Then things must have changed a whole lot in the past 2.5 years, since I gave up on Linux. I had that problem many times, and I wasn't going after obscure stuff only the Linux literate would want. I had that problem with several games, for example.
I started using Linux in 1998, I gave up in 2006, because I was sick and tired of dealing with the amount of work it took to install software and hardware. Not that I couldn't do it, I just didn't want to spend all that time doing it once I got a full time job. Especially since a Mac gives me all the Unix command-line stuff I love, without the driver problems or dependency hell.
Is anyone anyone really afraid of terrorists? Crackheads probably kill more people in America than terrorists do.
I recently heard someone say that terrorists take advantage of the same faulty logic that makes people play the lottery. That knowledge that it can happen leads people to think that it will happen to them, eventually.
Current copyrighted novels by established authors do not have close substitutes. But there are other portions of the market:
Public domain novels (like most the classics we read in school) do have substitutes. Text-to-speech could make the difference in this portion of the market.
New authors who are just breaking into the market are not necessarily targeted reads. When looking for something new to read and the choice comes down between unknowns, text-to-speech could easily be a tipping factor.
As to your textbook case: Professor's think about supplemental stuff when making textbook choice. (I know, because I've done it.) If there are two introductory texts that would be fine alternatives, choosing one with more features just makes sense.
"When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical." -- Jon Carroll