Amazon Piles On the Prime Benefits With New 'Prime Reading' Perk

Amazon today unveiled the latest perk for Prime members in the United States: Prime Reading. With this, the company is offering access to "over a thousand" Kindle books, comics, magazines and more. The selection will rotate, the company says, suggesting that you should be able to read titles that aren't available today. GeekWire adds: The new perk, Prime Reading, lets Amazon Prime members access more than 1,000 e-books from best-selling authors at no extra charge, read a rotating selection of popular magazines, and read content from the company's Kindle Singles library, including classic short stories and essays. Prime reading is available on the Kindle app for iOS and Android, and on the company's Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets. The new perk comes in addition to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which lets Prime members who own Amazon devices borrow one e-book a month from a larger selection of titles. Separate from a Prime membership, Amazon offers the $10/month Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service.Amazon Prime program costs $99 per year.

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[ashshy]

The Census Bureau [census.gov] says that there are about 116 million households in America. From that perspective, and assuming that the vast majority of Amazon customers don't have multiple Prime accounts per household, "half" sounds about right.

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[Anonymous Coward]

The Big One happened and Calfornia and parts of Oregon/Washington fell off. We'll hear about it here on slashdot in the next couple of days.

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[wbr1]

50,000,000 = 500,000,000 * ~.5

It's the new math.

Why don't Canadians get any of this cool stuff?

[Waveevaw]

We don't get video either

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[Anonymous Coward]

you get free health care

Re:Why don't Canadians get any of this cool stuff?

[Anonymous CowWord]

I don't know why people keep repeating this bullshit. Wait times depend on severity, which makes sense, otherwise more people would die. Have you been to an emerg in a Canadian hospital? Idiots come there for minor cuts and scrapes and then whine about the 4 hour wait time. When my dad had a bypass, he saw his doc one week, the cardiologist the same week, and had the surgery within 2 weeks (and that was by choice, they we willing to operate on him within days). Conversely, when we went to have non-urgent knee surgery, it took 3 months which was fine by him. One saved his life, the other made it more comfortable, all for $0.

Re:Why don't Canadians get any of this cool stuff?

[Shados]

It depends a lot on the province/city vs state/city for sure, but having lived most of my life in Canada and now being a US permanent resident, the difference is night and day.

When I was a kid, I was -terrified- of the ER, because I knew I'd be there all fucking days. I had a friend who had a major motorcycle accident, was bleeding everywhere, and beyond stopping the blood, made him wait for hours.

And then there's the huge percentage of population that can't get a family doctor, and even if you have one, getting any kind of appointment can take months.

Since i moved I started having some health issues (probably related to american food, heh), and the first time I walked in an hospital (after I walked straight passed it thinking it was a condo building), I couldn't find the ER because I could not find the crowd/line.

I was seen immediately, and the service was 100x more respectful, and problems were found significantly faster.

Of course, its because of the $$$ involved and I have great insurance. Thats unfair to the poor, and I'd still take the Canadian system over that if only so people don't have to be terrified about going bankrupt because they get sick. But in term of care quality, its literally incomparable. Night and day.

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[drunken_boxer777]

Yes, there are private clinics in Canada, but it might be dependent upon the province. Typically it is something the wealthier people use, as they might also have private insurance to defray costs (and can by definition afford to pay more for treatment). So if you can afford it, and don't want to wait, you go to a private clinic or doctor. Otherwise you try to find the one with the shortest wait time.

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[vikingpower]

There is nothing fucking cool about Giant Corp. "offering" you around 1.000 eBooks in order to vendor-lock you in. Rather, you be glad to be in Canada. I'm in Austria and visit physical book stores, getting to hold physical books and helping physical people to make a living. Which is way closer to my definition of "cool".

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[Applehu Akbar]

"There is nothing fucking cool about Giant Corp. "offering" you around 1.000 eBooks in order to vendor-lock you in. "

I buy all my books in Kindle form now (readability everywhere, zero weight, being able to have all the reading I want available at all times) anyway, so this is a pure win for me. And what exactly is "vendor locked in" about having free access to all the Project Gutenberg content, as well as everything new and almost everything in between? And besides, because I run the Kindle app on an iPad,

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[mattack2]

What's with your prejudice against a company that became big by providing what its customers want?

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[ADRA]

Dang, beat me to it. Yeah, Amazon Prime is mostly useless in Canada. $80 for significantly fewer features? Pass. If anything, I'm using Amazon less year after year. It's just not offering the savings that it did previously.

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[chipschap]

Try living in Hawai`i, where Amazon Prime gets you free shipping that usually takes about two WEEKS. And still costs $99.

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[CanadianMacFan]

Yes, but the threshold for free shipping is lower here. They just raised it to $35 in the last week or two. It was $25 before that.

May be cool... we'll see

[The-Ixian]

I am guessing that new releases will not be included in this.

I currently buy all my e-books from B&N and read them on my Nook e-ink. I got locked in to that because, at the time, the Kindle didn't have a backlight and the Nook did.

Turns out, I like the Nook's size and weight and I also like not living 100% in Amazon's ecosystem.

Still... they may still hook me into another year of Prime if the selection of sci-fi is decent. I will just have to read them on a tablet (heavy and bright and battery hungry)

I don't order enough stuff on Amazon to make the 2 day deliver worthwhile and the only reason I kept it for another year was for the Prime video... but it seems like all the good stuff is going paid anyway so I don't see much point in that service anymore.

