Xteink’s tiny e-readers are getting access to free books through Libby

One of the big tradeoffs with Xteink’s pocket-friendly e-readers is a lack of easy access to ebooks. On a Kindle or Kobo you can download tens of thousands of titles through each device’s respective online bookstores, but with Xteink’s devices you have to source DRM-free ebooks on your own. That’s about to change, as the developers of CrossPoint Reader, a free alternative firmware for the X3, X4, and X4 Pro, are introducing support for third-party plug-ins that will expand the e-readers’ capabilities. One of the first from the community will give the devices access to DRM-protected ebooks borrowed through OverDrive’s Libby library app, or purchased through bookstores like Kobo’s.

The new functionality is still in beta, but while the team behind CrossPoint Reader provided me with custom firmware I’ve been testing on the X4 Pro for the past few days, it’s now available to anyone who wants to try it. Getting ebooks from Libby onto the tiny e-readers isn’t as streamlined as using its mobile app or as simple as Kobo’s native OverDrive support, but it’s much easier than I expected. If you’re already comfortable with wirelessly transferring files to your tiny e-reader, loading ebooks from Libby isn’t much harder.

The first step is saying good riddance to the frustrating stock firmware on Xteink’s devices and installing the free CrossPoint Reader alternative. The easiest approach is to connect your e-reader to your computer with its USB-C cable, power it on, and then flash the new firmware directly through a browser using the CrossPoint Reader website that lets you select your specific device and which version of the firmware you want.

You then need to download and install CrossPoint Reader’s new Plugin Store, which is available here. Installation is as simple as unzipping a few files onto your e-reader’s microSD card, which will put a new Plugins section on the e-reader’s homescreen. It’s currently populated with a few different tools you can download, but the important one to install is the “Protected Content” plug-in. It runs through CrossPoint Reader’s built-in web server (which is probably much easier to use than you think) and allows Xteink’s devices to access ebooks protected by the Adobe Digital Editions DRM.

To get it all working you’ll need a free ByteBooks account (or you can convert an older Adobe Digital Editions account you haven’t touched in years) so you can login and authorize your e-reader to open DRM-protected ebooks. You’ll also need access to Libby itself on another device, which requires a library card to sign in. For several reasons, including the fact that Xteink’s devices use low-power ESP-32 processors, you’re not able to search or download ebooks from Libby directly on the e-readers themselves.

Once you borrow a book the Libby apps will let you download it as a protected EPUB file. What you’re actually downloading first is a tiny ACSM file that an authorized reading app uses to access the DRM-protected ebook file. The new “Protected Content” plug-in running through the CrossPoint Reader web server processes an ACSM file moved to the microSD card, downloads a copy of the book, and copies the EPUB file to your e-reader, where you can read it for as long as the loan allows.

The process is similar for ebooks purchased from stores like Kobo’s that use the EPUB format with ADE. (Amazon doesn’t.) When logged into Kobo’s website (not the desktop app) you can download an ACSM file for a book you’ve purchased, copy it to your Xteink device, and then process it with the plug-in to access the ebook you can actually read.

If you want to simplify the Libby process, you can instead download and install an app called Common Stacks (available for Android, Windows, and macOS, with iOS support coming soon) that’s designed to provide access to multiple free ebook libraries, including ones you host yourself. The app includes full access to Libby and can both download and send ebook files directly to Xteink’s e-readers with just a couple of clicks. Common Stacks also relies on CrossPoint Reader’s web server functionality running in the back end, but getting borrowed books onto the X4 Pro was as easy as borrowing library books on my Kobo is.

While Libby and Common Stacks is one of the best ways to get free ebooks onto Xteink’s devices, you’ll want to be mindful that selection will vary from library to library, and you may occasionally have to wait to download a popular title depending on how many digital copies are available or are already loaned out. However, now that Xteink’s tiny e-readers finally have access to DRM-protected ebooks — whether borrowed or bought — they’re an even more tempting alternative to Kindles and Kobos.

Photography by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge