Well, I am a "customer" for both PG and for Amazon. I used the word "competitor" for Amazon, in the same sense that one might use the word "competitor" when describing Microsoft from the perspective of the Free Software community. Amazon, B&N, Google, etc, all do some things that "we" PG might like, and some things that "we" PG don't like. For that matter I do some things that "PG" likes and which "PG" doesn't like. Amazon distributes free books, many of which derive from PG. Some of which include the PG legalize, some of which don't. Some "PG" books are distributed NOT for free on Amazon. Whether PG ever sees their cut of the action on these books or not I do not know -- but I have my own pet theories on that matter! Amazon also distributes electronic books for fee which besides copyright protection also contain what I think PG would consider onerous DRM restrictions which make that text of little use "forever" to the free books community. Amazon builds readers, namely Kindle, which prohibit the "normal" "fair use" policies of having public libraries lending those electronic books for an exclusive and limited period of time. Further, Amazon restricts forever the sale of those books to a different owner for use on a different Kindle reader. Amazon also distributes books in their own proprietary file format, AWZ, which includes the DRM. The new B&N reader appears that it will be somewhat less onerous in many of these areas. Etc. But B&N sticks a lot of silly copyrights on things where many of us think there ought not to be a copyright claim. Is Google a "friend" or an "enemy?" Well, the also distribute free books. But they slap IMHO silly legalese-like messages on those "free books" that has the practical effect of claiming that Google is the owner of those books, whereas some of us believe that Google ISN'T in fact the owner of those books -- rather the public is the owner of those books by nature of having paid for them over and over again during the duration of their legal copyright -- which is now expired. So personally I consider all these businesses to be frenemies -- and I take what positive I can from them, while trying to stay away from those parts of their actions I consider most onerous! But, I am a pragmatist, and an omnivore when it comes to my reading habits. I am happy to pay for books still in copyright, but I would rather not continue to pay for books that are no longer under copyright [that have risen to the public domain] and I am personally happy to steer clear completely of those works that the millennium copyright bill put back into copyright that ought to have damned well have risen to the public domain by now!