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Amazon should take a lesson in simplifying from the folks at Google, who long ago streamlined their web site’s home page. At the top of Amazon’s home pages is a link to a drop-down menu alphabetically listing 29 different categories. At the bottom is a similar set-up, except that there are 37 categories, not alphabetized. Why couldn’t the top and bottom menus be consolidated?

Perhaps competition forced Amazon to expand beyond its traditional borders of selling mainly books and CD’s, but my first impression –formed years ago- of this online store as a bookseller, remains. Reading Amazon’s frequent e-mails advertising shoes, jewelry and cell phone accessories is odd to me. Even groceries can be purchased at Amazon! Maybe giants like Barnes and Noble forced Amazon to disregard the old maxim “Shoemakers, stick to your last.” Barnes and Noble, however, continues to sell mostly books and literary paraphernalia.

Amazon’s administrators are very adept at keeping up with the latest technological trends, and in keeping with their original objectives –as far as I can tell- they have begun to market their own brand of electronic reader known as Kindle. This wireless, hand-held device allows customers to order and download thousands of books, magazines and newspapers, and have them instantly transmitted, and Amazon boasts that reading from the Kindle screen is as easy on the eyes as reading from a typical paper page. Soon enough, this type of technology will be commonplace, and train commuters will all be reading the morning newspaper or the latest New York Times best-seller on their laptops and cell phones. A review on Kindle, which I am not prepared to write, is another article entirely, but easily half of the items featured on Amazon’s home page are technological gadgets.

Amazon sells CD’s, DVD’s, VHS and audio cassettes, but the company seems to be moving towards downloads, instead. A wide selection of music, television programs and films are available, but to avail yourself of these offers you must purchase and download MP3 to play the music, and Amazon’s Unbox™ to watch the video. Other features require the most recent versions of the various web browsers. Downloading an updated version of your web browser is free, but if your system has an older operating platform, you might have technical problems, some caused by the loss of space on your hard drive.

Shipping of items purchased on Amazon can be very expensive. The astute Internet shopper can find a lot of really good deals on merchandise – I have purchased slightly-used copies of good books at about $1.50 -but then wound up paying $6 or $7 for delivery. The promptness with which buyers receive their orders depends on the seller. I usually have not had to wait more than a week, but this varies. A lot of the books listed are denoted as unavailable or out of print, so why they are even listed is perplexing. As is the case on eBay and other web sites, customers on Amazon can rate the sellers on the basis of trustworthiness, prices of merchandise, and reliability.

Under users’ Amazon accounts are lists of recommendations based on prior purchases, e.g. if you like The Hobbit, Amazon reasons that you might like J. R. R. Tolkien’s lesser-known book The Silmarillion, or if you purchased a pair of black stiletto pumps, you might want to buy red ones, as well. These lists apparently are not updated that frequently, if at all. I purchased one romance novel about four years ago (only because I met the author!), and probably 50 of the recommendations on my list are romances! You can always update the list yourself, if you choose to spend several hours (or several days) doing so. Amazon lets customers view the items that they purchased in the last six months.

For those who want to make money via Amazon, either through advertising, selling, publishing on Kindle, or becoming an associate, the opportunities are there, but assuming that Amazon is so popular that affiliation with the company will guarantee remuneration is foolish. Years ago I ran a poetry web site, and decided to become an Amazon associate. Since becoming an associate was free, I figured that I had nothing to lose. I never made a cent. This may have been due to my own marketing mistakes, or the public’s lack of interest in a poetry web site (go figure!), but the experience underscores my point.

As an author, though, I really appreciate the fact that I can quickly and easily look up my published books and find out how well they are selling, or what their sales rank is. As of today, Friday, April 25, 2008, Monuments and Memorials of Washington, D.C. (Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2006), had a sales rank of 642,585 in books. I can also see that there are 15 used and new copies of my book for sale, starting at $11.11. All in a glance!

Amazon has become a household name, so much so that when people hear the word, they no longer think of the tall, athletic tribe of legendary female warriors renowned for their archery skills. But I find the whole Amazon experience to be “too fast and furious.” For me, at least, Amazon has strayed out of its once unique niche, and lost a certain quality that helped to build the company. A few huge corporations manage to retain an aura of service and friendliness in spite of themselves. Amazon does not.