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"If you’re trying to decide which side is right, ask yourself this question: Why should consumers support the right of book publishers to charge whatever they want for their product? Since when does the manufacturer or distributor of a thing get to set the price? Surely the retailer is the one who should be allowed to determine the price, based on market demand and a host of other factors (including what price the manufacturer charges him to supply it). In this case, that retailer — or the closest thing to it — is Amazon.
"If MacMillan wants to have its e-books on the Kindle, or its printed books in Amazon’s online store, then Amazon gets to decide what to pay for them. Even if a quasi-monopolistic situation has developed with the Kindle, Apple’s iPad should ensure that it is shortlived."
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"According to a memo from Robert Allbritton, who heads Allbritton Communications, the parent of Politico, the new online DC news project will include a merger of the company’s two area TV station sites—WJLA.com and News8.net. The site expects to have a staff of roughly 50 people, separate from the TV stations’ employees."
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"Up front, I don’t see any way this speaks to how other online pay plans will work, unless others are set up to minimize online subscriptions and make it more difficult for anyone but local users.
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"As Smith's memo and PaidContent point out, we really can't draw a lot of conclusions from the Newsday subscription experiment: It's unlike any other effort to charge for online content, because of Cablevision's control of both the access and the destination.
"It probably is instructive that the number of people who've signed up for subscriptions is so comically low—a loud warning shot to short-sighted newspapers that are boldly threatening to charge for online access (but timidly not actually pulling the trigger just yet). But because Newsday's situation is unlike any other, it's difficult to criticize the strategy. In its weird way, it seems to be working just fine."