How to buy an ebook
Doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, but: I bought an ebook yesterday.
This is a ridiculous experience. Let's compare the process to downloading from various noncommercial "illegal" or legal sites:
"illegal" sites or free sites like project gutenberg
(1) download ebook
(2) put it wherever you want, laptop, smartphone, ereader
(3) read it
buying a book on a commercial site
(1) i tried to buy the ebook first on the publisher's site, then discovered they don't allow you to download the book at all, only view it on their website or app
(2) luckily I found a general ebooks site that sold the book too (ebooks.com, this is not an endorsement). Cheaper than the publisher's site, which still means the price of a regular, actual book on paper.
(3) I managed to complete the buying process. Now I see a Download epub button. Question at this point: do you think that will actually download an epub?
You fool. You magnificent, hopeful optimist. of course it doesn't. 1/3