Is there an independent, cross-device cloud sync platform for ebooks?
I used the Kindle ecosystem for a while before souring on Amazon. Now I’m bought into the Kobo ecosystem, which is great in some ways but frustrating in others.
I’m curious if there’s a sort of DIY book cloud platform out there. I’ve come across a few, but they all seem to lack what, to me, is the killer feature of the Kobo/Kindle platforms:
Cross-syncing between mobile (iOS), ereader, and web reader
Most of the ones I’ve found can do this with some of those devices, but not all three.
I ask because I regularly hop between reading on different devices to the point that I avoid reading books that I can’t do this with (e.g. all my DRM free books, physical books, etc.). I’ve even re-bought books I already own in other formats just so I can have them inside the “sync loop” because it’s so much easier for me. I’d rather not have to do that though.
Are there any independent options out there that cover this use case? I primarily want to use it for DRM free books I got from bundles, as well as books that I de-DRMed from my Kindle. I would also happily buy a different ereader device that supports this (currently I use a Kobo Forma).
Meta note: wasn’t sure if this topic was better in ~books or ~tech — feel free to move it if needed!
I would check out audiobookshelf. Despite the name, ebooks are a first class citizen. I personally only use it for audiobooks, so I can’t review it from my own experience. It has apps for iOS and android, and a website. Although the iOS app is in beta through TestFlight, and there aren’t any more slots available, so you have to wait until the developer clears old users out.
This is really promising! I'm fine with waiting for a beta spot (or even for the app to come out of beta).
That said, I'm not someone who's going to be self-hosting anything internet-facing, as I don't have the knowhow to do it well and make it secure. Do you know if they are planning on having a paid hosted option?
No need to make it internet-facing if you use something like tailscale (basically user-friendly wireguard with some other convenient features). Just install tailscale on the server and tailscale on your phone, and then you should be able to access audiobookshelf anywhere.
I don’t think so. There are some hosts that offer this and other services in a sort of “managed” fashion. They are priced higher than running your own VPS, but it isn’t too bad. I can’t remember the name of that service though. You might be able to ask on the audiobookshelf discord server.
If you are on windows, I would recommend running the windows server just to see if it fits your needs. The windows version is supposed to be quite simple to run (no docker, etc). If it does, then you can look for a host.
You can use something like cloudflare tunnels to host external applications, it's controversial but you don't need to open any ports. I personally use it for audiobookshelf without any issues.
I wonder if calibre can be made to work with your use-case? I have my Calibre library synced to iCloud for ease of downloading on the go, but I wonder if any cloud-service (I use Koofr for academic stuff bc Zotero/WebDAV) should be able to be finagled into working?
Koofr has a web interface which is… lackluster, but supposedly they have a app as well which I've never used. Setting up iCloud with the e-reader is almost assuredly a no-go though.
Will be following this to see if anyone has a solution for you. I'm curious too!
If you're able to self host then calibre web should be able to do what you need. You can access all the content via the web so platform agnostic and there is a Kobo Sync feature (I've not personally used it so can't comment if it syncs progress or simply the books themselves)
I'm sick of Amazon too, but I still think Kindle is worth it. I am always synched to the correct page on my Paperwhite and my phone.
I have my DRM stripped ebooks hosted on my Jellyfin server, so I can download them via a browser (or the Jellyfin app) from any device. It's not as easy as a sync, I suppose, but it's definitely cross platform.
I haven’t looked in a while and I may have missed something, but there’s a lot of options none of which really meet the feature set.
ODPS can make it accessible, but doesn’t really help with sync. Web server can make it sync and accessible, but not the best experience on an ereader.
There were a lot of conversations about it in r/selfhosted - for example - but in the end it was easier to just plug it in to a computer, move over the books I wanted, and leave WiFi disabled for the sake of battery.
I could toggle a few settings in Jellyfin, or spin up a docker for caliber server, or kavita, or something, but the benefit would be marginal.