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Dividing the CONNECT store into two parts -- the mechanical/software part and the content part will allow us to better shape our suggestions for their upgrade.
On the mechanical/software side they are at least a generation behind iTunes and most other online music stores. SInce the average book download is only 1/4 to 1/3 the size of a single song download, storage and bandwidth are not the problems. The site is just very awkward to get around in. It is a good beta site that just needs more refining and better ergonomics. I would think that having operated the music side of CONNECT for some time that the ebook side would be a snap. I was wrong.
Content (along with pricing) is another matter. Here I see a major change needed. While I have dismissed (in my mind) many of the problems as simply being the new kid on the block, it is becoming more clear day-by-day that the content problems run far deeper than the mechanical/software problems. For example pricing is corrected on a title one day and later the old price comes back and stays. Ebooks are at times priced higher than the same title in hard back from Amazon delivered. (I am a member of Amazon Prime so shipping is free.) A new release, "The Tao of Warren Buffett", is an example of this pricing inversion. Since the CONNECT site sells products that work only with the Sony Reader there should not be conflicts with publishers over agreements they may have with other sites. Should we already be getting paranoid that Amazon has exclusive agreements with certain publishers for certain works that will be available only in ebook formats for ebook readers sold by Amazon?
On the whole I love the Reader and would (and did) buy it again.
Azimuthal, I echo the expressions before, thank you for your service to this country.
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