What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Amazon’s Kindle Changes and User Response

  • Many see dropping support for older Kindles and download options as predictable DRM lock‑in: this is “what you bought into.”
  • Some call it greed and “planned obsolescence,” arguing Amazon could afford to keep old devices working or replace them cheaply.
  • Others argue supporting legacy hardware and infra for low‑spending users isn’t financially justified.
  • Several users say this pushed them to jailbreak Kindles, move to EPUB, or abandon Amazon entirely for other ecosystems.

Piracy vs. Paying, and the Morality of DRM

  • One camp advocates pirating Kindle books (or similar) while paying authors directly, as a way to punish “misbehaving” companies and avoid reinforcing DRM.
  • Another camp frames that as theft or fraud: you don’t get to unilaterally rewrite contract terms just because you dislike them.
  • There’s a deep sub‑thread on property vs. intellectual property:
    • Some argue both share the same moral root in labor and ownership.
    • Others counter that IP is a state‑created incentive, not a natural right, and current copyright lengths are socially harmful.
    • Power imbalance, unreadable EULAs, and monopolistic behavior are cited as reasons contracts feel morally void to some.

Middlemen Platforms and Discoverability

  • Critics of Amazon/other platforms say we should “cut out middlemen” and buy direct.
  • Multiple replies note why creators still use platforms:
    • Massive built‑in audiences and trust for payments.
    • Discovery, reviews, recommendation systems, and refunds.
    • Handling taxes, cross‑border sales, and technical distribution.
  • Some think ebooks are relatively easy to “disrupt”; others respond that if it were easy, it would already have happened at scale.

Alternatives and Support for Authors

  • Suggested alternatives: Kobo devices, other ebook stores, DRM‑light EPUB plus Calibre, audiobooks from non‑Amazon vendors, second‑hand and independent bookshops, and public libraries (including digital lending).
  • Several emphasize: if you do pirate, sending even a modest direct payment to the author often exceeds their cut from a conventional sale.
  • There’s hope that direct, voluntary payments could one day outpace platform revenue, exposing how little large intermediaries return to creators.