's lots available (and this will only get better I imagine) and very easy to use.

Now, I think I will also finally read War and Peace, what better way than on a device smaller than a dvd case!

I think I'll get used to reading in this way and possible upgrade in a few years, to one that can also read aloud, because I can see this would be great in the car for the kids.

I just ordered a kindle 3. It's just been released and is only USD139.

I'd definately go with a kindle if you can swing it. I have one and wouldn't be without it.

My Mum wants to buy my little bookaholic DD a kobo for Christmas. Would they be any good for a (then) 8.5 year old advanced reader?? Are there enough older kid titles available to make it worthwhile? We travel around a fair bit - it's an hour round trip just to do groceries, and family is 1300kms away, so her having one of these would certainly decrease the amount of books we have to take away with us.

If it is good I'll probably get myself one too.

I love how you can put any file on the Kobo that you want, you aren't tied in like with a Kindle.

Boo, I just got A Wrinkle In Time as my DD watched the movie and insists on discussing it with me so I want to read it to discuss in greater detail. There are all the kids classics, Tom Sawyer, Lion, Witch Wardrobe etc as well as newer kids ones like Harry Potter. But I haven't really looked for a lot of kids ones yet, so I don't know how many are available though I'm sure it will be more and more each day. And even if she didn't use it a lot at first, you sure could!

Anyway the Kobo is great, no glare on the screen, no backlight to strain your eyes, so easy to read in bed, great selection of books, easy to use, I can't fault it really!

I love my Kobo.

Love that I can buy my ebooks from various online stores (main one being The Book Depository) and am not restricted to one store.

I love my Kobo and totally recommend it!

I have just downloaded Lonely Planet chapters onto it as we are off on holiday soon and it will be much less cumbersome - I usually travel with a few books plus the guidebook so it will be great to just take the Kobo.

I'm not 100% sure but I think so. Kindle uses it's own reader format, whereas Kobo (and others) use more universal types like Epub and PDF. You can also convert other types like lit and htm to Epub so they will also work on Kobo.

We're going on holiday soon too and instead of packing 4 or more books I can just take my kobo with 200 books! lol, I bought The Passage (real book) the same day I bought the kobo and then later realised I could get in on there too, so my big thick 900 page real book is sitting unread, while I snug down with the kobo. So much easier to read while breastfeeding too!

you can only buy books from amazon with the kindle, but you can put pdfs on it as well

re: Epub from the library - does that mean no more reservations? Or can they only lend one book down load at a time of each book (I imagine not, but thought I'd check).
Is it still free?

My library doesn't have it, but when I was searching the net I saw a UK library that does. You just download them from the site and after 4 weeks they expire. Sounds easy, I don't know how they make them expire. However some listings said not available so perhaps they can only lend a few copies of each at a time.

I use the Castle Hill Library (sydney), they recommend the Kobo. Check out the website, all the information about how to borrow is on there. Its free to join, the books are free to borrow, no late fees, and free reservations. they e-mail you when your reserved book is ready to download. You can borrow up to 3 books at a time. The ebook library is expanding all the time.

The ebooks expire after 3 weeks. The files are encrypted and so they disable themselves after 3 weeks so you can't read them anymore. You can always borrow them again if you didn't finish them.

Also the software needed is free to download from their website. You can also read the ebooks on your computer and some other devices. You download the software onto your computer, then download the books onto your computer hard drive using the free software, then you use a USB cable to transfer the books to your Kobo. Its very easy actually.

check out the website below:

http://thehills.lib.overdrive.com/8DD72A8B.../en/Default.htm

My DH bought me the kobo for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Its awesome. i have already borrowed some ebooks from the libabry for the kids which they read on their computer. I am going to be busy reading the 100 preloaded books, reading Anna Karenina at the moment.