• morto@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    If you read epubs frequently, just on your pc: foliate
    If you read epubs frequently, and want to also manage your ereader library: calibre
    If you read epubs occasionally and want the same software for reading everything: okular

  • edinbruh@feddit.it
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    1 day ago

    There’s calibre, and then there’s everything else. Also take a look koreader. You can also use koreader from calibre

    • emb@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I hear these names thrown around a lot. I’ve only briefly tried Calibre, and not KOReader yet.

      I’m kinda curious, what’s the difference between them and the roles they fill?

      • OneCardboardBox@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 day ago

        Calibre is an ebook library manager with a reader built-in. Koreader is purely reader software, and it works particularly well on touch and eink screens.

        • edinbruh@feddit.it
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          22 hours ago

          This👆

          That’s why I referred to it as “plain”: it’s just the reader. And it is mostly made to replace the original reader software on eBook devices, but you can also use it on desktop if you want.

          The question is if you are looking for just a reader, or a library manager. But you can also mix the two, so use calibre fo manage the library and have it use koreader to open books

      • njordomir@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        You already received a reply to this, but I recently had both installed and also recently reviewed my apps to uninstall duplicate-purpose apps.

        KOreader looks like what comes on a Kindle, Nook, etc. I have it loaded on an old Kindle 4th Generation I inherited from my Grandpa. If you like eBook readers, this one is for you. Librera is for people who are Android users, especially those who download and store books on their devices. It follows more typical Android design conventions and functions more like a full eBook suite vs a reader tool.

        I think I’m going to go with KOreader for my uses, but have immense admiration for the developers of both.

        • everett@lemmy.ml
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          23 hours ago

          Librera is for people who are Android users

          I’d reword this a little, to

          Librera is better for people who are Android readers exclusively

          Because if you’re the type who uses a dedicated e-ink device for reading, also having the same application and book library on your phone has some obvious benefits. But if your phone is your one reading device, you’d probably try the Android version of KOReader and be like “wtf is with this UI?”

          • njordomir@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            Agreed on the exclusivity thing. Matching apps could be a big benefit. I don’t read across devices (or if I do, it is for different books), but I want to give cross-device syncing a try once I get my Calibre library all fixed up.

        • Obin@feddit.org
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          21 hours ago

          I use KOreader on an Android phone because it’s so configurable and allows me to read efficiently on an AMOLED with white on black text and a very minimal, space efficient interface. Also the large amount of style overrides allows one to fix even the most badly formatted epubs without editing or processing them in Calibre.

          • njordomir@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            Good point on the AMOLED. I actually like the different UI. It keeps me zoned into my book and zoned out of Android.

  • KssioAug@piefed.zip
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    1 day ago

    I really like Foliate. Great interface, easy to use, enough customization. It’s available through Flatpak.

    If you want something more feature rich and don’t care too much about UI, then Calibre.

  • GreyCat@piefed.social
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    21 hours ago

    KOReader is goated. So many options, I use use it mainly on phones but it works on PC as well.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      18 hours ago

      That’s weird. On F-Droid, it says that it was made for an older version of Android, so it can’t be updated, but the version listed is 4.3+.

  • muhyb@programming.dev
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    1 day ago

    I just use Foliate but on my current system Foliate has a weird bug for me that it cannot open any books for some reason so I’m using Readest now.

  • myrmidex@belgae.social
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    1 day ago

    This is a tough one. All readers I tried had something that annoyed me. If forced to read on desktop, I will use Calibre. But nowadays I prefer calibre-web to put the epub automatically on my ereader.