I still own a Kindle and buy books through it, but it's just false that this is the least hassle option.
1. shop for a book right on your Kindle device
2. click "buy"
Whereas on the other:
1. go to your computer and search for a book on z-library
2. download the epub
3. convert the epub to a Kindle-compatible format
4. copy the book to your Kindle
Isn't the first workflow clearly "less hassle" than the second?
Option 1: Work 14 hours for money to buy kindle paper paperwhite and 10 9.99 ebooks. Proceed to click and buy as you desire.
Option 2: Work zero hours and click and download epubs and other formats on your phone which can accommodate multiple formats including the incredibly common on pirated sites epub format.
Also honestly it doesn't help much to list the steps out when both options take less than 90 seconds and you have already decided to invest 2-10 hours in reading the book. I will happily spend more than an hour reading descriptions and reviews of different books to decide what I would prefer to read next.
It's also probably wrong to list converting to a kindle compatible format and copying to your kindle as 2 separate operations when one in fact can perform them both by clicking one button or indeed avoid conversion altogether by downloading the appropriate format.
For your consideration.
1. Spend time on your computer/smartphone/in person discovering interesting things to read.
2. Open up your store app/website/device, navigate to the desired book, buy, and download it.
vs
1. Spend time on your computer/smartphone/in person discovering interesting things to read.
2. Open up zlibrary/libgen navigate to the desired book and download it.
vs
1. Spend time on your computer/smartphone/in person discovering interesting things to read.
2. Open up zlibrary/libgen navigate to the desired book and download it.
3. Import into calibre and either automatically convert on import or have it automatically converted when you click send to device
vs
1. Spend time on your computer/smartphone/in person discovering interesting things to read.
2. Open up zlibrary/libgen navigate to the desired book and download it to a folder which is watched by calibre whereupon it will automatically import, convert, and email it to your kindle in the correct format.
This isn't twice as hard and it buys you a copy of your ebook on your computer and device which can be backed up with the rest of your files and which will never stop working because someone else says so. It's also trivial to share with anyone you like just as easily as you can add to your own device. You also get a great search experience on your computer and on your phone if you use calibre companion which incidentally you can use to wirelessly send to your non kindle device.
Yes one is often at the cost of the other...but they are different topics.
I’m on Kobo and I’m a nerd and I have “workflows” for content I already paid for but isn’t Pocket compatible (lookin at you, NYRB!) and I’ve never even heard of z-library.
Maybe the average Kindle user, ditto?
Especially because a lot of technical books are really hard too find in Europe in digital format. Very often I get the "not available in your region" message.
Something like Spotify really makes it worth it then. Totally better than downloading and the convenience is easily worth the price.
I buy most of my ebooks as well as I like the sync between the Kindle app and the real Kindle. And most of them are well priced anyway.
For video the convenience argument worked well too with Netflix for a while but now that the landscape had fragmented so much the whole "paid content is more convenient" thing is under a lot of pressure. It's not even the price that's an issue as you can subscribe to most services by the month to see one thing. It's the hassle of signing up, cancelling and downloading all their separate apps. So there the downloaded content is becoming more convenient again.
I remember how upon Radiohead's release of 'In Rainbows' people would argue that the fact that people would still download an album from Kazaa that you can legally download for free from the artists website proves how rotten everyone is. No - it's just that the UX of doing it legally sucked so much more.