Ten Years with a Second-Hand Kobo

I bought this Kobo second-hand in 2016 for R350.

Ten years later it is still here, still working and still doing precisely the job for which it was made: putting books in front of me.

The battery has aged. The casing bears the evidence of use. The machine belongs unmistakably to an earlier generation of consumer electronics.

And yet the book on its screen remains perfectly legible.

There is something agreeable about an electronic object becoming old enough to stop being fashionable while remaining entirely useful.

Catalogue note

Place: Richards Bay, Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Date: 10 August 2026
Time: approximately 15:00
Camera: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

The object

Object: Kobo e-reader
Acquired: second-hand, 2016
Price paid: R350
Time in service: approximately ten years
Status: still in service

On the screen

Dark Imperium — Warhammer 40,000.

Note

Its present monetary value is less interesting than the ten years between purchase and this photograph.

A useful object does not become obsolete merely because something newer exists.

There is no particular virtue in keeping a bad tool because it is old. There is equally little sense in replacing a good one merely because it is old.

Use it. Maintain it. Replace it when it no longer performs the work required of it.

Until then, the old thing has earned the right to remain.