Oxymoron of the day: Consumer Linux
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Amazon digital lending service rumoured
ONLINE BOOKSELLER Amazon is close to launching a digital book lending service in an attempt to mimic public libraries, except not free.
According to the Wall Street Journal the firm is readying the service now with some discussions about its feasibility. If Amazon follows its normal pattern it will launch first in the US, refuse to comment on whether it will launch in the UK, and then launch in the UK.
The WSJ reports that Amazon is in talks about the service, which would see it charge a fee like movie streaming services, and let punters indulge their passions for digital books without actually owning them.
The report adds that some publishers are not keen on the deal as they, quite rightly, believe that it will devalue books even more than they already have been. Amazon has had a fractious relationship with some booksellers, but it dominates the market and now sells more digital books than paperback ones.
Amazon reportedly plans to charge a two year subscription fee and the WSJ has this pegged at around $80, which sounds like a bargain for two years worth of books. Of course it is still a lot more expensive than going to a public library, which is free. µ
Tags: Hardware
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I guess you think that Public Libraries are funded by magic faeries then?
Public Libraries cost each tax payer a lot more than $80 every two years, and they also are not available 24/7 without having to travel and get a membership card, ect.
This is an excellent idea on Amazon's behalf there are a lot of people who would benefit from this service, plus it will save them thousands of dollars in cost. $80 for two years of unlimited reads vs $6 or $7 a e-book!
Plus no due dates (or late fees), no waiting for the one day a week the public library is open since most are cutting back on hours due to budget cuts.
Print is dead and digital books are the future, anyone that continues to think that print has any future is doomed to fiscal failure. I love my Kindle app on my iPad my only regret it that I didn't start using eBooks sooner!
Oh, a two year subscription. Sorry, it is still very early in the morning here in the U.S.
Amazon already allows customers to rent ebooks. Are you talking about being able to borrow a variety of ebooks after paying an annual (or monthly) fee? It's not really clear from the article. There is also no indication if this would extend to all ebooks or a certain subset.