This was truly one of the most evil things Apple did, not too long after Steve Jobs publicly proclaimed that "Nobody reads books anymore."
Until he realized that he can ride to higher profits on the burgeoning e-book sales, that is.
I hope the suit wins. It will be better for all consumers.
I'm sorry. You're absolutely wrong. It's a ridiculous suit. Look at who the suit is against. Publishers are struggling these days -- no question. No one reads books anymore -- that's generalized, but true (and Jobs meant physical books, by the way...). Everyone's online or on an iPad or Kindle or whatever they have. They read snippets, not novels, too. That's another issue.
But you'd rather companies like Amazon depreciate the value of books (both electronic and physical copies), so that consumers expect prices to be low. Then publishers will have issues selling books at any profit whatsoever and they'll start going under. That's a great way to DECREASE competition. Amazon-like companies are complaining because Apple and a few publishers found a way to change the business, increase sales, and STAY in business. That's good for us. We want more publishers (we being the consumers).
Media is changing -- okay, media is staying the same, but the way we buy and sell and license and transfer media is changing. And companies like Apple are at the forefront of that change. And they haven't been doing a bad job at all. They're profiting -- and it's hard to find anyone that works with them complaining about their relationship. Why? Apple makes everyone money. And in the long run, they'll save you yours, too.
You can't have a judge somewhere pound his gavel, calling this anti-competitive behavior and essentially saying companies can't sell books at the prices they want to. It's their book. Your choice is the choice to buy. As soon as a judge starts limiting the price of books (which is essentially what'll happen if this thing wins), we're not capitalist any more (well, I'm not sure we have been for the last few years, anyway). You'd let our ideals go to save a few bucks on a book? You can't expect anything to be free. Earn it. And quit complaining. This better be dismissed.
People need to quit complaining about how expensive ebooks are. You were never paying for the physical pages. Publishing a physical book costs something, sure. But do you buy a book so you can carry home a heavy pile of paper, or for the media within it that some author worked his a$$ off to write. Be fair to the authors, too, here. Media comes at a cost -- to the creator and consumer -- especially when it's good. Don't expect it to be handed out. That's what today's government is there for...
