What’s the Matter with Ebooks?

Re:What’s the Matter with Ebooks? by influxed on Wednesday March 25, 2015 @10:03PM (#9267397)

When I traveled to eastern Ukraine for work a couple years ago, what surprised me the most about the culture was the ubiquitous use of ebook readers. It seemed like everyone had one.

When I asked a Ukrainian colleague why they were so popular, he said it simple: ebooks are cheap/free and easy to find, and print books are expensive and require effort to obtain.

One of the biggest points of friction to consuming content is discovery and paying for it. I think when it's easier to find ebooks and cheaper to purchase them, adoption will really accelerate. Until then, there isn't much compelling reason to switch.

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Re:What’s the Matter with Ebooks? by Max_Mustermann on Wednesday March 25, 2015 @10:19PM (#9267444)

I'd wager most of the books your Ukrainian friends alludes to are the astoningly easy to find pirated epubs. There's zero to none friction if you know how to look for them and don't mind reading in English.

I found odd that the author didn't mention piracy.

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Re:What’s the Matter with Ebooks? by dexterdog on Thursday March 26, 2015 @07:36AM (#9268854)

He did mention Ukraine. Did he need to be redundant?

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