5 things I love about my Kobo Libra Colour
It's not my first eReader, but it's the first one I've fallen in love with 🤷♀️
I got my Kobo Libra Colour for Christmas 2024. It has been like a gift from God.
In reality it was a gift from my partner, instigated by and originally sourced by me (Facebook marketplace, sealed box, a quiet handover in my partner’s office before it was ceremoniously presented to me at our Christmas exchange). Ahh, Christmas gifts when you’re ten years into a relationship — less surprise, far more control.
The Kobo was a necessary and desirable gift for a number of reasons.
Firstly, we were about to embark on a four-month travel journey, and at my reading volume, there’s no way I could bring all the books I’d need.
Secondly, I wanted to stop buying quite so many physical books (it’s become a bit of an addiction), so I knew this would help to balance it out.
Thirdly, we’re moving from Canada to Australia, where books just simply can’t be acquired as quickly. In Canada, if I wanted to read a book, I could order it and have it at my door tomorrow. In Australia, that’s usually not the case. But I’m an impulsive reader, and if I want to read something, I want to read it now, before my brain moves onto something else. eReaders are great for this.
Fourth and finally, my poor old Kindle was on its last legs. It still works and I still have it as a backup, but it takes what feels like 30 seconds to turn a page and a whole minute to highlight something, and I simply don’t have the patience. Also, it’s very small and a little bit ugly now that the world of eReaders has advanced so much.
Sometimes you buy something, full of anticipation, and end up underwhelmed by it when you finally get to use it. This was not the case with my Kobo Libra Colour. My partner almost regrets getting it for me, because I never let it out of my sight. It’s now the third wheel in our relationship.
Anyway, here I’ll explain exactly why I love my Kobo so much — and why I think it’s worth the upgrade.
1 — The colour
It had to be said! The reason I chose the Kobo Libra Colour over any other eReader was its size/shape but also its colour. Of course, you don’t need colour to enjoy a good book, but I love colour, and part of the reason I love my physical book collection so much is that they look so pretty and colourful when they’re all living together on the shelf, so being able to bring my love of colour into my digital reading world was so much fun.
I love opening up my digital bookshelf and seeing them all lined up there in full colour. I especially love being able to change the colour of my highlights, which is something I’ll occasionally do if I’m highlighting based on which category I want to sort those snippets into later. Or sometimes I’ll highlight something in a different colour just to show that it’s extra highlighted. I run a very sophisticated system.
2 — The annotations
The addition of the stylus makes a Kobo reading session so much more fun. What’s amazing about this stylus is that it doesn’t just highlight — it also lets you write freehand notes like you might if you were scribbling in the margins of a real book. You can also erase using the other end of the stylus. As much as I enjoy this ability, I don’t typically write much of importance, because I’m fairly certain it won’t be recorded as a highlight and therefore won’t be automatically synced to my Readwise and Notion. It’s a fun feature, but not super practical for my purposes. Still, I love nothing more than the feeling of sitting down with a book and a pen or pencil to underline, and now I can do that digitally too.
3 — The buttons
The buttons were another big reason I wanted this model. I loved the idea that I could read with one hand, holding the thicker side panel, and use the buttons to turn the page with my thumb rather than reaching my other hand over to touch the right-hand side of the screen. If you’re not a big reader, this probably sounds ridiculous to you, but if you know, you know. The buttons make for such a nice tactile experience, and it really makes a difference to my reading sessions.
4 — The origami cover! Oh my
Wow, seriously, wow. I’m ashamed to admit I was using the origami cover for probably two weeks before I figured out how it actually worked. I knew there was some trick to it, but until I watched a video, I had no idea you had to clamp the sides forward into a triangle before flipping them to the back. I gasped when I got it — instantly impressed. Now I have my own personal little bookstand everywhere I go and I couldn’t be happier.
5 — It’s so easy to add my own files
I used to love adding my own files to my Kindle, and that was really easy via email or the desktop app, so I was worried about how that would go down on Kobo. Turns out it’s also super easy — I just plug my Kobo into my computer and drag and drop the files on. Some people complain about having to use the cord, but it doesn’t bother me. When I’ve needed to, I’ve also used Send to Kobo, which lets you — you guessed it — send files to your Kobo.
6 — Bonus: It’s not owned by Jeff Bezos!
Whether or not something is owned by the big bald billionaire has little to do with its functionality or quality, but there’s something that feels so good about opening up my Kobo, downloading a book, and knowing Jeff Bezos isn’t getting a cent of it. Who knows, maybe the Kobo founders will become evil too someday, but until then, I’ll keep riding this high.
There you have it! Five reasons my Kobo has changed my life and never leaves my sight.
In a future post I will detail some of the small grievances I have with my Kobo, because although it pains me to admit it, it’s not entirely perfect.