Long Live USB Drives in Cuba

Long Live USB Drives in Cuba
February 26, 2014
Warhol P

HAVANA TIMES — We're off to get this week's TV show package! "Oh, the
joy," many of my neighbors exclaim. I include myself among them, to be
completely honest. USB drives have proven immensely useful from the time
we've been able to afford them, as a means of storing or exchanging
information, documents and videos of every sort.

Packages include new releases, soap operas (Mexican and Brazilian ones,
which are very popular), documentaries, TV series, recent music videos
produced in Cuba or abroad, software, anti-virus updates and fashion and
showbiz magazines.

Without the need of an Internet connection, one can access an up-to-date
list of classifieds published by Revolico, useful for anyone who wishes
to purchase something or simply see where the prices of different
appliances are at.

In today's Cuba, a person who doesn't own a DVD player and a USB drive
is lost – even though Cuban television has now more channels and has
begun tests to set digital television in motion, it is still a long way
from satisfying the population (which, by the looks of it, will never be
entirely pleased with the menu at home).

Our soap operas compete with one another in terms of badness. When one
ends, another one just as bad starts.

Many people prefer to choose what they watch at home, on a computer or
on television.

Package prices continue to be fairly reasonable: 50 Cuban Pesos (around
US $ 2) for 80 to 500 gigabytes of materials, 10 Cuban Pesos for 8 – 16
gigabytes (a USB drive's worth of materials).

Those in the business of selling these materials also offer a home
delivery service. Some consumers go to the home of the suppliers and put
together a package in accordance with their preferences; other suppliers
rent out hard drives for three to four days. This last service can cost
a little over 4.00 Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC).

For the time being, this is just perfect: I am happy to be able to go to
the home of a supplier near my home, and filling up my USB drive with
these materials fills me with joy.

I only hope this business continues to boom and something similar to
what happened to 3D home theaters doesn't happen here. Those home
theaters had many of us hooked and, after they were shut down, we were
left like kids who go to a party and want to continue eating sweets
afterwards.

Source: Long Live USB Drives in Cuba - Havana Times.org -
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