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Comment by Insanity | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure about that, with things like Kindle and Kindle unlimited, book junkies have a Netflix equivalent.

I read a lot but switched to ebooks almost entirely 2 years ago

Ebooks can be quite expensive or very inconvenient.

Reading a book a week from a major publisher usually costs more than a month from a digital streaming service. Borrowing books requires some planning ahead since much of what's worth reading has a wait list, assuming that it is even available to libraries. Contrast that to print titles. You may be stuck placing something on hold if you are looking for a particular title, but there is usually something worth reading available.

Mh, I hardly read books just as they come out - there's plenty to read and there's kindle deals all the time. So I often end up paying between 1-5 dollars per book.

So that's somewhere between 4-20 dollars a month, and netflix spotify/netflix both are about 15 dollars. So some months my kindle will come out cheaper, sometimes more expensive.

But yeah, sometimes they are as expensive as print-book. Which is silly imo.

There has been, since about 2012, an almost complete lack of increase in the market share of eBooks compared to print books. eBooks appear to have peaked at around 20%, and might even be poised to decline as audiobooks gain ground. https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/23/20991659/ebook-amazon...

Also, libraries are used for a lot of things other than checking out books. Austin's library has boardgames available (I see people playing them there), and a lot of music and movie media.

I think the insane price of ebooks is to blame for this. I've recently purchased print books for this reason -- the ebook was actually more expensive.

I've been getting ebooks from my library for at least three years. Your library probably uses the Libby app (from Overdrive) which makes searching and checking out ebooks and audiobooks a snap.

I'm a cheapo, so I'm always looking for ebook deals. Waiting a couple months to buy a new expensive book I'm interested in (for free) is not a problem for me.

I've been unpleasantly disappointed by the Overdrive app. It seems like nothing I want is available through it, or the tie-ins to the libraries are convoluted and difficult to navigate. My experience has been that it's great if you want classics or fiction (I think I borrowed "Old Yeller"), but for books like you'd read about on HN, I've struck out.

You are correct. The Overdrive app is garbage.

It's successor is the Libby app. It's fantastic. If you're not using the Libby app, you are missing out.

I go to the library almost every week and it’s almost never to borrow books.

I go there to work or to read (sometimes on my kindle) because of how quiet it is.

Lucky you. My library seems to double as a day-care facility. The local coffeeshops are quieter.

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