Reading is about so much more than simply getting printed words in front of a pair of eyes. When you're reading, you're very actively engaged with whatever device you're using to read, so the ergonomics and aesthetics of the experience are much, much more important than they are on something like a music streaming service, where basically 0% of your time using the service is spent physically interacting with the app.

I have an e-reader that I strongly prefer using when it's an option. It's easier on my eyes than the iPad, it's more comfortable to hold than the iPad, spending a 2-hour flight reading a book on it won't take the battery down to 0 the way it will on the iPad. It doesn't glow blue and ruin my sleep if I use it to read before bedtime like my iPad will.

Sometimes I do read on the iPad, too, in cases where I need to scribble notes or the page layout needs to be preserved. (So, work stuff and comic books.) When I do that, I already have a reader app that I strongly prefer to all others I've tried.

I've spent years and years developing a personal connection with my e-reader and that reader app. They've become an integral part of my expectations when it comes to reading an ebook. Imagine if a park didn't let you bring your own bike on the trails. Even if they had bikes they let you use free of charge, even if the trails were stunning, I'd still probably find somewhere else to go riding, because, if I'm going to go mountain biking, I just assume it's going to be on my bike.

Basically - is this site selling itself as Bandcamp for books, which means ‘hardcore’ readers can discover new and interesting ‘indie’ books and do what they want with them in whatever format they want, or is it selling itself as a fancy reading app with animations and things (which imo appeals more to casual readers/children, and the giant font also gives off that impression)? It is trying to be both - or is clearly the latter but has been posted here as the former - and that seems conflicted. You simply can’t make me believe that I am MORE free by being locked into one reading app vs downloading a file! :)

Given an electronic book at least I want to have a file I can copy to my eInk PocketBook (via Calibre or by just copying a file manually). My wife would like me to send her the file she would read in iBooks on her iPad. And would probably also like to open it on my Android phone to read it in an app that implements Spritz-like speed-reading technique.

But to the point you do raise - so now I have to keep a tab open in safari constantly for each book I'm reading or might want to read? If I'm going on a trip and want to take half a dozen books because I'm not sure which I will read, now I've got 6 tabs open in safari constantly.