It sounds to me like just a typical business fight. Amazon wants to make money by selling ebooks for cheap, so that it can popularize ebooks, sell its reader hardware, etc. Macmillan wants to profit by keeping ebooks expensive, in a "status quo" type move.
Neither company seems to be doing anything particularly underhanded or slimy, as far as I can tell. If anything, Macmillan seems to be the one in the wrong. Amazon already pays them wholesale prices per-copy, so why shouldn't Amazon be able to set their own prices and lose money if they want?
Anyway, my subject line was an honest question: why is Amazon losing you as a customer over this? I realize you know a lot more about the subject than I do. I'm curious what's so bad about this move.
Neither company seems to be doing anything particularly underhanded or slimy, as far as I can tell. If anything, Macmillan seems to be the one in the wrong. Amazon already pays them wholesale prices per-copy, so why shouldn't Amazon be able to set their own prices and lose money if they want?
Anyway, my subject line was an honest question: why is Amazon losing you as a customer over this? I realize you know a lot more about the subject than I do. I'm curious what's so bad about this move.
Amazon Accepts Macmillan’s Demand for Higher E-Book Prices
- 01/02/2010 04:21:35 PM
1670 Views
Amazon lost me as a customer over all this *NM*
- 01/02/2010 05:52:53 PM
529 Views
Why's that?
- 01/02/2010 06:55:35 PM
1188 Views
I sum it up here
- 01/02/2010 08:42:02 PM
1510 Views
That's an interesting point. And I have an opposite reaction.
- 01/02/2010 08:56:16 PM
1006 Views
I like that they are public - I dislike that they affect the public so directly
- 01/02/2010 08:59:41 PM
1231 Views
To each his own. I come away with the opposite reaction and like Amazon even more.
- 01/02/2010 09:35:10 PM
949 Views
I think his complaint is that he feels Amazon is using public opinion to pressure suppliers.
- 01/02/2010 09:04:16 PM
935 Views
It's a good tactic. I would have done the same thing. *NM*
- 01/02/2010 09:36:31 PM
491 Views
Is it though - Amazon's stock is way down today. Seems the tactic failed *NM*
- 01/02/2010 09:53:06 PM
499 Views
Apple stocks have gone down on days after major announcements too.
- 01/02/2010 10:04:04 PM
917 Views
agreed - short term doesn't mean much *NM*
- 01/02/2010 10:08:01 PM
493 Views
Macmillan will lose out when people like myself choose to find the book elsewhere.
- 01/02/2010 06:46:10 PM
920 Views
How easy is it to find books now?
- 01/02/2010 06:53:43 PM
862 Views
Pretty easily, actually.
- 01/02/2010 07:07:11 PM
1344 Views
That's excellent.
- 01/02/2010 08:19:55 PM
1117 Views
Screens are good.
- 01/02/2010 08:50:08 PM
1135 Views
- 01/02/2010 08:50:08 PM
1135 Views
Two words: Leather cover.
- 01/02/2010 08:54:37 PM
1002 Views
True, I do remember liking the cover. It's much nicer than what comes with the Sony.
- 01/02/2010 09:02:56 PM
1158 Views
This is what I have. It sounds like what you have for your Sony.
- 01/02/2010 09:39:02 PM
1200 Views
Unless you like a lot of old books, or have fairly eclectic tastes, you should be all set.
- 01/02/2010 07:11:30 PM
1330 Views
$12.99 to $14.99 for a fiction ebook is ridiculous. *NM*
- 01/02/2010 07:44:20 PM
538 Views
Then again, it's half the price of a print version, for essentially the same product / experience.
- 01/02/2010 07:50:29 PM
916 Views
Not really. I buy new hardcover releases at Borders for around 18 to 20.
- 02/02/2010 12:34:08 AM
1109 Views
I don't know about that.
- 01/02/2010 08:21:05 PM
1011 Views
People pay that sort of money for DVd and more for Blue Ray
- 01/02/2010 08:00:47 PM
986 Views
Physical copy is rather important in that case, you know... at least to me.
- 01/02/2010 08:54:05 PM
1093 Views
Good for MacMillan. I'll cheer on anyone who takes a stab against e-books.
- 02/02/2010 04:00:05 AM
1030 Views
Whaaa?
- 02/02/2010 04:08:50 AM
993 Views
Yes, of course.
- 02/02/2010 04:33:13 AM
1071 Views
In ten years you'll have an ebook reader.
- 02/02/2010 05:34:57 AM
1082 Views
I know. That's the problem. *NM*
- 02/02/2010 12:56:32 PM
472 Views
Oh, hush. Go sit in the corner and listen to your 8-track while the rest of us enjoy The Future.
*NM*
- 02/02/2010 02:37:33 PM
581 Views
*NM*
- 02/02/2010 02:37:33 PM
581 Views
The lower prices, the increased profit, or the ecological benefit? *NM*
- 02/02/2010 05:17:13 PM
415 Views
The gradual loss of physical books. *NM*
- 02/02/2010 05:32:39 PM
435 Views
Mmm. I detect an illogical argument.
- 02/02/2010 05:35:14 PM
901 Views
It will increase the number of books available
- 02/02/2010 01:55:05 PM
4440 Views
One apt analogy is the widespread use of recording tools like Pro Tools.
- 02/02/2010 08:07:22 PM
1076 Views
Uh, so what you want to dictate is the medium by which people read? You have no right.
- 02/02/2010 08:01:09 PM
1032 Views

Good Lord! *NM*