[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I didn't know it. I still don't. The judge didn't hear witnesses cross-examined. There was no trial.

There is, however, a lot of evidence, as well as the fact that these publishers settled.

I don't hate Amazon, but I also don't think having most books be sold by them will help the average reader for long.

No one can predict the future. But everyone noticed how quickly book prices went up with agency, and there's no reason to assume that they will go back down.

And if most readers choose to buy their books from Amazon because of lower prices or better service or whatever - that is good for the consumer. Eliminating price competition is bad for the consumer.

We all? Except for a business-related computer programming book, I can't remember the last time I paid that much. What about people for whom $9.99 has to be a rare treat, and normally use the library?

Then they weren't harmed by the collusion in the first place. E-books going from $9.99 to $14.99 is, of course, only a problem if you bought a $9.99 book in the first place. If you never paid more than $2.99 for a book, then you weren't harmed when the price went from $10-$15, either. So you there's no reason you should get anything from the settlement.

Simon & Schuster eBooks are still not in libraries. The settlement does nothing about that, or about declining advances, or any other situation that might impact the average world-wide reader.

The settlement also doesn't stop hunger, cure cancer, or decrease ennui. There are millions of things that the settlement doesn't do. So what?

$9.99 loss-leader best-sellers in the world's richest large country, while not cheap enough for the average world-wide reader, are likely low-priced enough to undercut paper books, pushing them into being a luxury niche item like 33 1/3 RPM records are today. Without cheap used books to put downward pressure on prices, Amazon will be under pressure from Wall Street to raise book prices, however much Jeff Bezos loves low prices and high volume.

This makes no sense. Cheaper e-books are bad because they will undercut paper books, which will cause e-book prices to rise. So the solution is to keep e-book prices at a high level so that e-book prices don't rise to a high level.

And I don't know what your point is about "world wide readers." E-book prices - book prices generally - in the US are much cheaper than those in Europe. Which is a big reason why the US has 80% of the e-book market.

And while it's true that $9.99 is going to be a big expense for someone in a third world country, so is $24.99 for the same hardback.

And if I'm wrong about what happens when semi-cheap eBooks destroy the market for paper books, it will be because Amazon instead took the WalMart route of using market power to squeeze their suppliers, whose advances to authors are already pitifully low.

*Amazon* won't destroy the paper book market. If the paper book market is destroyed, it will be because consumers preferred to buy e-books.

I could ask how much Amazon publishing advances are, but then people might say I hate Amazon

I don't think you hate Amazon. I think you hate consumers.