Amazon: Help or Hinder?

Alternet published an anti-Amazon analysis that does raise some questions. I remember in undergrad studying Amazon for business case studies and it is remarkable how popular they are (they are the benchmark for branding), yet financially it is a completely different story. When you look at most book sales, places like Barnes and Noble sell much more books than Amazon but our perception of the online book giant is way different from what the numbers say. Although I think there is a slight disconnect in the author’s argument, I do wonder how much Amazon has helped books and how much it has hurt them?