Same thing with Book Depository, AbeBooks, and Avalon Books. And more generally Whole Foods, Alexa Internet, IMDB, Fabric.com, Woot, Zappos, Evi, Graphiq...

When will consumers have protection against this degrading of the marketplace already?

You skipped Audible which I would add to the list of give it just enough oxygen to stay alive but no innovation allowed strategies. You can't even connect your Audible account to your GoodReads. Audible is the app I would most like to replace that I use almost everyday.

If you are based in the UK you may be interested in XigXag as a replacement for Audible: https://xigxag.co.uk/

As a disclaimer, I have never used it myself but I have heard good things of it.

We see this with Amazon Music offerings as well. Focus on acquisition and accumulation, not innovation.

For Books, Amazon has (1) Kindle, (2) Kindle Unlimited (... a direct competitor to Audible), (3) Kindle Vella (somewhat of a Goodreads competitor), (4) Audible, (5) Amazon.com (retail), (6) Prime Reading, and externally (7) Abe Books, (8) Comixology, (9) Book Depository. And then there are Children's versions...

For Music, Amazon has (1) Amazon Music Unlimited, (2) Prime Music, (3), Amazon Music Free, (4) Amp, and has just acquired (5) Wondery.

I'm cool with checking out audiobooks from Libby, and whatever music app opens consistently when I want it to (i.e., not Amazon Music). Support your local libraries!

I’m still very bitter about what Amazon did to Book Depository.