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Amazonian monopolies
Jan. 31st, 2010 10:41 amHere are a couple of cogent discussions of the Macmillan-Amazon war from Charles Stross and from John Scalzi.
I was thinking of buying a Kindle, but I won't be buying one now. I've been an extremely loyal Amazon customer, but until the Macmillan books are back and they stop trying to prove they have the biggest balls, I won't be buying from Amazon.
Just before logging onto the blogosphere and discovering all this, I bought six used books from the Amazon site. Now I'm going to write them a letter telling them they're schmucks. I may come off as a schizo, but I'm a schizo who has spent a lot of money there in the past. Maybe it will make an impression. Probably not. But I'll feel better knowing I'm not contributing to Amazon's attempt to grab power and limit diversity.
Let me be clear: I'm not crazy about paying higher prices for books, but I absolutely believe the market should decide that and not Amazon. If I want to be my own kind of asshat and pay more money for a book, that should be my decision, not that of Jeff Bezos. Besides, if Macmillan can't sell sufficient product at $15 a whack, the market will force them to drop prices—and we won't all be subject to the dictations of a monopoly. Amazon is not "protecting my interests." They're trying to crush all competition so they control the entire supply chain. That is never a healthy situation because once they crush the competition, they dictate everything: prices, format, supply, who gets to play, who gets excluded. I'm taking the long view here and switching to another book supplier.
ETA: In light of Kage Baker's passing, this doesn't seem quite as important, except that her books were amongst those stripped from Amazon. Amazon has posted a pouty letter about how they nobly resisted the Big Bad Wolf of Macmillan but now must cave in to them.
I was thinking of buying a Kindle, but I won't be buying one now. I've been an extremely loyal Amazon customer, but until the Macmillan books are back and they stop trying to prove they have the biggest balls, I won't be buying from Amazon.
Just before logging onto the blogosphere and discovering all this, I bought six used books from the Amazon site. Now I'm going to write them a letter telling them they're schmucks. I may come off as a schizo, but I'm a schizo who has spent a lot of money there in the past. Maybe it will make an impression. Probably not. But I'll feel better knowing I'm not contributing to Amazon's attempt to grab power and limit diversity.
Let me be clear: I'm not crazy about paying higher prices for books, but I absolutely believe the market should decide that and not Amazon. If I want to be my own kind of asshat and pay more money for a book, that should be my decision, not that of Jeff Bezos. Besides, if Macmillan can't sell sufficient product at $15 a whack, the market will force them to drop prices—and we won't all be subject to the dictations of a monopoly. Amazon is not "protecting my interests." They're trying to crush all competition so they control the entire supply chain. That is never a healthy situation because once they crush the competition, they dictate everything: prices, format, supply, who gets to play, who gets excluded. I'm taking the long view here and switching to another book supplier.
ETA: In light of Kage Baker's passing, this doesn't seem quite as important, except that her books were amongst those stripped from Amazon. Amazon has posted a pouty letter about how they nobly resisted the Big Bad Wolf of Macmillan but now must cave in to them.