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Wise Registry Cleaner review
6:57 am | May 11, 2022
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

One of the biggest problems affecting Windows users is how third-party software accesses and appends the system registry. If everything is working well, you can be reasonably confident that the registry – an index of software and settings – is more or less “clean.”

But when your PC begins to experience unexplained hangs and shutdowns and the dreaded blue screen of death, one of your first steps will be to clean the registry. Various PC maintenance tools for Windows 11 are available, including Wise Registry Cleaner.

Developed by Lespeed Technology Co. Ltd, under the name “WiseCleaner,” Wise Registry Cleaner was first released in 2005, and focuses on freeware and shareware distribution. A whole library of “Wise” utilities is available, with data recovery, uninstaller, and video converter tools also available.

We’ve assessed the software based on price, features, how it compares to the competition, and some other factors to help you decide if this is the best option to optimize your PC’s performance.

Wise registry cleaner: Plans and pricing

Pricing

(Image credit: WiseCleaner)

Wise Registry Cleaner is available with a free version and an upgraded “Pro” version. Wise Registry Cleaner Pro is available for $19.95, with payment by credit card, PayPal, or Google Pay (other payment methods are available, depending on territory). Note that this is an introductory price.

Billing recurs every 12 months, with automatic renewals costing $29.95. 

There are a few differences between the two versions, with the Pro version mainly intended to clean multiple Windows profiles, rather than just the one accessible with the free version.

Note that there is a box in the bottom-right corner of the software promoting other tools from WiseCleaner.

Wise registry cleaner: Features

Features

(Image credit: WiseCleaner)

Wise Registry Cleaner features several tools to help you optimize your PC’s performance. These are grouped into registry cleaner, system tuneup, and registry defrag tools.

Registry Cleaner

The core component of this software, the tool covers all sorts of registry entries, from firewall settings and DLLs to uninstaller leftovers, startup programs, and more. If there are items in the Windows Start menu that should no longer be there, these can be discarded with the registry cleaner, as can ActiveX/COM components.

Clean-up is via a single button press; scans and clean-ups can be scheduled to run at your convenience. You can make a backup or set a Windows Restore Point before running the cleaner.

System Tuneup

Intended primarily for optimizing your PC, the System Tuneup tool tidies up boot and shutdown procedures ensures improved system stability and speeds things up.

Each of these is achieved with a collection of tiny fixes (e.g. removing the word “shortcut” from shortcut icons), all initiated by checking a box to select and hitting the Optimize button.

Registry Defrag

A bloated registry will slow down your PC. Wise Registry Cleaner includes a tool to tidy and compress the Windows system registry. This feature can boost the launch speed of games and applications and takes just a few moments to complete.

Additional features

As well as supporting multiple languages, Wise Registry Cleaner also offers light and dark modes and command line access. It also includes a tool to create a portable version for use on a USB stick.

The software also has a clear user interface, with the key tools intuitively arranged across the top of the app window. As such, it is easy to use, it feels modern, and this helps to build trust.

System requirements

Wise Registry Cleaner is for Windows 11, but will also run on Windows XP through to Windows 10. It has 32-bit and 64-bit versions available.

If you have a Windows 11 PC, the software should run without issue. Older systems need at least a Pentium 1GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 20MB of disk space.

Wise registry cleaner: Interface and in use

We found it quite effortless to download, install, and use Wise Registry Cleaner. You can download the setup file at any time from WiseCleaner’s official website. Afterwards, run the setup file, and installation begins. Ours took about a minute to finish installing, and we immediately launched the app.

Upon launching Wise Registry Cleaner, you should notice its neat, uncluttered user interface. All the app’s features fit into just three menus, so there’s no stress finding anyone. Any PC user can easily understand it. 

However, one drawback in the user interface is that WiseCleaner advertises its other software tools within the app. These ads feel intrusive.

Wise registry cleaner: Support

Support Article

(Image credit: WiseCleaner)

The Wise Registry Cleaner portion of the Wise Cleaner website has a heavy focus on software support.

