Where Is My eBook Library? Netflix? Anyone? [Part I]

It’s truly staggering what you can obtain through “illegal” channels when it comes to media. I like to think I have an excuse for my use of these channels on occasion.

Netflix Subscription

Would I pay $8 dollars for a comprehensive Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) subscription? No. My home internet connection isn’t good enough to comfortably stream what I want when I want it. Add to that the fact that due to licensing agreements, Guatemala’s Netflix content is limited.

Could I buy music through the iTunes Store? Sure, but I hate lining Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s coffers further than my hardware purchases based on the fact that I can’t watch porn on my phone. I don’t like porn, I prefer easy women in bars; but I hate the fact that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) wouldn’t let me if I wanted porn on my phone.

Could I order a book on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a physical book? Yes, but it would only have a 50 percent chance of getting to me and after shipping and import duties I would be paying $50 for something with a cover price of $13.99. I spend most of my day in front of a computer. The idea of paying for an ebook is painful, my eyes already resemble Droopy Dog’s by four in the afternoon. However, after years in China, Argentina, Guatemala and points in between, along with a tablet purchase (Nexus 7), I’ve come to view e-reading as a necessary evil. I can’t stop reading, but hate paying $7.99 for the privilege of reading a single book. I’ve been put in a figurative corner and simply Google search the title of a book with the “.mobi” extension. Generally, within 10 minutes I have the book with no proceeds going to the author.

I over-tip because I worked for tips for years. Good, tax-free tips, where I could walk out of the restaurant with $1000 cash in my pocket. Granted, I would wake up broke, often in a New York/New Orleans/San Francisco gutter having spent it on lawyers, guns, and … wait, that’s a Warren Zevon song.  I have over-tipped bartenders and made my contributions to the “underground” economy for hours of immediate gratification.

Now, I write for a living and deprive authors their well-deserved royalties. It’s not fair to them. And I’m not a thief.

Would I pay $8 a month for a Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)-like service to pay these writers? I would. Now, where to find it?

Where Is My Ebook Library? Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)? Anyone? [Part II]