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Originally Posted by HarryT
Er, so why is that a reason NOT to buy a Kindle? Surely it's a reason TO buy one, is it not?
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Harry, I agree with Jon and think it is a good reason to
not buy a Kindle. Buying a Kindle sends excatly the wrong message. It says to Amazon that it is OK to control the ebook market.
What I want Amazon to do is open up the book market, not control it. Today it controls how you can buy a book; tomorrow it controls what you can read. Yes, I know that is a long stretch, but not an unrealistic one. I can imagine, for example, once Amazon controls the market, Jeff Bezos refusing to sell his unauthorized biography on Amazon because it is unflattering and thus killing its publication.
Just this week one book publisher dropped publication of a new novel that was nearly at the printer for fear of backlash from fanatics because the book was a historical fiction account of Mohammed's wife. In this instance other publishers are picking it up, but if Amazon were the only outlet and decided it didn't want the headache or didn't like the author and so refused it a place on Amazon, we would have the sole source dictating what we can read.
Variety in device and in ebook availability is very important in a free society, so I think not buying a Kindle is appropriate.