A digital notebook is a type of tablet with a screen that mimics physical paper and reduces glare. It lets you write, draw and organize your notes electronically using a stylus pen, keyboard or your voice. With a stylus pen, you can write directly on the surface, and it records your handwriting and drawings and saves them as a digital file. They are very portable and can store thousands of pages of notes.

A digital notebook is worth getting if you’re someone who takes a lot of notes and doesn’t want to carry heavy paper pads, binders or notebooks to track your work. When you write on a digital notebook, it gives you the same feeling of a real pen on paper but saves your notes digitally on one electronic device. Using a digital notebook allows you to focus entirely on your writing, drawing or studying because digital notebooks typically don’t have games, social media apps or web browsers, unlike Android tablets, iPad tablets and Microsoft Surface devices.

The reMarkable Paper Pro does not need a subscription to function. The same goes for any other reMarkable digital notebook. Without a subscription, you can write, sketch and store documents on the device for free. However, reMarkable’s Connect subscription service is required to unlock features like cloud syncing beyond 50 days, app editing and handwriting search.

Yes, you can put books on a reMarkable digital notebook. However, there are restrictions about the types of file types it can support. To add a book, it must be an EPUB or PDF file for it to be compatible. You cannot read standard eBooks for eReaders like Kindle or Kobo on a reMarkable digital notebook because they are locked with DRM (Digital Rights Management) security codes.