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This news was announced in early September, but this week, the Kobo Clara Colour is now available in white by customer demand – I admit I’m fascinated by the new colour eInk screens.
Kobo makes two colour ereaders – the Libra Colour ($229.99 US) and the Clara Colour ($159.99 US). The Libra allows readers to make notes and annotate, and there’s a stylus sold separately.
The Clara is, per their press release, constructed with recycled plastic, and it’s repairable, too – I appreciate that a LOT. The new white Clara Colour comes with a larger battery, and the black Clara Colour received the same upgrade. More reading time!
The reviews are pretty positive, too – including from people who upgraded from a prior Kobo reader.
And, if you’ve got a Kobo eReader or not, Kobo Plus is still one of the greatest subscription deals I’ve seen.
Kobo Plus allows you unlimited access to ebooks, audiobooks, or, depending on the plan, ebooks and audiobooks. (Seriously, this is so smart.)
If the graphic isn’t legible for you, Kobo Plus Listen is $7.99US per month, and there are over 150,000 audiobooks in their catalog.
Kobo Plus Read is also $7.99US per month, and has over 1.5 million ebooks in their catalog, including some exclusives, and entire series bundles, too.
And Kobo Plus Read & Listen is $9.99 per month – both listening and ebooks, for $10. That’s a really good deal.
Plus, if you’re a new subscriber, you can try Kobo Plus for 30 days for free, and cancel any time.
I love a “cancel any time” – and if you’re someone who worries that you won’t remember to, here’s a tip. When you sign up for a free trial, set a reminder or calendar appointment for just under the free trial length, with a link to where you can unsubscribe. So if it’s a 14 day free trial, sign up, and IMMEDIATELY afterward, set a reminder or calendar item for 12 or 13 days from now that your trial is about to end, and do you want to renew? Bonus: include instructions or a link where the cancellation happens. Helps me out immensely.
Kobo Plus is as well stocked as Darcy’s fishing pond in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice.
Or, you know, the other pond in the other Pride and Prejudice:
The Kobo Plus romance reads cover a lot of genres and authors, the Sci Fi and Fantasy collection has a number of books I’ve favorited, and of course there’s Mysteries and Thrillers. The entire Verity Kent series by Anna Lee Huber is available in ebook. (Such a good series.)
Over in audio, some items in my listening queue: e all the Penric & Desdemona books by Lois McMaster Bujold. Plus there are a bunch of historical romances from Erica Ridley, Jess Michaels, Darcy Burke, and more.
The Council Mysteries series by Celia Lake is in Kobo Plus, as are her other series, including the Mysterious Powers series, which was a favorite of Catherine’s. Like KJ Charles? Yup, inside Kobo Plus.
Most importantly: you’ve got options in your subscription services. If you’re an insatiable reader and listener (hi) an unlimited subscription plan can keep you happily engrossed and save you some money, too. And if you’re thinking about your purchases more critically like I am, I have to say, I like knowing that there are digital reading and listening alternatives.
Do you like book and audio subscription services? Have you tried a Kobo ereader? Which one do you like?
Thanks for this. I am very curious about the color e-ink! Would love to know what people who have it think. I have also been looking at signing up for Kobo Plus. Free trial sounds like the way to go.
I love my Kobo, and this is tempting even though my current Kobo works well. Their library is good, but readers should be aware that a lot of self-publishing authors ONKY publish in Kindle (grr argh).
Indie authors in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited are *only* allowed to publish ebooks at Amazon (and since about a month ago, in libraries). But indie authors in Kobo Plus can publish their ebooks anywhere else they want.
As a reader, I refuse to reward Amazon for that behavior. As an author, I’m not going to rely on Amazon for my entire paycheck when they are known for closing accounts for things beyond the author’s control.
I love my Kobo Plus subscription.
My suggestion for testing out subscription services, is I subscribe, and then cancel the renewal.
(Unless there is a significant « first three months for…. » option). If I notice the trial ending, I consider keeping the subscription.
I’ve used this for:
Amazon Prime, Britbox, KoboPlus, PassionFlix, Netflix, Scribd/Everand, Viki, Reelshort, Coursera, iCloud, AppleTv.
I am currently waiting out my last days on Everand and then renewing Kobo Read & Listen
I got a Kobo after wanting to upgrade from my third genera to on kindle. Been very happy with Kobo and its features and I’ve been a kobo plus subscriber for the past three years. There is great content in their library and a lot of books and authors I’m interested are on there. Also like the fact that the company is based in Canada, which lessens my data collection concerns.
I got a Kobo Libre earlier this year when I decided to ditch Amazon. I liked my Kobo so much that my husband ditched his Kindle, too. I honestly don’t care about the colors because the books I’m reading are black-and-white text. I also don’t care about the notebook capability. But I do appreciate having buttons again. More physical buttons, please! I also appreciate the ability to side-load books by connecting the Kobo to my computer. My only real device critique is that the software can be a bit buggy. Not horribly buggy, but buggier than the Kindle.
I agree with @Taffygrrl that it is extremely annoying to find books that are only available on Amazon. @T.M. Baumgartner, I applaud your decision to avoid Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program.
One day maybe we’ll all be able to buy ebooks wherever we like and read them on the device of our choice. In this dream world, the device of our choice would not leak our personal information to mega corporations at the first opportunity. Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. Kobo, at least for the moment, seems like a lesser evil than Amazon.
@book_reader_ea01sj71r4 – ooh, tell me more about side loading ebooks on a Kobo. Can you side load epub files you didn’t buy from Kobo? Do they have to be DRM free? I have so many ebooks, from so many sources.
@Cleo
If your books have Adobe DRM (eg. google play, ebooks.com, library platforms like Borrowbox, Overdrive/Libby etc.), and you fulfill the books to your computer, you should be able to read those books on a Kobo ereader authorized to the same adobe account by plugging into your computer via cable.
If you get a more recent Kobo model, you can use 1 library card right on the Kobo ereader itself via Overdrive – the ebook edition must match exactly between your library and the Kobo store to be fulfilled on device, no sideloading required. Your library must have a epub version obviously (not a kindle one).
If the books are DRM-free, there’s built-in optional Dropbox and google drive link on the more expensive Kobo models (Libra Colour, Sage, Elipsa) for a wireless way to get your books onto the device. There’s a service run by a Kobo fan, (send.djazz.se) which can also be used to wirelessly send ebooks one at a time.
@Cleo – If your books are DRM-free, they can indeed be side-loaded easily. I use Calibre, which is a fabulous tool for managing ebooks. There’s a “send to device” button that works like a charm when my Kobo is plugged in.
For DRMed epub, you actually download an acsm file to your computer that you load into Adobe Digital Editions, which can then transfer the book to your Kobo when it’s plugged into your computer. This method is clunky, but it works. You can do this for books you download from Kobo.com or Libby.
The wireless options @shel mentions are simpler. But I leave my Kobo (and previously my Kindle) in airplane mode with the wireless turned off because I simply don’t trust Amazon or Kobo’s privacy settings.