Quote:
Originally Posted by millicent
Now that they have gotten Amazon to agree to the agency model for ebooks why not make them agree to it for the traditional print media also? Many years ago in the UK we had a price fixing system called the Net Book Agreement. This meant that the publisher put a sticker price on a book, and that was the price at which it had to be sold, whether through a large chain bookstore (who could negotiate big discounts) or by a small town independent bookstore (who couldn't).
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Prior to the the Bush conservative Supreme Court, minimum pricing was illegal. A manufacturer could set a maximum price at which an item could be sold but not a minimum. With the ascent of the conservative perspective, minimum pricing has been approved. Although we may not have been very cognizant of it outside the ebook pricing, it really was evident in the minimal discounting that occurred (and occurs) with Sony Readers. It is also evident in other electronic sales. It was only a matter of time until it was applied to ebooks. As usual the conservative revolution is a revolution for those who are big political donors, not for the little person.