Apple and Shady Business Tactics? No Way!

via yahoo.com news (Welcome to cheaper e-books!)

Apple, major publishers hit with federal antitrust lawsuit over e-book pricing

by Dylan Stableford - The Cutline

Apple and several of the nation's largest book publishers were hit with a federal antitrust lawsuit on Wednesday for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices.

According to the complaint, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, at least five publishers—Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, Penguin and Macmillan—conspired with Apple to fix prices for e-books ahead of the 2010 launch of the iPad tablet and iBookstore, forcing Amazon to raise prices for e-books on the rival Kindle.

Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Hachette have already settled with the Justice Department. According to Bloomberg, Apple and Macmillan "have refused to engage in settlement talks" and "deny they colluded to raise prices for digital books." Penguin plans to fight the lawsuit too, Bloomberg said.

Before the iPad came along, publishers had complained that Amazon's $9.99 price for e-books was too heavily discounted. When the iPad made its debut, most e-books sold by Apple were priced at $12.99, with the Cupertino, Calif.-based company allowing publishers to set their own prices—known as the "agency model." Amazon soon allowed publishers to set their own prices, too, driving up the prices of digital editions.

"Apple facilitated the [publishers'] collective effort to end retail price competition by coordinating their transition to an agency model across all retailers," the suit alleges.

A class action lawsuit filed in California District Court last summer by Kindle consumers was the first to allege a conspiracy, CNNMoney.com noted. According to that suit, "booksellers were 'terrified' by the discounted e-book price structure Amazon launched in 2007." The "spooked publishers" colluded with Apple to force Amazon's hand.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/28921250

Stephen Colbert with Maurice Sendak

Both videos are hilarious. Great line about e-books at the end of the second one.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 2
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

WMc's Summer Book List

Reposted from McMadness.com

I just finished a very disappointing book that was released last month--Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan.  It was touted by an author I generally enjoy as the "perfect summer read" on her blog.  I am a sucker for perfect summer reads, and I even pre-ordered the book and dug right in as soon as it arrived on my Kindle. It took me nearly a week to finish this book and I was left disappointed.  I found the characters mostly lacking positive attributes and I am still wondering about all of the loose ends the author failed to tie up.  I am annoyed that a week of summer reading was sacrificed to something so falsely advertised when I could have been spending my precious reading time with something better.

To counter my bitterness, I am posting my own summer reading list, with books that I would classify as "perfect summer reads."

Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holoman.  Exactly what it sounds like.  Small town makes giant cheese for a cheese contest and has to transport it to be judged.  Well-written and hefty.  You will get lost in another world.  That is, unless you are a small town dairy-farmer, then it might hit a bit too close to home.

The Dirty Parts of the Bible by Sam Torode.  No, this is not Bible porn.  It's a whitty adventure story set in 1936 when 19-year-old Tobias is sent from Michigan to Texas to find a bag of money his father, a newly ousted baptist-pastor, hid many years ago as a teenager himself.  The characters are complex and fantastic in a way that cannot really be described.  I liked this book so much that I emailed the author after reading it. Bonus, it is only $2.99 for the Kindle Edition, although I would gladly pay more for it.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons by Lorna Landvick.  Women's literature at its finest.  This book completely enraptures you in its characters while touching on serious issues, spanning generations and having moments of all-out hilariousness.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.  Voted best book of the year for 2010 by my book club, which is saying a lot because it had a lot to compete with in 2010, including the book below.  Historically accurate with some vampire, it is a great balance of intellect and straight up fluff.  And I generally dislike vampire books.

The Hunger Games series by Susan Collins.  If you have not already jumped on the bandwagon, please do. You will not regret it.  And no, it is nothing like the Twilight series which I could never understand the hype behind.  See comment above regarding my general feelings on vampire books.

Books on my summer reading list include (note, the large amount of Young Adult science fiction/adventure is due in large part to the current obsession of the genre by many of my coworkers, whom I get a lot of my book recommendations from.  Lawyers reading teenager books en masse.  We all get our brain breaks somehow.):

• Switched and the next two books in the Trylle trilogy by Amanda Hocking
• Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winslow  
• The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
• Matched by Allie Condie
• Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner (available July 12, 2011)
• Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

The Hunger Games...one small issue so far.

I've read about 100 something pages in 2 days of reading The Hunger Games. This is saying a lot since my kids have slowed my book ingestion quite considerably.

So far the book is great, everything I expected, couldn't be happier.

However...

What the hell is the deal with the paper and ink quality? Maybe its just my copy but it seems as though the book is printed on newspaper stock by a copy machine that was low on toner.

I get times are tough, but this is ridiculous. I know the publisher, Scholastic, isn't wanting for money and a blockbuster bestseller like this should be of way better quality.

This is the first time I truly envied e-book readers. Let's call this strike one of three. Two more books published with this poor a quality and I'm buying a Nook.