Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
The Apple solution isn't perfect, but it's a lot closer to that Steam ideal than Amazon is. But of course, Apple shouldn't be colluding with publishers to fix a set price. I have no problem with the idea that the creator of the content sets a price, and the vendor agrees to sell for that price, taking an agreed-to commission. I think it could set some really exciting precedents that allow for small/indie publishers to adopt an ebook-only model that would allow them to compete more easily with big publishers.
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The big problem with Apple is that they use proprietary DRM preventing books from the Apple store from being read on any non-Apple device. Amazon has the same problem, though their DRM is pretty easily removed (tools for removing Apple DRM aren't as readily available, mainly because not enough people buy books from Apple to make it worthwhile).
I prefer the model used by Kobo, Sony, Books on Board, Fictionwise, and pretty much every other major seller, who use the same format and same DRM, so books purchased from them can be used on basically any ereader or tablet except a Kindle. Even better is DRM-free books that some publishers are moving to (notably Baen and TOR) where you can buy the book and have it in either the standard EPub format or in Mobi format (readable by Kindles) and put it on whatever device you want.