Spotify to allow iPhone users in the United States to top up their credits directly within the main app and allow Premium users to use these credits for additional audiobook listening time. Premium users currently receive 15 free hours each month (which is an equivalent to listening to one full audiobook). This change will unlock new revenue opportunities for audiobook publishers and authors, allowing them to reach fans and access new audiences seamlessly.

Amazon has launched the 5.18.2 firmware update for most modern Kindle e-readers (for the 12th and 11th generation). The main update is in the users’ library, where all their e-books are stored. Authors are organized by default by an author’s first and last name, making it more intuitive to locate an author quickly. Previously, by default, it arranged by the author’s last name and first name. Kindle Scribe 2024 model also got some updates with Customizable Notebook Summaries: You can now adjust the length and tone of summaries in notebooks. You can also save your customization preferences for quick access.

Onyx has release new Boox Tab X C—a 13.3-inch ereader, that finally answers the question, “What if color E Ink didn’t look like it had been sneezed onto a napkin?” Sporting a Kaleido 3 screen (which, despite sounding like a dance move, is actually quite serious business), this is Onyx’s first foray into color at this grand a scale, though mercifully not by way of the pixel-challenged Gallery display used by certain competitors who shall remain tactfully unnamed. It’s essentially the Note Max’s more flamboyant cousin—same Android 13 smarts, similar specs, but with actual color and the illuminating presence of a frontlight, because color E Ink, bless it, is about as bright as a mildly depressed jellyfish. Not content with just showing off its hues, the Tab X C also ditches the old Wacom wand in favor of Onyx’s new “InkSpire” stylus, which—unlike its Wacom ancestor—requires charging, presumably on a small moon orbiting Jupiter. Toss in a bigger battery (5500 mAh, so you can sketch angst in full RGB for hours), a slightly heftier frame (by a mere 10 grams—roughly the weight of a very bored bee) and a price tag of $819.

Onyx Boox has released a new series of Go ereaders with physical page-turn buttons and a modern design. Go 7 features a 7-inch E INK Carta 1300 e-paper display with amber LED lights that allow to read in the dark. G-sensor will automatically switch the orientation from portrait to landscape mode. 64GB of internal storage is not enough space to house your audiobooks, e-books, comics or PDF files, but the SD card allows to add up to 1 TB. There is a single speaker, so if you want to listen to audiobooks or you can use wireless headphones via Bluetooth. You can download books via WIFI or copy via USB-C port. The device is powered by a 2,300 mAh battery. Go 7 runs on Google Android 13 and has full access to Google Play Store. This is an international release so that it will support all of the major languages. If you prefer to sideload your content, it supports PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, EPUB3, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT and PPTX. The price is $249.

China’s Readmoo has created the first consumer-ready e-reader with a folding E Ink display - mooInk V. The e-reader is a flip device but can also be opened flat for reading or used at a 90-degree angle, similar to reading a print book, but it remains to be seen how comfortable the ergonomics of holding it that way will be. It has an 8-inch touchscreen based on E Ink’s Gallery 3 display technology. The company says it can survive over 200,000 bends. Although E Ink has demonstrated prototypes of folding e-readers in the past, its display technology is much thicker than OLED panels, making it more difficult to design a reliable hinge and a screen that can survive the rigors of daily use. With a body made from lightweight and strong aluminum-magnesium alloy, mooInk V weights around 225g, which is just a few grams heavier than Kindle Colorsoft.

Spotify has flung open the audiobook floodgates across several German-speaking countries with all the exuberance of a caffeinated opera singer. Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the ever-plucky Liechtenstein now find themselves on the receiving end of 350,000 audiobooks in German, French and Italian, presumably narrated by people with voices so smooth they could butter toast. Germany, having long embraced the fine art of “Hörspiele” (a word which roughly translates to “why read when you can be dramatically read to?”), seems particularly well-prepared for this auditory onslaught. Eligible Premium listeners are granted 12 hours of literary immersion per month, with bonus packs of 10 hours available for €9.99—because nothing says modern enlightenment like metered access to Dostoevsky. As for the non-Premium plebeians, fret not: you too can pay à la carte, because democracy in the audio age apparently means paying extra for chapter four.

Readmoo has launched a new e-reader – mooInk Nana “Moon White” edition. It comes with a 7-inch Kaleido 3 color e-paper display and has an Oasis-like asymmetric build where one of the edges is considerably thicker than the rest. The thicker edge is also where the physical page turn buttons are located. The presence of dual-tone reading lights ensure an optimum reading experience irrespective of the ambient lighting condition. Power comes from a 2,300 mAh battery and can be charged via USB-C port. It runs Android 11 which unfortunately is quite dated considering that many e-readers announced recently come with either Android 14 or the latest Android 15 versions. Nonetheless, you can install the e-book reading app of your choice to suit your distinct reading style. The mooInk Nana is priced at $281.

Amazon has introduced a new “Recaps” feature for Kindle users. This marvelous innovation allows forgetful bibliophiles to refresh their memory on crucial plot points and character arcs before diving into the next book in a series—because who has time for rereading when there’s so much more to forget? Currently available to Kindle users in the United States, the feature delivers bite-sized summaries for thousands of best-selling English-language series, ensuring that you no longer have to pretend you remember who that one guy was and why he had a mysterious tattoo. Plans are underway to bring this groundbreaking service to Kindle app for iOS, just as soon as Amazon is sure that iOS users also have memory issues. To access these handy recaps, one must be running the latest Kindle software, locate the elusive “View Recaps” button in their Kindle Library, and—before being granted the sacred knowledge—bravely acknowledge that, yes, spoilers lie ahead. Once past this solemn warning, enlightenment is but a click away.

Amazon debuted the next generation of the e-note/e-reader Kindle Scribe. It's the largest in the brand's lineup and the only model that comes with a pen and the ability to write. It has the same size as the previous generation but features a redesigned screen with even borders surrounding the screen. Also it allows you to annotate within the margins of books. While the new display has a nice feel, it suffers from a ghosting issue. The back end of the premium pen works as an eraser, so you can flip it over when you want to erase some notes. The processor has not been updated so Kindle Scribe remains the slowest e-reader in the line-up. It often lags when starting to wake up or switching between journals and books.

Library organizer software Calibre has released a new version 8.0.1 which boasts improved support for Kobo e-readers. Calibre can now natively edit, view and convert Kobo’s proprietary KEPUB file format to regular EPUB files for reading on non-Kobo devices and apps (like Calibre itself). Additionally, users of Kobo devices can now use Calibre to convert EPUB to KEPUB automatically when sending books across, saving time and hassle of first converting and then sending. Besides, Calibre can now connect to folders and treat them as USB mass storage devices. That might sound odd, but according to Calibre, this is especially useful if you're running Calibre on a Chromebook. That's because Chrome OS treats external USB drives as folders.