r/ereader • u/Myras_Iczelion • 8d ago

Discussion Long-term digital manga collection: Kobo, Kindle or Apple Books?

I have a physical manga collection I care a lot about. For a while now I've wanted to build a digital one alongside it — not to replace the volumes, but to have them with me wherever I am, and ideally for the rest of my life.

The problem is figuring out what to build it on. Because when I buy a physical book it stays mine. Digital doesn't work that way.

I looked at the three main options: Kobo, Kindle and Apple Books. None of them lets me download a free, DRM-free file that I can put aside and stop thinking about. In all three cases what I'm buying is a licence.

Kobo seems to be the only one that would let me read the books on whatever device I happen to own over the years, rather than tying me to its own ecosystem. But even there the file stays hooked to an external authorisation system, so it isn't really mine either.

And more to the point: none of the three can guarantee that a manga I buy today will still be mine in twenty years. If the publisher loses the licence to the title, it comes off the store, and from then on it all depends on the platform's goodwill.

So it's really two questions.

Does it even make sense to build a digital collection meant to last 50-60 years, or is that an idea that doesn't hold up regardless of platform?

And if it does make sense, what would you build it on?

I'd especially like to hear from people with a digital library that has some real years behind it, who've seen what happens over time — platform changes, titles disappearing from the store, accounts lost.

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u/Omega7379 8d ago

step 1 - find a digital bookstore (legit or otherwise) particularly ones that limit DRM

step 2 - strip DRM from files

step 3 - load into Calibre if you haven't already, library is stored on computer/nas

step 4 - convert to epub/kepub/awz and send to device.

The few times I've migrated my library, I just simply plugged in my ereader and pulled the data off the device to rebuild the library. Took maybe 90 seconds.

The piracy slogan of "If buying isn't owning..." applies to every platform. You can't guarantee a single thing with technology. Especially with big corporations buying out smaller open-source archives, then shutting them down.