Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
One thing is that there isn't a nice "store" where all customers flock--it would be nice if Sony had a storefront--if anyone knows of one, please let me know so that I can check it out. There's several storefronts (mentioned here and other places) with varying levels of file types, some with DRM, some not.
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Sony does have a store, but it only sells LRX files, and is only usable on Windows machines, and you have to install special software to use it at all, so it's less user-friendly than Amazon's.
But "all ebook customers" aren't going to flock to any one store, any more than "all book customers" shop at one store. Amazon gets the lion's share of online purchases, but they are still competing with Barnes & Noble and plenty of physical bookstores, and the same dynamic applies for ebooks: people with different needs will shop at different stores.
As long as ebook device sellers try to lock people into their formats, the stores will continue to be scattered. There won't be a big, single, most-of-the-web ebook store until DRM is gone... and by the time that happens, many of the smaller stores may be so well-established that no ebook seller can ever reach Amazon's level of market dominance.