THE PREPOSTEROUS BOLLOX OF THE SITUATION

If you’ve not yet heard, Amazon has pulled all of publisher Macmillan’s books from its online store in retaliation for MacMillan’s request to raise the prices for its e-books to $15, above the $10 ceiling Amazon considers reasonable.

Thoughts?

• Well, Amazon pulling MacMillan’s e-books seems obvious for the situation, but they’ve also pulled the physical books from the site as well. This seems like churlishness.
• The $10 limit that Amazon likes on e-books is plainly a price incentive to sell Kindles.
• I frankly don’t imagine this happening in any other week than the one in which Apple unveiled the iPad. This is the first sound of Kindle’s death knell, at least in the form it presently takes.
• I am only marginally interested in an e-book reader, because I’m a nerd like that - but I will always go for physical paper books where possible.
• I will never buy a Kindle, because I have the odd idea that I should own what I buy and Amazon’s DRM kinda flies against that in all sorts of ways.
• Amazon, like Google, are making all sorts of decisions recently that -while part of the fascinating restructuring going on in the 21st century - are causing a lot of resentment, especially among the people that they should be allied with.
• Apple may well - way before Amazon even think of it - soon be offering customisable deals for publishers on the iPad. Not only publishing houses, but also self-publishing and rights-free content. Because people like a good deal, not the only deal in town.

“To concentrate on raising the funds necessary to keep us alive into 2010, we have reluctantly suspended all other operations, but will be back soon.”

“The ban on small-breasted women in adult publications has been made by the Australian Classification Board allegedly on the grounds that such images could be construed as child pornography…”

I really don’t like large breasts. Just not a fan. Presumably, in Australia, that would be some sort of perversion. Whereas enjoying pneumatically endowed sideshow oddities will be seen and healthy and wholesome.

You’d think that a country whose biggest entertainment export was Kylie would have better sense.