In short, no.

What's changed here is now the Kindle and PC will actively communicate with each other during file transfers with MTP instead of the Kindle "pretending" to be a USB flash drive with USB mass storage. There are some important trade-offs that come with the switch to MTP but nothing that will stop you from transferring ebooks to or from a computer.

I totally get that. And I have had that same experience once or twice. I break my own rule on those rare occasions where somehow the thing is only there.

The last time I bought from Amazon that I remember was in 2021 when I was putting together a new keyboard. Somehow they were the only ones that had the key caps I wanted. The only other place I could find them was Alibaba, and the shipping there was going to be literally 2 months according to the site.

But for normal items, I go to the seller as much as possible.*

(*And I know for some sellers it's actually cheaper for them to use Amazon for shipping. I get it. But also, still, I don't want to give Bezos money so I avoid it if possible.)

Shout out to B&H. I bought my drone from them, and they offered the same model bundle at a slightly lower price than Amazon and also offered next-day shipping for no charge.

They also have a physical retail store and real live people you can call if you have a question, unlike either winding up talking to a chatbot or being redirected to Mumbai after a 45 minute hold.

I don't know these guys from a hole in the ground other than that, but they beat Amazon and that was good enough for me.

Agreed, and there's also the bonus of much less likely to get a counterfeit item.

I love love love the DIY electronics scene but for a device that's meant to be held....I dunno. Ergonomics are usually an afterthought if considered at all. I can't imagine a DIY e-reader being comfortable to use

Note: NOT shilling for Amazon here, I will never buy another Kindle

Ok, but can you still transfer your own books through MTP?

I'm too lazy, I just borrow from the library and use them on the device. Stripping the DRM takes some level of effort, and I don't intend to keep the books anyway, so I just let the DRM do its thing and turn off the wifi so they don't disappear until I'm done w/ them.

Works fine on my SO's Kindle, and I'm considering getting a Kobo and hope it'll work there.

Overdrive is the one I usually hear about, but in googling Libby it seems they are related.

https://help.libbyapp.com/en-us/6251.htm

https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/4477058367895-About-the-Libby-app

https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017677053-Borrow-eBooks-from-the-public-library-using-your-Kobo-eReader

Yes, w/ Overdrive (same org as Libby).

Android is a massive value add. I can't tolerate it for my actual phone, but it's just an absolutely huge step up from the other ereader OSes.

I'm using a Boox Leaf 2 myself, it's basically just an android tablet with an eink screen. I can load pretty much any eBook format, and you can put regular android apps from play store (or any other app store) on it as well if you want. And they have a microSD card slot available from the outside to expand storage.

All the hacks and mods people do to their kobo are not needed, because it's supported by default on my Leaf 2.

I've looked into those other brands but not recently enough to provide any meaningful comparison. (though I have this feeling that "remarkable is overpriced" is something I've heard a lot, but I could be wrong)

I've personally owned the Kobo Glo, Glo HD, and Libra 2.

For most of their devices (I can't speak for current models one way or the other) you can swap out key bits of the software and enhance functionality via various hacks/mods. A lot of that is documented here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=223

You can also open them up and replace a standard SD card to boost storage capacity. (Again, I know this to be true at least through the Libra 2, I do not know about more recent models.)

The thing I got the most use from in the past was being able to swap out the sdcard on my Glo and Glo HD, but some folks really swear by the other various mods. I don't have any complaint with the default reader software on the Kobo, so haven't messed with swapping that out.

I have not messed with the SD card on the Libra 2 for two reasons - apparently doing so will mess up the waterproofing, and also because I've found 32GB to be sufficient for my purposes.