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I have to agree with Kali. At one time many years ago, I went to local bookstores to buy my books (at that time, that was the only way to get books, other than the used bookstore). I was having to deal with their limited selections, list prices with no discounts (unless you found a book on their "great deal" table set out in the aisle. Most of the time, I had to order a book and wait 2 weeks to 2 months for the book to arrive, and still pay full list price (and sometimes the shipping). At that time, Amazon was panned by every wall st. expert, predicting failure within the next few weeks or months.
Then Amazon implemented a novel idea, called "customer service". Check out the publishers on this one, and see if they even know what that means, believe me, they don't. I've dealt with Amazon and have always had some type of response for any problem I had within hours or days, I have not received any response at all from any publisher I have contacted in the last 3 years. Not a single one. Who do you think I want to buy from now...
Amazon earned their stripes, IMHO. I applaud them for taking on "the establishment" and offering new ways to do business, often in ways that was a risk to them. The old school publishers either can't see this or deny it, and have nothing but alienate of lot of their own customers. Some of the people in this thread have financial ties to the publishers, and have tried to belittle amazon every chance they have, I suspect they are more worried about their wallet than the good of the general reading population.
Ever worried about drm and piracy? Did you notice how amazon implenmented a way to social share ebooks, and the publishers fell all over themselves to try to stop it? They want to stop casual piracy, sharing among family or friends, but a amazon implemented a way to do exactly that, and they want to stop it.
I'm not an expert like Tools or Rich, I'm just a customer. And there's a big disconnect here that people like them don't seem to want to hear.
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