Well, isn't that something?

[womzilla]

Amazon has de-listed every book from MacMillan--paper or electronic--apparently as a hardball tactic in a dispute over ebook pricing.

Kinda weird to see that the world's largest bookstore has cut itself off from America's largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy, and one of the six largest book publishers in the country. Oligarchies aren't good for anyone.

I will second supergee's recommendation of B&N.com as an alternative, and further it: a co-worker of mine just got a Nook, and is burbling with joy over it. It's certainly a nice piece of hardware.

(I will also point out that the nightmare scenario that Cory describes in the page linked above--"fill your shoulderbag with a half-dozen tablets and readers, one for each permutation of which corporate elephant is trying to crush another"--is exactly the situation of the modern computer game player, where many titles, including the most popular and beloved, are available only for a specific console. It's not a world to be desired.)

Comments

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Stephen has been impressed by the Nook and fondled one in a store on our last trip :->

Some more links: letter (http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/) from Macmillan to its authors, and some reasonable thoughts (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/01/30/a-quick-note-on-ebook-pricing/) from John Scalzi.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Apparently B&N does do one really dumb thing with e-books, though, as elfwreck commented to me elsewhere. (http://coffeeem.livejournal.com/138257.html?thread=3317777#t3317777)