I completely disagree with you. If the idiots running the publishing houses want to charge more than let them. If they see no sales as a result then they eventually figure out that we're not interested in paying $20 for an ebook, but are more inclined to pay $9.99. Capitalism is supposed to be a free market... so we the buyers decide what we're willing to pay. And if you write a book that you think should sell for $20 a pop then that's your business, YOU OWN THE PROPERTY dude. You want to completely screw up a business just get the govt involved. I think this lawsuit was a load of BS.
But completely outside of your argument here is this. You don't need a publisher any more to write a book. I personally believe one reason publishing houses(not apple) were trying to raise prices was because they knew they might start running into trouble ... i.e.... fewer paper books sold (which required their services) which in most cases sell for more than what we pay for the average ebook. So... you raise the price of ebooks to try and make them less competitive against their paper counterparts... the parts they specialize in producing and mostly control.
I'd toss out this analogy for you.... it's like a horse whip maker trying to petition the govt to stop making roads to try and make the auto industry fail. Okay... maybe it's a bad analogy but the publishers are eventually going to loose out here. Who wins? We do.... we get more selection and better prices... we also get a much greater opportunity to publish our own work w/o the necessity of a middle man (publishers). Just thought of this (don't know why I didn't think of this eons ago), but it's similar to how the mainstream media (big networks and advertising agencies) have had some part in keeping online advertising rates so low. It's about perception. ABC/CBS/NBC or whomever wants to keep the perception going that they are where big companies should be spending their ad dollars, and that they still have some kind of perceived clout that they really no longer possess. I could be wrong here of course, but I watch like NO TV any more. It's boring and I hate how it makes you feel like you're turning into a freaking zombie when it sets your brain in alpha mode. I suppose that starts a whole new argument here though so I'll leave it at that.
Price fixing in no good period. At least in iTunes you can price an ebook for 99 cents... all the way up to whatever, or give it away. Amazon did help nip the price gouging a la publishing companies in the bud so that was our initial saving grace to stem the pricing issues. But that's true free market capitalism... instead of "Crony Capitalism" behind idiotic products like electric cars(Volt). So long as there's a choice not controlled by the govt, someone will want to bring something to market that's cheaper or a lot better (apple products)... and we ,the customer, determine the direction of things.... i.e... have the real control.
