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i'll have to find where i got that figure from regarding amazon. i'm pretty sure it was a 70/30 split for the most part. at least until their recent change a couple weeks ago.
getting back to the point, i honestly don't see what all worrying is about. so publishers want more control. so what? as an end user, what will that matter? we should be more worried about the fragmented eBook format system and interoperability issues between eBook readers. Amazon surely doesn't seem to care very much about that do they? is that a lesser problem than paying a few extra dollars on occasion per book?
to me, the agency system makes sense because we're dealing with minute data files (by today's standards) that simply need to be delivered over the internet. we're no longer dealing with physical books that have to be laid out, produced and then shipped to warehouses where they'll be shipped somewhere else after that. to that end, the multi-national store now has the same power as the mom-and-pop store. right? in the same way, you could have the publishers cease to have anyone sell their ebooks besides themselves. what if the big publishers opened their own online storefront where all of their eBooks were for sale (in the various eBook formats, whichever you needed for your device accordingly) and that was the only place you could purchase them. what's to stop them from doing that? why would this be a bad thing?
these are books of original content and thus are subject to copyright law. books are unique things in this way. why shouldn't the publisher/owner have ultimate control over it? it works much the same way with recorded original music and also pieces of artwork.
like the music? support the musician. like the artwork? support the artist. like books? support those authors and their rights over their works, not the stores trying to dictate terms of sale.
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