[PW] "Effects of public opinion": 1965 book or ?

[Daphne Drewello]

Allen Amet asked

> what is 'ASIN'?
>

  According to the wikipedia
article at

http://tinyurl.com/26xed8

Amazon Standard Identification Number

The Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) is a product identification
number used by Amazon.com and its partners. Despite the name, it is not a
"standard" outside of Amazon.com, but is used consistently for referencing
products within the Amazon network of sites. The words "Amazon Standard"
should therefore be read as "standard internal to Amazon", rather than
"external standard initiated by Amazon".

Each product sold on Amazon.com is given a unique ASIN. For books with an
ISBN, the ASIN and the ISBN are the same. Books without an ISBN and other
products are also assigned ASINs. ASINs are also used for other items used
by Amazon.com (and subsidiaries), such as businesses in the yellow pages (on
A9.com) and OpenSearch feeds.

Proponents of the free culture movement such as Jimmy Wales (founder of
Wikipedia) have criticized the ASIN as an example of a proprietary product
identifier, arguing that it draws producers - especially smaller ones - into
a lock-in with Amazon, and proposed the creation of an open alternative
where producers could register product IDs for a marginal fee without
proprietary control, and the resulting databases would be available under a
free license.[1]


Daphne Drewello
Alfred Dickey Library
jamestown, ND