Here, you’ll find links to a video guide explaining how to use the software, online help documentation, and a user forum. There are also instructions on uninstalling software and a list of changes made to the utility over the past two years. The support tools can be accessed via the Wise Registry Cleaner’s menu, as well as by visiting the website.

The support center provides various FAQs, solutions to license issues, and a contact form. You can expect a response within 1 working day should you need to contact Wise Cleaner. 

Customer response to Wise Cleaner’s support is positive. On Trustpilot, it has a score of 4.4.

Wise registry cleaner: Competition

If you’re considering a registry cleaning tool to boost your PC’s performance, Wise Registry Cleaner probably isn’t the only option on your list. Key competition comes from AVG Tuneup, Ashampoo WinOptimizer, and CCleaner.

All of these tools offer free versions or free trials, with Wise Registry Cleaner the second cheapest option of the tools we’ve looked at (behind Ashampoo WinOptimizer at just $14).

Unlike other aspects of the PC optimization market, registry cleaners are almost identical in performance, for the core purpose at least. When choosing a registry cleaner, ensure it meets your minimum requirements, then look at the extra features and whether these match what you expect from the price.

As it is, unless you require tech support, the free version or another tool should be all you need to clean the Windows registry.

Wise registry cleaner: Final verdict

Cleaning the registry is going to improve performance on Windows, whichever tool you use. Wise Registry Cleaner is a strong option that does exactly what the name implies and is easy to get to grips with.

It is not, however, perfect. The presence of adverts for other WiseCleaner products is tawdry, and hiding the developer behind the WiseCleaner name on the website (I found it by checking the Windows Store) doesn’t instill the level of trust we expect from tools that can potentially break your PC.

If you need the paid version of Wise Registry Cleaner, you may find that alternative tools offer much the same level of licensing and support. But if you just need a free registry cleaner for your own PC, Wise Registry Cleaner is a good alternative to CCleaner.

Lenco LS-410 review
1:37 pm | May 5, 2022
Author: admin | Category: Audio Computers Gadgets Hi-Fi Turntables | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: May 2022
• Launch price: $259 / £219 (about AU$360)
• Target price: $230 / £200 (approx. AU$300)

Update: February 2024. The Lenco LS-410 is still one of the best turntables on the market owing to its particular mix of usefulness and wallet-friendly appeal. The ace up its sleeve is a surprisingly beefy four-driver speaker array (it's actually under the platter, but you knew that), which will also accept music sent over Bluetooth, making it a viable option for anyone dipping into vinyl without losing their beloved music streaming services. Although it was released in March 2022, this is the world of analog audio and the physical music product, so technological advancements are… incremental. That said, in January 2024 a Victrola record turntable with a repeat function made its debut, while the 2023 Victrola Stream Carbon will also work with your Sonos wireless speaker setup, so there is competition when it comes to marrying old with new in record players these days. Our advice? It's still a good gateway vinyl spinner, as long as top notch audio quality isn't top of your list. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

Lenco LS-410: two-minute review

The Lenco LS-410 combines the retro joys of vinyl with up-to-the-minute wireless streaming technology, adds a loudspeaker array and plenty of amplification, and packages it all in a box that looks and feels nicer than it really has any right to at the price.

Jump to

Price and release date

Design and features

Audio performance

Should I buy it?

It’s painless to set up, can be connected to an external system and has an input for yet another source of music. And it has a dust-cover too. Really what more could you ask for from a record player?

It would be churlish to ask for more where Bluetooth sound is concerned. The Lenco sounds quite expansive, muscular and detailed when streaming wirelessly - it’s not the most practical $260 / £220 Bluetooth speaker around, but it’s far from the least enjoyable.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

But it all falls to pieces when playing vinyl. The tonearm and its associated controls feel insubstantial - and that’s the way the Lenco sounds when it’s playing records, too. And it’s further undermined by a slight, but undeniable, tendency to wander a little bit where rotational speed is concerned.

