Kobo is like the little engine that could. It’s a Canadian-based globally-distributed ebook retailer that provides all the same services as the big guys, and often does it better.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of shopping at the other retailers, you might want to give Kobo a try. Here’s four reasons why Kobo might work for you:
Their own reading devices
Kobo is both the company name, and the name of the ebook readers they manufacture and sell. The Kobo readers are comparable in price to Kindles and sometime even cheaper, so if you’re looking to make a change, they’re at a nice price point.
Also, Kobo is about to release the new Kobo Glo HD, that is pretty astounding: a two month battery life, a concierge service, and the HD screen, of course.*
Plus, the Kobo readers can open all the popular formats, including ePub, Mobi (Kindle) and PDF. So if you have a Kobo reader, you can read books from anywhere, including your own hard drive.
Epub format can be read by other devices and software
The default format for the books Kobo sells is ePub. If you already own a Nook reader, you can read Kobo books on it. Many other generic readers use ePub format, too, so you can buy an independent reader and have the best of both worlds.
Kobo provides reading applications for all devices.
Just like Kindle, Kobo provides a free reading app for any platform, including Android, PCs, Mac, iPhones and Blackberry.
Shop in your own currency.
Especially for readers outside the United States, Kobo will detect your country location and use your local currency, so you don’t have to swap sites (only to find the book isn’t available, afterall), and you don’t have to convert in your head. There’s one link to get to the site (Kobo.com) and after that, Kobo does all the work.
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*Are you a newsletter subscriber? You might want to consider subscribing, as I will be giving away a Kobo Glo HD reader very soon!