How I purchase e-books

An article, posted about 2 years ago filed in amazon, kobo, ebooks, epub, revenue & usability.

I have a Kindle e-reader myself, but don't like a single monopolist like Amazon to control the market. So I try, whenever possible, to skip their market place. And that is perfectly possible. But say goodbye to one-click shopping.

(same argument probably also applies to the Kobo store, another popular eReader-manufacturer, but perhaps less evil for not being Amazon and supporting 'local' shops, e.g. Bol.com in the Netherlands… which is basically the Amazon of the Netherlands, oh well…)

The alternative

Many books these days come without DRM(!) … they're still watermarked, but that doesn't stop you from converting books.

So, it takes some dedication but my approach is:

  1. To search for the book's publisher, check their website for a purchase link and purchase it there.
    • Or use libris (Dutch independent booksellers collaboration), which allows you to pick a local Libris connected bookshop, and purchase an e-book from them.
    • And…

Are streaming services sucking money out of the industry?

An article, posted almost 10 years ago filed in music, behaviour, money, economy, revenue, spotify, apple & streaming.

I'm just a single person. A music listener and lover, for quite some time. What I was curious about is whether my actual spending on music had changed with the new online options offered these days, most notably since I started using the streaming service Spotify. Artists are complaining, and streaming companies trying to defend their position. So as a user of streaming services, can I still honestly say that I'm a music lover who supports the artists that make it? Luckily I have most of the data that I need to investigate it for myself.

What I used to spend and the revenue.

I own about 150 CD's. It is not a lot, but looking around it seems above average (also compared to my parents collection of vinyl records from the past). I bought most of them between 2002 and 2012. So let's assume that I bought 15 CD's per year. I have no recollection of how much I spent on CD's, but I believe the €9,9…