Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
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Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#2Watching TV/Movies through any device is a bother, I have to sift through all the advertisements/brand placements for that device to find anything, and most of the time it's the same 20 movies repeated over and over in every section.
Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add, and be at the whims of whatever they decide they want to do with "your" device that day.
Cell-phones are a bother, they are just devices optimized for stealing your attention, money, information, or all the above.
Pretty much everything tech related anymore is a bother.
I would love to see someone come out with services for music, movies, books that are just APIs you subscribe to and can use any client you want. Think of the novelty of having an interface where you could ignore movies you never want to see, only show the music genres you care about, and not have advertisements for romance novels on your e-reader.
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#3Because they are better in almost every way.
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#4[deleted]
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#5I haven't purchased a DRM'd ebook in 8 years.
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#6I’m surprised to see digital books are still growing in popularity. I notice way few Kindles in airports and on planes in recent years compared to ten or fifteen years ago.
I guess people are reading books on their phones and tablets?
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#7Watching TV/Movies through any device is a bother, I have to sift through all the advertisements/brand placements for that device to find anything, and most of the time it's the same 20 movies repeated over and over in every section. Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add, and be at the whims of whatever they…
Reading plain EPUBs on whatever device has been a fairly good experience in my opinion, given that that is more or less just going to be the physical book in digital form. Then again, the only way I think people actually find those are through free online downloads and not any actual store front.
Given the choice between 'tainted digital experience' and 'plain analogue experience', I can't blame consumers for choosing the latter, but the 'plain digital experience' does exist. It's just not sold.
I wonder how long it's going to take before the analogue experience becomes tainted. It's, sadly, not unthinkable to put ads in books. I guess there's little point from the perspective of the relevant people if they can't make those ads personalised, but maybe if the enshittification goes far enough, it could happen.
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#8Watching TV/Movies through any device is a bother, I have to sift through all the advertisements/brand placements for that device to find anything, and most of the time it's the same 20 movies repeated over and over in every section. Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add, and be at the whims of whatever they…
This is why I have 50TB of HDD space and a plex server. We tried watching a show on Amazon Prime and it was brutal, so many commercials. My wife skipped backward because we missed a part and were too close to the ad break so it made us watch a second 1:30 reel of unskippable ads. We subscribe to Prime and I still downloaded it. I’m not going to let them boil this frog.
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#9Watching TV/Movies through any device is a bother, I have to sift through all the advertisements/brand placements for that device to find anything, and most of the time it's the same 20 movies repeated over and over in every section. Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add, and be at the whims of whatever they…
I cannot relate to this experience at all. I can open up the TV app on my phone/tablet/laptop/TV and watch almost whatever I want pretty quickly, without ad breaks. It is far more convenient than the old set top box situation. I would say I wait a maximum of 60 seconds, and probably 30 seconds most of the time, to start watching what must be a considerably large portion of all professionally produced media in the US.
Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
#10Watching TV/Movies through any device is a bother, I have to sift through all the advertisements/brand placements for that device to find anything, and most of the time it's the same 20 movies repeated over and over in every section. Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add, and be at the whims of whatever they…
> I would love to see someone come out with services for music, movies, books that are just APIs you subscribe to and can use any client you want. Think of the novelty of having an interface where you could ignore movies you never want to see, only show the music genres you care about, and not have advertisements for romance novels on your e-reader.
This exists, but it's not a VC-backed product or public company because the money to be made comes from all the "bother" you identified.