It’s a great pity, because in principle the Lenco LS-410 is a fine idea. We would have happily accepted a higher priced device if the engineering was more robust - that would make the LS-410 a genuine contender. Read on for our full Lenco LS-410 review.

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Price and release date

  • Available now
  • $259 / £219 (about AU$360)

The Lenco LS-410 is on sale now for $259 / £219 - while there’s no official Australian price just yet, that works out at about AU$360.

There’s an awful lot of tech packed into the LS-410 for that modest price - if you’ve got access to an outlet, a smartphone and a vinyl record, you’ve a multi-source all-in-one system ready to go. But, of course, offering features and functionality is only half the battle… 

the lenco ls-410 record player control buttons

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Design and features

  • 33.3 and 45rpm for vinyl
  • Bluetooth 5 for wireless streaming 
  • 50 watts powering four speaker drivers 

The Lenco LS-410 is functional rather than luxurious where materials are concerned, but the combination of metal, plastic and wood is nicely constructed and properly finished. There’s really nothing to find fault with where build quality is concerned, certainly not as far as the cabinet goes.

Key specs

Dimensions: 192 x 425 x 360mm
Motor: Belt drive
Platter: Aluminum
Phono preamp: Yes
USB: No
Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45rpm
Stylus: Audio-Technica moving magnet

Beneath the aluminum platter (which comes with a felt mat) there’s a fairly substantial box in which the record player keeps 50 watts of amplification, a four-strong speaker driver array (each firing out through the criss-cross metal grille at the front), a switchable phono stage and Bluetooth reception-related circuitry. It stands on four pliant feet that are designed to isolate the cabinet from vibration and ook a lot like the classic ‘half a squash ball’ isolation solution so beloved of hi-fi tweekers.

On top, there’s a sturdy plastic dust-cover. Lift it up and you’ve got access to the turntable itself. This is a belt-drive design, and there’s a straight tonearm pre-fitted with an Audio-Technica cartridge - all you need to do to set it up is fit and adjust the counter-weight. Beneath the tonearm, there’s a little control-panel: an on/off/input selection button, play/pause, a 33.3 or 45rpm speed control and a dial to regulate volume. 

the tonearm on the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

As much as we like the way the cabinet is constructed and finished, we have to be a fair bit more qualified about some of the fixtures and fittings. The tonearm itself doesn’t feel all that substantial, the mechanical lift that raises or lowers it feels flimsier still, and the clip to keep it secure in its cradle feels flimsiest of all. 

The rubbery control buttons move around beneath your finger more than we’d like. The entire tonearm mechanism and drive motor are attached to a suspended plate that has a (perfectly acceptable) degree of movement in it, but there’s more movement in the tonearm assembly itself than is either expected or sensible. 

the connectivity options on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

At the back of the cabinet there’s an input for mains power, a switch to turn the integrated phono stage on or off, and stereo RCA outputs - the LS-410 is a self-contained system, but if you want to run it into a bigger system or more powerful amplifier, the option is there. There’s also a 3.5mm analogue input for auxiliary equipment.

As we said, your $259 / £219 buys plenty. Good luck finding many other self-contained vinyl/Bluetooth system with speakers at this sort of money.

the speaker grille on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: audio performance

  • Spirited, enjoyable Bluetooth sound 
  • Vinyl sounds bland and uncertain by comparison
  • Rotational speed isn’t consistent 

 You’re not short of choice for wireless speakers at this price, but the Lenco LS-410 is among the better ones. Admittedly the fact that it’s outlet-powered and fitted with a turntable make it a lot less portable than most other Bluetooth speakers at this sort of money, but the fact remains: give the LS-410 a half-decent digital audio stream to deal with and it does very decent work.

Bluetooth 5 proves more than capable of getting a nice big hi-res TIDAL Masters file of Robert Wyatt’s Old Rottenhat on board, and once it’s there the Lenco gives a full account of it. It has impressive low frequency presence, but doesn’t let bass sounds get carried away or overstay their welcome. Instead they’re properly controlled, reasonably detailed and give the midrange plenty of space to do its thing. 

