> The author doesn't mean media isn't profitable, but media retail isn't profitable.
Meanwhile HMV, the UK chain that used to be #1 in music and DVD sales before going into administration a year ago, is now rapidly expanding again (as in: adding more retail outlets) [1], and looks set to overtake Amazon in media sales if growth continues at the current pace. While they posted an overall loss, most of that is one-offs related to the restructuring, and all their stores are reportedly now profitable and they reported 17 million in operating profits.
If you'd asked me a month ago, I'd have said the same. Now I'm not so sure.
The author is somewhat right. It's only profitable when you have a walled garden that you control, so you can squeeze markup out of the supplier.