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thenewgreen  ·  4685 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Has the iPad saved the book business?
    Just days before the iPad went on sale, on April 3rd, there were rumors that Apple might list best-sellers for as little as $9.99. Apple agreed to the agency model for just one year, and, as publishers are acutely aware, Jobs has a history, with music and television companies, of fighting to reduce prices. One publisher said, “Maybe Apple will want to come back in a year and bite our heads off.”
-If the iPad lowers the price of e-books by eliminating a middleman and the authors still get paid a similar amount then this is all good but if the middle men (publishers) still exist and still get the same share while the authors lose out, then its a real shame.

I have a relative that works for a large book publishing and binding company in Michigan. They are on their last legs and are likely closing doors soon. I'm not sure what to make of this, it's analogous to the US Postal service. Do I want people to lose jobs? No but at the same time we can't hold on to archaic manufacturing and outdated service providers. The next 5 years are going to be really interesting in this regard.