Amazon Launching eBook Lending Program, Publishers Unenthusiastic 150
An anonymous reader writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is starting a program to lend ebooks to Kindle users. It will allow users to borrow just one title at a time, but readers will be able to keep the borrowed ebook for as long as they want. The initial library will only have around 5,000 titles, because 'None of the six largest publishers in the U.S. is participating.' The article continues, 'Several senior publishing executives said recently they were concerned that a digital-lending program of the sort contemplated by Amazon would harm future sales of their older titles or damage ties to other book retailers. ... The new program, called Kindle Owners' Lending Library, cannot be accessed via apps on other devices, which means it won't work on Apple Inc.'s iPad or iPhone, even though people can read Kindle books on both devices. This restriction is intended to drive Kindle device sales, says Amazon.'"
Re:How will this work? (Score:5, Informative)
You get one free book rental a month with no due date if you're a member of prime.
If you read a lot and really quickly that probably won't be enough... if you're like me where you don't always have the time- this is about right and I'll read free classics in between.
eBooks are not cheap- they're bloody expensive for what they are. I got a kindle thinking it would save money- but the average new ebook is more expensive than the average paperback.
Lucky for me I like classics and older books just fine- most of which are free- if not from Kindle then from Gutenberg... Occassionally Kindle has special deals- 99cent books etc which include one or two newer books.
This won't be all books available for check-out, but apparantly will number in the thousands and include some new releases.
This might actually push me to Amazon prime- I've already considered it due to movies/tv shows and increased shipping. A book a month (if consider they're about $10 to $15 a pop if you buy the newer ebooks) makes prime even more usefull.
Re:Local library (Score:4, Informative)