More thoughts from the professional class.
Reading through that, their actions make more sense.
Often with internet stuff whoever gets there first has an massive, often insurmountable advantage over latecomers. I made a bet with the boss years back when Barnes and Noble got into the online bookselling game. He thought they were going to drink Amazon's milkshake, I thought they'd be a marginal player at best and eventually give up.
They haven't given up (quite), but neither did they make Bezos squirt the musk of fear. Amazon is jousting with the big boys, B&N is lucky to have escaped Borders' fate on the back of their Poor Man's Kindle.
I think Amazon is jumping the line here- they see the financial advantage of being first out of the gate on the big, obvious solution to the multiplatform dilemma swamping whatever legal expenses they rack up. Flipping music labels the bird and leaving Google and Apple digging through their pockets and muttering to themselves like downtown crazies is pure genius if they avoid the legal fate of past filesharing giants who used similar justifications.
Off the cuff they seem to have a better argument as people would basically be 'sharing' with themselves, but I don't expect that to deter the longship raiders of the RIAA.
Maybe the labels prevail in court, maybe not. Whatever happens, Amazon will have the market to themselves for a good while, which they seem to think is worth the risk.
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