‘Its thing’ in this instance turns out to be a communicative and detailed delivery of the characterful vocals. The voice is nicely isolated but nevertheless integrated into the rest of the performance, and the LS-410 creates a big enough soundstage for a singer to stretch out a little. At the top end things are played pretty safe, with treble sounding just slightly blunt when compared to the rest of the frequency range - which, while not ideal, is preferable to overt hardness or harshness.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

This isn’t the most dynamic sound you ever heard, for sure, but neither is it the most inhibited. And when it’s put into proper context, the LS-410 is a perfectly likable and periodically quite impressive Bluetooth speaker. 

Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case when listening to vinyl. The solidity of its low-end presence is undermined when listening to a copy of Devo’s Are We Not Men? and is replaced by a less positive and less detailed version. The midrange is still quite spacious, but it sounds slightly phasey - and that’s the case at the top of the frequency range too. Much of the certainty the LS-410 exhibits as a Bluetooth speaker falls away, and the result is a sound that’s undemonstrative and rather pedestrian.

Most unhappily, though, is the relative lack of rotational stability the turntable exhibits. Even tiny discrepancies in what should be 33.3rpm are audible, and once you’ve heard them they’re impossible to un-hear. For whatever reason, the Lenco doesn’t maintain speed perfectly - and the sonic results are deeply off-putting. 

Lenco LS-410 review: should you buy it?

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Lenco LS-410 review: Also consider

Not convinced by our Lenco Ls-410 review? Here are three more record players we think you should consider.

First reviewed: May 2022

Lenco LS-410 review
1:37 pm |
Author: admin | Category: Audio Computers Gadgets Hi-Fi Turntables | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: May 2022
• Launch price: $259 / £219 (about AU$360)
• Target price: $230 / £200 (approx. AU$300)

Update: February 2024. The Lenco LS-410 is still one of the best turntables on the market owing to its particular mix of usefulness and wallet-friendly appeal. The ace up its sleeve is a surprisingly beefy four-driver speaker array (it's actually under the platter, but you knew that), which will also accept music sent over Bluetooth, making it a viable option for anyone dipping into vinyl without losing their beloved music streaming services. Although it was released in March 2022, this is the world of analog audio and the physical music product, so technological advancements are… incremental. That said, in January 2024 a Victrola record turntable with a repeat function made its debut, while the 2023 Victrola Stream Carbon will also work with your Sonos wireless speaker setup, so there is competition when it comes to marrying old with new in record players these days. Our advice? It's still a good gateway vinyl spinner, as long as top notch audio quality isn't top of your list. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

Lenco LS-410: two-minute review

The Lenco LS-410 combines the retro joys of vinyl with up-to-the-minute wireless streaming technology, adds a loudspeaker array and plenty of amplification, and packages it all in a box that looks and feels nicer than it really has any right to at the price.

Jump to

Price and release date

Design and features

Audio performance

Should I buy it?

It’s painless to set up, can be connected to an external system and has an input for yet another source of music. And it has a dust-cover too. Really what more could you ask for from a record player?

It would be churlish to ask for more where Bluetooth sound is concerned. The Lenco sounds quite expansive, muscular and detailed when streaming wirelessly - it’s not the most practical $260 / £220 Bluetooth speaker around, but it’s far from the least enjoyable.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

But it all falls to pieces when playing vinyl. The tonearm and its associated controls feel insubstantial - and that’s the way the Lenco sounds when it’s playing records, too. And it’s further undermined by a slight, but undeniable, tendency to wander a little bit where rotational speed is concerned.

It’s a great pity, because in principle the Lenco LS-410 is a fine idea. We would have happily accepted a higher priced device if the engineering was more robust - that would make the LS-410 a genuine contender. Read on for our full Lenco LS-410 review.

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Price and release date

  • Available now
  • $259 / £219 (about AU$360)

The Lenco LS-410 is on sale now for $259 / £219 - while there’s no official Australian price just yet, that works out at about AU$360.

