# It's an Apple and Amazon World



## A. E. Lowan (Jun 10, 2013)

Man, is this ugly!

It's an Apple and Amazon World

This is all about legal battles and market share.

On one hand, I'm glad I got my Kindle.  If you have to jump into bed with the bad guy, at least it should be Vader.

On the other hand, I think DRM is a dirty word.


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## Steerpike (Jun 10, 2013)

I have two Kindles and a Kobo reader for ePubs. I'm not a fan of Apple's practices here. I like Amazon generally, but I don't particularly care for monopoly-level concentrations of market power for any company.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 10, 2013)

I agree completely, but until I can afford to not shop at Wal-Mart they're the only game in town, you know?  I wish Amazon would sell the Kindle, which I love, but make the contents available on other readers.


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## Ankari (Jun 10, 2013)

A. E. Lowan said:


> I agree completely, but until I can afford to not shop at Wal-Mart they're the only game in town, you know?  I wish Amazon would sell the Kindle, which I love, but make the contents available on other readers.



You say that because Walmart does a great job of convincing you. Farmer's markets are much cheaper than Walmart. As an added bonus, the good is fresher and healthier.

I don't mean to deal the topic, but this is related to the general discussion. What are the advantages of buying books from Amazon over Nook and Kobo? I've never had a problem buying my books from Nook. The process are usually the same, so I haven't noticed a cost benefit.

We all have to do our part in fighting monopolies.


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## Devor (Jun 10, 2013)

Ankari said:


> You say that because Walmart does a great job of convincing you. Farmer's markets are much cheaper than Walmart. As an added bonus, the good is fresher and healthier.



The farmer's market does the same job convincing you.  Happened to me - I bit into a farmer's market apple and found my mouth full of ants.  But even without that kind of thing, it's vastly overrated.  Frozen vegetables, for instance, are frozen at their peak in terms of nutritional value, as opposed to sitting out in crates on trucks, and then out in the open on a hot day at the farmer's market.




> I don't mean to deal the topic, but this is related to the general discussion. What are the advantages of buying books from Amazon over Nook and Kobo? I've never had a problem buying my books from Nook. The process are usually the same, so I haven't noticed a cost benefit.



Amazon is often cheaper, at least for paperbacks, with a bigger selection and more reviews and other features to help you make sure it's the right book for you.  There's free shipping on purchases over $25, and you can buy your books together with - say, movies, video games, or even like an office chair - to get you over that number.  The Kindle uses e-ink, which is closer to the experience of reading a real book, and they generally design their products towards the reading experience instead of performance (which is what the Nook emphasizes).  More generally, Amazon has also been in the business longer, and is fully invested in the Kindle while still having additional revenue streams, while the B&N Nook is still tied to an albatross in their outdated chain, is struggling even with their ebook revenues, and I believe is likely to wind up being controlled by their co-partner, Microsoft.


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## Svrtnsse (Jun 10, 2013)

Ankari said:


> I don't mean to deal the topic, but this is related to the general discussion. What are the advantages of buying books from Amazon over Nook and Kobo? I've never had a problem buying my books from Nook. The process are usually the same, so I haven't noticed a cost benefit.



To me, I'm just more familiar with Amazon. It's what I've always used and I haven't felt a need to go out and look for an alternative. I really have no idea if there's a better option.
I guess this is a bit lazy and complacent of me, but I'm pretty sure it's something I have in common with a lot of other consumers who are mainly interested in getting what they want/need without putting too much thought into it.


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## Trick (Jul 22, 2013)

Devor said:


> The farmer's market does the same job convincing you.  Happened to me - I bit into a farmer's market apple and found my mouth full of ants.  But even without that kind of thing, it's vastly overrated.  Frozen vegetables, for instance, are frozen at their peak in terms of nutritional value, as opposed to sitting out in crates on trucks, and then out in the open on a hot day at the farmer's market.



I think you should do some research on pesticides and round-up ready crops... I'll take the ants every time.

Sorry for the minor thread necromancy, just wanted to add that it seems this lawsuit and the issues surrounding this topic are the same as every other monopoly. The beer monopoly for one, is very similar. My solution: buy micro brew beers at every opportunity and advise others to do the same. Other than that, what can we do? These companies are too big to fight without major changes that some folks are not willing to make. 

"Thanks lobbyists! You've made the business world into one big grab for power."


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## Steerpike (Jul 22, 2013)

Trick said:


> I think you should do some research on pesticides and round-up ready crops... I'll take the ants every time.



The funny thing about roundup ready crops is that most people get bent out of shape because of the fact that they're genetically-modified, which is probably the lesser problem (if it is a problem). A bigger problem, to me, is that use of roundup-ready crops encourages the wholesale application of glyphosate (Round Up) to food crops. The pesticide is not only more prevalent on food, but also in agricultural runoff, and it appears to interfere with hormone pathways in the body.


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## Trick (Jul 22, 2013)

Steerpike said:


> The funny thing about roundup ready crops is that most people get bent out of shape because of the fact that they're genetically-modified, which is probably the lesser problem (if it is a problem). A bigger problem, to me, is that use of roundup-ready crops encourages the wholesale application of glyphosate (Round Up) to food crops. The pesticide is not only more prevalent on food, but also in agricultural runoff, and it appears to interfere with hormone pathways in the body.



I think they are both the problem since one leads to the other. check this out: Scientists' Open Letter on the Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods & Crops

And look into articles about animals refusing to eat genetically modified organisms.


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## Steerpike (Jul 22, 2013)

I've seen that open letter before 

GMOs can't really be painted with so wide a brush. The actual gene that has been introduced isn't doing any harm, in and of itself, to the person eating the food. The biological activity comes from proteins transcribed by the genes, and so it stands to reason that different genes, coding for different proteins, are going to have different effects on the human body. Some will be harmful, and some won't. In the case of roundup-ready crops, it may well be that the protein that imparts resistance to glyphosate has harmful side-effects, but the mere fact that a crop has been genetically modified is not, in and of itself, enough to make it harmful. You have to look to see what proteins the foreign gene is coding for.


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