E-Book Pricing Chaos

The Amazon Vs. Macmillan issue I blogged about yesterday is deeper and bigger than we can see. I don't think that just because we're here in Asia, relatively unaffected, we shouldn't pay attention to what's going on. Eventually, the tech involved will reach us; could be years from now, but it still will. I just hope for a quick and easy resolution to all this soon. Sometimes, being on the cusp of change doesn't come with pain.

Here's an article, E-Book Pricing Put Into Turmoil. It summarizes what has happened so far after Apple announced the launch of its iPad, and adds the perspective of when Google launches its own e-bookstore later in the year. It's an attempt to sort out the burgeoning digital age of reading, and to present how this has divided writers, readers, publishers, and sellers into many different points-of-view.

Yesterday, The Bibliophile Stalker compiled links written about the issue. Today, he shares his opinion on the matter in his blog entry, Amazon Capitulated My Ass. I agree with him that there's probably a lot of backroom talk that we are not privy to, and that this is a case of big corporations flexing their muscles against each other. Let's hope that after all this is done no extensive permanent damage is done, that there are no incidents of shooting oneself in the foot, and that everyone comes out winners, writers, readers, distributors, and gadget-makers.