Woot acquired by Amazon, announces it with a rapping monkey video

[nasu_dengaku]

Yes, companies can get silly when they get bought out.  However, when the company is already silly all the time, they get even sillier.

Here's an overview by the NYT.

Comments

[dixiemouse]

*grumbles string of obscenities directed at Amazon*

[inferno0069]

Why?

[dixiemouse]

They are as big a conglomerate as google and the other orgs that people get "nervous" or rally against (for having "too much power" or being "too big")...

But MAINLY, because I am in the entertainment industry and they are slowly but surely taking over a very large portion of it... and am HUGELY offended at the way they have changed IMDb... that now you can buy your way on there and it pisses me off to no end, as I busted tail to get my credits on there and now there is a kid w/ the same name as I do, but the only reason she is there is because her spot was bought.

[inferno0069]

While I don't like power being too concentrated either, and Google can definitely give that feeling, I don't feel it from Amazon, and definitely not in the case of buying Woot. Woot will operate independently, whereas Google's acquisitions (only kind-of including Youtube) tend to close their independent operations and merge fully with the rest of Google. My response to this is subjective, though, so I certainly don't have any reason to expect you to agree

[shandrew]

A couple examples, from a couple well-known authors:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/01/amazon-macmillan-an-outsiders.html
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/01/30/a-quick-note-on-ebook-pricing/

[inferno0069]

Amazon lost that battle. It's a bad example if you want to say that Amazon has power (and if not, then I'm not sure why you brought it up).

As for the specifics of that battle, while Amazon chose a particularly stupid tactic that harmed everybody, in the bigger picture of the dispute I was firmly on Amazon's side (in my head, at least; I have no real power over them, Apple, or the publishers or authors), their side being the side of variable, generally lower, customer-friendly pricing for books, and higher royalties for authors (really, Amazon was losing money on ebooks, giving more money to publishers, authors, and customers). Personally, I like being able to sell books on eBay, to used book stores, etc. at a price I and the buyer can agree on, instead of on a price the publisher sets, but the latter's what's happening now for ebooks.

Amazon is fighting for the status quo, a more consumer-friendly price of $9.99 for books that are locked into its DRMed hardware platform. Macmillan's CEO argues that his preferred pricing model

[dixiemouse]

(sorry for late response, but 1. kinda forgot about this post; 2. got busy