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[PCM2]

I currently buy all my e-books from B&N and read them on my Nook e-ink. I got locked in to that because, at the time, the Kindle didn't have a backlight and the Nook did.

Come on, dude, this is /. Do better.

You bought the Nook because it used the open Epub file format and you didn't want to get "locked in."

Or else turn in your card.

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[pinkfalcon]

I bought the Kobo because of the backlight, and I still like the Kobo better than my Nook, or my Kindle, but I end up on my Kindle most of the time because that's where the free books are.

I use calibre to convert non-DRM'd books from epub to mobi and back - do I still need to turn in my geek cred card?

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[MrNiceguy_KS]

With the right plug-ins, Calibre can also convert DRM'd books.

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[Nidi62]

I am guessing that new releases will not be included in this.

I was looking at the current offerings for Prime Reading. Most of them are book 1 of a multi-book series. What do you think the odds are that later books in the series never get added to Prime Reading? To be fair though, I did download The Man in the High Castle(which is on Prime Reading), as I enjoyed the show and alternate history can be a fun read.

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[dogvomit]

Purchasing books from Barnes and Noble or Amazon absolutely does NOT lock you in to their ecosystem. All either does is provide a convenient storefront. I buy most of my books from Amazon because they make it convenient and easy to shop, and because I like my Kindle's hardware. But the first thing I do when I buy any book is load it into Calibre, convert it to epub, and archive on my backed up filesystem. No lock in. Some people may point to the DRM, but both B&N and Amazon's DRM have the same eff

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[The-Ixian]

Nice, thanks for the suggestions.

Why not fix your worsening service first

[Anonymous Coward]

Talking about Amazon Canada here. Lately their shipping and delivery has been progressively shittier. Items can sit for a week before getting shipped, often just one day before promised delivery, and still pretend they can make it. They also started using a carrier that offers no tracking information, returns package for no reason, not to mention nearly always late. They also removed the 10 day price drop protection. Amazon used to be my exclusive online shopping destination. But now I have serious hesitat

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[tlhIngan]

Talking about Amazon Canada here. Lately their shipping and delivery has been progressively shittier. Items can sit for a week before getting shipped, often just one day before promised delivery, and still pretend they can make it. They also started using a carrier that offers no tracking information, returns package for no reason, not to mention nearly always late. They also removed the 10 day price drop protection. Amazon used to be my exclusive online shopping destination. But now I have serious hesitati

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[PixelPusher1532]

These perks are shit. How about some god damn price stability? I have seen a product I routinely buy vary in price from $8 to $16.

I will be happy to stabilize that price for you at $20 if you always buy through me.

Great!

[XxtraLarGe]

Another benefit I won't use from Amazon. Amazon Video has some good content, but they don't separate the free stuff from the pay stuff, which makes it a lot more difficult to browse through, so I just use Netflix.

I got Prime for the free 2-day shipping, and that only seems to happen once in a blue moon. I ordered some camping gear a week in advance of my trip, and only part of order was shipped. I received a notification the day before my trip that my other part of the order hadn't shipped yet, and wouldn't arrive until after my camping trip. They offer incentives for you to use slower shipping methods, they should give you credits toward your prime membership if you select 2-day shipping and the package arrives late.

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[Gilgaron]

They do but you have to whine about it... they'll tack on a few months onto your prime membership each time.

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[astrokid]

If your package arrives outside of the 2 day window talk to Customer Service and they'll typically give you some sort of credit; either an additional month or so of Prime or a monetary credit for your purchase.

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[tlhIngan]

I got Prime for the free 2-day shipping, and that only seems to happen once in a blue moon. I ordered some camping gear a week in advance of my trip, and only part of order was shipped. I received a notification the day before my trip that my other part of the order hadn't shipped yet, and wouldn't arrive until after my camping trip. They offer incentives for you to use slower shipping methods, they should give you credits toward your prime membership if you select 2-day shipping and the package arrives lat

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[CanadianMacFan]

They just raised the limit to $35 for free shipping in Canada in the past couple of weeks.

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[JonnyCalcutta]

I've just cancelled Amazon Video and the main reason was because of the mixing of free and prime stuff. Too many times I've been searching for something good, stumbled across something only to discover its not actually part of prime. Also the fact that even when you find something in Prime, chances are not all seasons will be free.

Netflix has its own flaws, but its a million miles above the annoyances of prime video.

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[Nidi62]

Another benefit I won't use from Amazon. Amazon Video has some good content, but they don't separate the free stuff from the pay stuff, which makes it a lot more difficult to browse through, so I just use Netflix.

You are aware that on both the full site and the Amazon Video app you can sort by "Included with Prime", right?

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[XxtraLarGe]

No, I didn't. I haven't used it in a long time, so this may be a newer feature. Thanks for the tip, I'll have to check it out!

And in Canada

[Macdude]

And Amazon Prime in Canada still sucks donkey balls...

Finally

[Applehu Akbar]

THIS is what I call news for nerds.

How about not charging $5.99 to ship Prime Pantry?

[ayesnymous]

Amazon Prime, where you have to pay an extra $5.99 for a box of any "pantry" items.