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The Amazon/Macmillan/Apple Kerfluffle
Feb. 1st, 2010 12:27 pmCharles Stross, John Scalzi, Tobias Buckell, and Scott Westerfield have their say. I don't really have all that much to add, except to think of people like Scott Sigler and wonder how much of this industrial gamesmanship is like rearranging the Titanic's deck chairs.
Also, it occurs to me that I haven't bought anything from Amazon in a while. It's true that I like cheap stuff, but I also like supporting the local economy while it lasts. And I like browsing through shops full of physical objects. And like many people born before the invention of the Web, I prefer my text on wood pulp. Well, some of it anyway.
Actually, I fear I'm becoming a Luddite. The only e-books I've purchased have been magazines from Fictionwise so that I could read Gord Sellar's stories. I can easily imagine myself curling up with a Kindle- or iPad-like device, but I can't ever imagine being happy with the idea that Amazon or Apple (or Sony, or Microsoft, or whoever) control how I get to my content. In the meantime, I want my favorite authors and musicians to be paid well for their work so that I can keep enjoying it.
For now, to get all the things that I want, that seems to mean buying a physical product (which incidentally also helps support editors and designers and other people who actually add value to the item in question).
Also, it occurs to me that I haven't bought anything from Amazon in a while. It's true that I like cheap stuff, but I also like supporting the local economy while it lasts. And I like browsing through shops full of physical objects. And like many people born before the invention of the Web, I prefer my text on wood pulp. Well, some of it anyway.
Actually, I fear I'm becoming a Luddite. The only e-books I've purchased have been magazines from Fictionwise so that I could read Gord Sellar's stories. I can easily imagine myself curling up with a Kindle- or iPad-like device, but I can't ever imagine being happy with the idea that Amazon or Apple (or Sony, or Microsoft, or whoever) control how I get to my content. In the meantime, I want my favorite authors and musicians to be paid well for their work so that I can keep enjoying it.
For now, to get all the things that I want, that seems to mean buying a physical product (which incidentally also helps support editors and designers and other people who actually add value to the item in question).
