If you can read it on a website, why not on an ebook reader?

If you start selling the resulting files, now that would be a copyright violation. German law has a right to create a "Privatkopie", i.e. a private copy. I guess this is similar to fair use in US law?

Depends on where you live.

Where I am, it's perfectly legal.

Before cell service was as widespread as it is today, there were programs that would scrape web pages into ePUBs so you could read them later on your Palm Pilot. I used it every day during my commute. And the best part was that they ended. No mind-numbing infinite scroll.

When I switched to a "smart" phone (SonyEricsson m600c), I really missed it.

Danger Hiptop had a proxy that reformatted websites for their built in browser. Mostly as a way to reduce data transfer amounts.

https://medium.com/@chrisdesalvo/the-future-that-everyone-fo...

If you have a GNU/Linux/Mac/BSD machine with Python:

https://sr.ht/~lioploum/offpunk/

I wouldn't want to go back, because having instant access to anything is pretty amazing, but I do miss those days of offline internet.

Fully agree. I recently replaced my doomscrolling with a retro handheld and it really makes me happy. It also pushed me to pick up my ereader again.

I spend enough time at a computer than I shouldn't really need a smartphone outside of 'I need to message ___' or 'I need to go ___'