There’s an awful lot of tech packed into the LS-410 for that modest price - if you’ve got access to an outlet, a smartphone and a vinyl record, you’ve a multi-source all-in-one system ready to go. But, of course, offering features and functionality is only half the battle… 

the lenco ls-410 record player control buttons

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Design and features

  • 33.3 and 45rpm for vinyl
  • Bluetooth 5 for wireless streaming 
  • 50 watts powering four speaker drivers 

The Lenco LS-410 is functional rather than luxurious where materials are concerned, but the combination of metal, plastic and wood is nicely constructed and properly finished. There’s really nothing to find fault with where build quality is concerned, certainly not as far as the cabinet goes.

Key specs

Dimensions: 192 x 425 x 360mm
Motor: Belt drive
Platter: Aluminum
Phono preamp: Yes
USB: No
Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45rpm
Stylus: Audio-Technica moving magnet

Beneath the aluminum platter (which comes with a felt mat) there’s a fairly substantial box in which the record player keeps 50 watts of amplification, a four-strong speaker driver array (each firing out through the criss-cross metal grille at the front), a switchable phono stage and Bluetooth reception-related circuitry. It stands on four pliant feet that are designed to isolate the cabinet from vibration and ook a lot like the classic ‘half a squash ball’ isolation solution so beloved of hi-fi tweekers.

On top, there’s a sturdy plastic dust-cover. Lift it up and you’ve got access to the turntable itself. This is a belt-drive design, and there’s a straight tonearm pre-fitted with an Audio-Technica cartridge - all you need to do to set it up is fit and adjust the counter-weight. Beneath the tonearm, there’s a little control-panel: an on/off/input selection button, play/pause, a 33.3 or 45rpm speed control and a dial to regulate volume. 

the tonearm on the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

As much as we like the way the cabinet is constructed and finished, we have to be a fair bit more qualified about some of the fixtures and fittings. The tonearm itself doesn’t feel all that substantial, the mechanical lift that raises or lowers it feels flimsier still, and the clip to keep it secure in its cradle feels flimsiest of all. 

The rubbery control buttons move around beneath your finger more than we’d like. The entire tonearm mechanism and drive motor are attached to a suspended plate that has a (perfectly acceptable) degree of movement in it, but there’s more movement in the tonearm assembly itself than is either expected or sensible. 

the connectivity options on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

At the back of the cabinet there’s an input for mains power, a switch to turn the integrated phono stage on or off, and stereo RCA outputs - the LS-410 is a self-contained system, but if you want to run it into a bigger system or more powerful amplifier, the option is there. There’s also a 3.5mm analogue input for auxiliary equipment.

As we said, your $259 / £219 buys plenty. Good luck finding many other self-contained vinyl/Bluetooth system with speakers at this sort of money.

the speaker grille on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: audio performance

  • Spirited, enjoyable Bluetooth sound 
  • Vinyl sounds bland and uncertain by comparison
  • Rotational speed isn’t consistent 

 You’re not short of choice for wireless speakers at this price, but the Lenco LS-410 is among the better ones. Admittedly the fact that it’s outlet-powered and fitted with a turntable make it a lot less portable than most other Bluetooth speakers at this sort of money, but the fact remains: give the LS-410 a half-decent digital audio stream to deal with and it does very decent work.

Bluetooth 5 proves more than capable of getting a nice big hi-res TIDAL Masters file of Robert Wyatt’s Old Rottenhat on board, and once it’s there the Lenco gives a full account of it. It has impressive low frequency presence, but doesn’t let bass sounds get carried away or overstay their welcome. Instead they’re properly controlled, reasonably detailed and give the midrange plenty of space to do its thing. 

‘Its thing’ in this instance turns out to be a communicative and detailed delivery of the characterful vocals. The voice is nicely isolated but nevertheless integrated into the rest of the performance, and the LS-410 creates a big enough soundstage for a singer to stretch out a little. At the top end things are played pretty safe, with treble sounding just slightly blunt when compared to the rest of the frequency range - which, while not ideal, is preferable to overt hardness or harshness.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

This isn’t the most dynamic sound you ever heard, for sure, but neither is it the most inhibited. And when it’s put into proper context, the LS-410 is a perfectly likable and periodically quite impressive Bluetooth speaker. 

Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case when listening to vinyl. The solidity of its low-end presence is undermined when listening to a copy of Devo’s Are We Not Men? and is replaced by a less positive and less detailed version. The midrange is still quite spacious, but it sounds slightly phasey - and that’s the case at the top of the frequency range too. Much of the certainty the LS-410 exhibits as a Bluetooth speaker falls away, and the result is a sound that’s undemonstrative and rather pedestrian.

Most unhappily, though, is the relative lack of rotational stability the turntable exhibits. Even tiny discrepancies in what should be 33.3rpm are audible, and once you’ve heard them they’re impossible to un-hear. For whatever reason, the Lenco doesn’t maintain speed perfectly - and the sonic results are deeply off-putting. 

Lenco LS-410 review: should you buy it?

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Lenco LS-410 review: Also consider

Not convinced by our Lenco Ls-410 review? Here are three more record players we think you should consider.

First reviewed: May 2022

Kobo Plus review: a Kindle Unlimited competitor with potentially more value
7:19 am | May 3, 2022
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

One-minute review

Kobo Plus is a relative newcomer to the ebook subscription market, following a similar model to Kindle Unlimited. It’s great for Kobo ereader users, although its availability is very limited at the time of writing. At present, it’s only available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal. There's no word yet on whether it will be rolled out to other markets, but if you live in any of the aforementioned countries and own a Bluetooth-enabled Kobo ereader, it's a more cost-effective way to scratch your reading itch than buying ebooks, particularly if you're a voracious reader.

There are some notable differences between Amazon's ebook subscription service and Rakuten's Kobo Plus. For starters, where Kindle Unlimited cycles through over a million titles as a ‘library’ of sorts, where you can ‘borrow’ up to 10 titles, Kobo Plus has no such limitations. You can download as many titles at once as you wish from the entire library, and you don’t need to ‘return’ any in order to add more at a future date. That said, you won't 'own' the ebooks as they're not being purchased outright. Meaning, if you cancel your Kobo Plus subscription, you will lose access to the titles you've downloaded.

Kobo Plus’ limitation, as compared to Kindle Unlimited, is in its catalog. When it launched in Australia and New Zealand in 2021, it had about 580,000 titles, but it seems to have grown a little since then... at least we're seeing a few more popular titles than when it first started. That said, it’s still a lot less than what’s available on Kindle Unlimited. 

When it first launched, there were no audiobooks available as part of Kobo Plus, but that's been rectified. In fact, Kobo Plus gives you the freedom to sign up for just reading ebooks or just listening to audiobooks. And if you want both, there's an option for that too, but these individual tiers are currently only available for subscribers in the US, UK and Canada. Either way, a Kobo Plus subscription is cheaper than Kindle Unlimited or Audible, making it better value.

Its other limitations aren’t unique to it: like Kindle Unlimited, you won’t see new releases on Kobo Plus and neither will you see a lot of mainstream authors. That said, we’ve seen the library improve since its launch – at least in Australia – and we’re hoping a few more of the bigger publishing houses (and their authors) sign up as we go along.

Dune graphic novel available on Kobo Plus

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Kobo Plus: price and availability

  • Three subscription tiers in some regions
  • Full Kobo Plus cost: monthly $9.99 / £11.99 / CA$12.99 / AU$13.99 / NZ$14.99
  • 30-day free trial

Where Kindle Unlimited has far more reach, Kobo Plus is only available in a few regions. It launched first in Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal in 2020, then arrived in Australia and New Zealand in 2021. As of April 2023, it's now expanded to the US and the UK.

With this expansion, Kobo has divided its subscription service into three different tiers: Kobo Plus Read for just ebooks, Kobo Plus Listen if you want only audiobooks and the full Kobo Plus platform that gets you access to both.

