"Amazon Must Be Stopped," by the editor of The New Republic

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Democrats and Republicans are carved from the same pond scum.

...

[DiapDealer]

I believe pond scum must be squished to make it take a shape. Carving it is impossible.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I believe pond scum must be squished to make it take a shape. Carving it is impossible.

Not if it is frozen in place.
And that pretty much describes both camps, no?

Kinda like the Au-rum gang: frozen in place and unable to move off their position no matter how untenable it gets.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by patrickt

JSWolf...Amazon...JSWolf...Amazon? Who to believe? My experience with Amazon has always been stellar. They have never lied to me, whined, or gone for pity. A Paperwhite got from the desert of Nevada to me in Oaxaca, Mexico, in lest than 72 hours. I think UPS is great, too, and I'll assume you find them horrible, too.
JSWolf...UPS...JSWolf...UPS?

Of course you should believe JSWolf. He told us the Kobo H2O would be running Android and he was right about that one, wasn't he?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I believe pond scum must be squished to make it take a shape. Carving it is impossible.

You could carve it after compressing and drying it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Of course you should believe JSWolf. He told us the Kobo H2O would be running Android and he was right about that one, wasn't he?

Nate posted on his blog about what he thought might be the next Kobo Reader and he wasn't quite right.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

He can't hate Amazon too bad. He does business with them as an affiliate. He has Amazon affiliate links for his books on his website.

Ooh. Double dipping.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by taustin

but they use distinctively different rhetoric in their propaganda.

Really? Over the long term, in or out of power at the time of statement seems to correlate better than party affiliation.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

Yeah, that's the middle ground.

Indeed, the idea that not calling them a monopoly is the middle ground is just ludicrous.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Really? Over the long term, in or out of power at the time of statement seems to correlate better than party affiliation.

They say the same things, but they use different words to do it. One side blames religion, the other side blames atheism, for instance, but both want to rifle through your pockets. Again.

[SteveEisenberg]

Getting back to the topic at hand:

Kobo President Michael Tamblyn to Indie Authors: You’re on Amazon’s Hit List

_any_ supplier can be made more profitable. . . .

Amazon can and will, as a business, do what it needs to do to _all_ suppliers in time to improve profitability and grow share.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Getting back to the topic at hand:

Kobo President Michael Tamblyn to Indie Authors: You’re on Amazon’s Hit List

... and how is that any different than how Kobo as a business would hypothetically treat suppliers in the future?

[kyteflyer]

Amazon may be on the way to becoming a monopoly but its not there yet. However, I do feel sorry for the little guys. Amazon and its ilk have forced closure of many stores here in my town, simply because they couldn't compete. Its a shame. I still like going into bookstores and perusing the shelves. That option is only available in one small bookstore which remained independent here and is still going because it has a loyal band of purchasers (myself included). The larger chain stores have all but disappeared.

That said, any time I have ordered from Amazon, the process has been painless. I still have a lingering dislike of them for killing off Stanza... But I no longer feel compelled to refuse to buy. why cut yer nose off, eh? I'm much more bothered by Google. Amazon wants to sell things to us. Google wants to sell *us*

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I still like going into bookstores and perusing the shelves. That option is only available in one small bookstore which remained independent here and is still going because it has a loyal band of purchasers (myself included). The larger chain stores have all but disappeared.

Yes. Those larger chain-stores. Like Borders, Barnes & Noble, and B. Dalton, and Walden Books? The ones that ran most Mom & Pop book-stores out of business (before Amazon entered the picture) and had everyone up in arms, saying "they needed to be stopped?" Those the ones you're feel sorry for and are missing?

Hi ho.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Barcey

... and how is that any different than how Kobo as a business would hypothetically treat suppliers in the future?

If Kobo gains a majority eBook market share, and keeps it year after year, we'll eventually find out. Until then, it is indeed hypothetical.

I think that Tamblyn's identification of a commonality of interests between big publishers and self-publishers is spot-on. However, his linking of Amazon with the Nazis ("First they came for the big New York publishers, but I wasn’t published by a big New York Publisher") was tasteless.