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Originally Posted by balok
I can't believe my eyes. You sound like you're defending a practice that stifles competition in a free market. Comparing prices is the right of every consumer.
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Certainly it is; I agree with you entirely.
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There must have been people who cried the loss of the horse drawn buggy when cars and trains were invented. Imagine the poor blacksmiths who were put out of work. What a shame. Or how about the telegraph operators-- all that training to learn how to recognise dots and dashes, speeds of 100wpm, amazing. What a shame they became completely useless when the phone was invented. Should we throw away our computers and buy typewriters so the last typewriter company doesn't go out of business? Enough examples.
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I think you've misunderstood what I'm saying. I'm certainly not in favour of stifling innovation. What I'm saying that I believe is despicable are people who take advantage of the facilities that physical book shops provide in the way of being able to browse the shelves, read snippets of books, etc, but then, once they've found that book they want in the shop, go home and order it online rather than from the shop simply because it's a few £ cheaper.
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Perhaps the only virtue of regular bookstores is the fact that you can get some tips from the sales person.
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No, for me, the virtue of physical bookshops is the experience of being able to "browse" and see what's available. That's something you can't do in an online shop - at least not in the same way. I very often go into my local bookshop for one thing, and come out with half a dozen completely different books which I've spotted while browsing. I just wouldn't do that in, say, Amazon, where I'd just type in the title of the one specific book that I wanted.
I buy lots of books online, don't get me wrong. But what I would never do would be to spend a pleasant hour in my local Waterstones, find some books that appealed to me, and then go home and buy them from Amazon to save a few quid. That just strikes me as being completely unethical.