These three tiers are only available in the US, UK and Canada for a monthly price of

• Kobo Plus Read: $7.99 / £8.99 / CA$9.99
• Kobo Plus Listen: $7.99 / £8.99 / CA$9.99
• Kobo Plus: $9.99 / £11.99 / CA$12.99

In Australia and New Zealand, Kobo Plus remains primarily an ebook-only subscription platform that will set you back AU$13.99 / NZ$14.99 a month. The audiobook-only option – not called Listen in the ANZ markets – will set you back AU$12.99 / NZ$13.99 and there is now way to opt in for a plan that offers both reading and listening.

While the individual Read and Listen plans are priced competitively, particularly in the US (with Kindle Unlimited costing $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$13.99), we think it's the full-fat Kobo Plus that's cost effective when compared to other subscriptions. Considering you're getting both ebooks and audiobooks together in the US, UK and Canada, it easily beats out having to get both a Kindle Unlimited and Audible subscription to satisfy your need for good stories.

In comparison, Scribd might be better value if you don't own an ereader of any kind, giving you plenty of ebooks, audiobooks, recipes, sheet music and so much more for $9.99 / £10.99 / AU$14.99.

All Kobo Plus plans come with a 30-day trial and you can sign up for the service via the Kobo website, app or an ereader. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, you can also do so via the Booktopia app.

Adding an ebook on the Kobo Plus iOS app

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Kobo Plus library

  • Limited catalogue of ebooks and audiobooks
  • No magazines

The Kobo Plus ebook library is going to vary from country to country. In Australia, for example, where we reviewed the service, there were no more 600,000 titles available at launch, but that does seem to be improving slowly but steadily.

While that really is very limited as compared to Kindle Unlimited, which has over a million ebooks (and some audiobooks of some of those titles), Kobo Plus has one major advantage over its rival. Unlike Kindle Unlimited, which cycles through selections of its one million titles, every single ebook on the Kobo Plus platform is available to you to download. And where the Amazon alternative limits you to borrowing only up to 10 titles at a time, there's no such restriction on Kobo Plus.

Titles are spread across every genre, but browsing these are best done on a web browser or the Kobo mobile app, both of which offer a list of genres that you can use to filter the catalogue. If you’re trying to browse via a Kobo ereader, you’re limited to five categories of ‘most popular’, ‘new’, ‘page turners’, ‘hidden gems’ and ‘crime, mystery and thrillers’, each with just 20 titles listed. 

If you’re looking for something specific, you can use the Kobo Store’s search bar on the ereader under the Discover tab and then filter by ‘Kobo Plus’ from the dropdown menu. During our testing of the service, we used the Kobo smartphone app to add books to our Kobo Plus library and then read on the Libra H2O and the Kobo Sage tablets. This issue is not limited to Kobo’s platform; we had a similar problem with Kindle Unlimited, where it was easier to peruse the full library on a desktop web browser than on a Kindle ereader.

Browsing Kobo Plus bestsellers on a Kobo Sage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

When we first started using Kobo Plus in 2021, we found the platform flooded with romance and erotica, just like Kindle Unlimited. While that hasn’t changed, we’ve started seeing more well-known authors appearing on the catalog. 

For example, fantasy fans will be glad to see some Terry Goodkind and SA Chakraborty’s The Daevabad Trilogy available, alongside Lady Colin Campbell’s Meghan And Harry and The Real Diana in the biography section for fans of the royal family. You’ll also find James SA Corey’s The Expanse books, Jeff Kinney’s Diary Of A Wimpy Kid plus a few more popular titles like that.

There’s a decent collection of history books, plus an impressive selection of manga too, including Attack On Titan.

Anyone fond of the classics will enjoy Kobo Plus. From George Orwell’s 1984 to lots of CS Lewis, plus Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Aldous Huxley and so much more, there really is plenty to keep you occupied for a long time.

Kobo Plus on mobile and a Kobo ereader

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From what we can tell, the platform seems to be growing. We’ve been keeping an eye on it for a few months and the library is certainly looking better than what it was in 2021 – specifically, we can see more mainstream/popular authors listed now but they are still few and far between. That said, Kobo can't add any title to its subscription service unless the publishing house allows it.

