Monday, June 11, 2012

I Call Bull Barnes & Noble

So, it seems Barnes & Noble has a problem with the DoJ's lawsuit against five of the Big Six and Apple.

No surprise there.

You can read more about it on The Consumerist, but the jist of the story is that the mega-bookstore feels that the DoJ is way out of line and needs to keep their nose out of a business they know nothing about.  They go on to say that this lawsuit will hurt consumers by creating higher e-book prices and less choices.

Are they serious?  How did they manage to say that without choking?

Does B&N really expect us to believe they care about helping the little guy?  They didn't seem to have a problem wiping their backsides with all those independent bookstores.  No sir.  Back then they were pillaging like a band of Vikings.

But now that Amazon is doing the same to them, they are calling foul.

I don't have a problem with people who disagree with the DoJ's suit.  In fact, I wish they would call it off.  I think the DoJ is right, but the more the Traditional publishers charge for their books, the easier it is for me to make money by undercutting them.

My problem is people hiding behind noble notions to further their self-serving cause.  B&N doesn't care about the little guy.  They care that Amazon is blowing them out of the water.  They should be learning from Amazon and adapting, but instead they claim that Amazon is the devil while trying to hide their own horns.

Bob Mayer brings up a good point about the hypocrisy of the Author's Guild, BEA and certain authors.  If Amazon is so evil then why don't they pull their books?

Exactly.


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