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Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?
by George Packer
TL;DNR summary, pretty much not, that Amazon doesn't really care about books, they're just a stepping stone for Bezos to turn Amazon into the Everything Store, the replacement for Wal-Mart for customers at all price points.
I'm not a big Amazon fan, although I am a customer. I'm probably cynical, but I really wonder whether the people at the top of large bookstore chains, like Borders, B&N, Books-a-Million, all started out as book lovers, and the pressures of business force them to look at books as commodities also.
For what it's worth, for a company that doesn't care about books, Amazon has done far more than almost any company at making books, in print or out of print, available to the masses. Maybe it's just good business, but they certainly made it easier for people to buy the harder to find books, often at very good prices.