Which explains the significant overlap on popular titles available on both Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus, but the latter trumps Amazon's ebook subscription service by offering all books in an entire series on Kobo Plus. For example, all three books in Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past (of The Three-Body Problem fame) are available on Kobo Plus (in fact, the extended series is), while Kindle Unlimited just offered two when we tested Amazon's platform... at least in Australia. 

As mentioned, audiobooks are also part of the service and, like Audible, you get a credit each month to put towards any of the titles on offer. Kobo says there are about 100,000 audiobooks in its catalog and we can see all the popular ones up for grabs. Fantasy fanatics will find the likes of Terry Pratchett to Brandon Sanderson, while fans of the actor Sam Neill will find his memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? narrated by himself, for example.

While you lose access to the ebooks if you cancel your subscription (like Kindle Unlimited), you get to hold on to the audiobooks you 'purchase' with your monthly credit (again, like Audible) even after you decide to stop paying for Kobo Plus.

Kobo Plus on a Kobo ereader

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Kobo Plus user experience

  • Ereader support
  • Well designed Kobo app

Kobo Plus is remarkably easy to sign up for on desktop, via the mobile app or on a Kobo ereader. During our testing, the best overall experience of using Kobo Plus was via the app, but that was only because of how limiting it is to find your next read on a Kobo ereader. But the fact that you can use it on Kobo hardware makes it a lot more tempting than Scribd (which has no ereader support). The flipside to that is that the latter has a truly vast and varied library that includes podcasts, audiobooks, sheet music and more, something you won’t get on any other ebook subscription service.

For anyone using the Kobo app on a smartphone or tablet, the subscription service is easily accessible as a tab on the homepage itself, as is the case on the Kobo website. On a Kobo ereader, on the other hand, you’ll find it under the Discover tab on the homescreen. 

If you’re switching devices while reading or listening, say from a phone to your ereader or vice versa, your library is synced almost instantly, as do pages of ebooks. When we read a little on the iOS app and then moved on to the Kobo Sage, we got a popup on the ereader letting us know the correct page to start from, which is very handy indeed.

Our only negative user experience was when browsing Kobo Plus. While there are several genres to check out, book categorization under each is very mixed up. You’ll find a whole load of fiction sitting under nonfiction subgenres, and this is particularly evident under History, where a lot of historical fiction and romance can be found. We found erotica listed under Comics, Graphics Novels and Manga, which also had The Expanse listed as well. It really does require some patience when browsing.

OverDrive setup screen on Kobo Sage

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Kobo Plus vs OverDrive

Amazon Kindle users in the US are able to borrow ebooks from a local library, but this option isn't available anywhere else. For those living elsewhere, Kobo's ereaders could be the better, more cost effective tablet – as long as your local public library has OverDrive support, you can borrow ebooks as you would a physical one, and from the comfort of your own home.

Every single Kobo ereader comes with OverDrive baked in, so if you aren't too fussed about owning the titles you read, then borrowing them from a local library is a great way to save some cash. It should be noted that while the OverDrive app is being retired to make Libby the main go-to mobile platform for borrowing library books, OverDrive support will remain on Kobo's devices... at least for the foreseeable future.

Joining a public library is usually free (or subsidised in some countries) and setting it up on a Kobo ereader costs nothing. Borrowing also costs nothing... you get where we're going with this.

Not only is OverDrive a free alternative, it might also be a better option in the choice of titles. It's likely that your local library has a better collection of digital books that you would like to read as compared to the unknown authors you'll find on Kobo Plus. 

That said, the catalog on the subscription platform is a treasure trove of undiscovered gems, so the choice between OverDrive and Kobo Plus will depend on what your personal reading preferences are.

If, however, your local library also offers audiobooks, these won't play on Kobo's own Bluetooth-enabled devices. This is because Kobo has closed off this bit of its rather open ecosystem and only those purchased from the Kobo Store will play.

Should I subscribe to Kobo Plus?

Kobo Plus sign-up page on Kobo Sage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

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[First reviewed May 2022]

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