Amazon Prime now lends books

[MichaelB]

This is sure to shake things up.

Dear Customers,
Today we're announcing a new benefit for Kindle owners with an Amazon Prime membership: the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free, including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers — as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. No other e-reader or ebook store offers such a service.

It looks like the library can only be accessed from the kindle device, not the online account. This is a pain because the kindle browsing capabilities are primitive. The lending library is organized by category, titles are presented in order of popularity and you cannot do a title search limited to the lending library. Still, for people that like to browse and read, this is a nice offering.

Here's a story by David Pogue (NYT technology writer) Amazon Lights the Fire With Free Books - NYTimes.com

“Titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library come from a range of publishers under a variety of terms,” Amazon says. “For the vast majority of titles, Amazon has reached agreement with publishers to include titles for a fixed fee. In some cases, Amazon is purchasing a title each time it is borrowed by a reader under standard wholesale terms as a no-risk trial to demonstrate to publishers the incremental growth and revenue opportunity that this new service presents.”

Wow. Amazon is actually buying e-books to give you for free.

./.

Crazy, no?

I’m not sure what free shipping has to do with free movies and now free books. I’m not sure why more people aren’t skeptical of a huge corporation giving stuff away; there’s a “too good to be true” aspect to it.
But I do know this: Amazon Prime is looking like a better deal every day. Darned near irresistible, in fact.
And I also know this: Amazon is thinking outside the business-school box. Way outside. And you gotta love anyone who comes along to shake things up.

 

[Bestwifeever]

The people I know (okay, four people that I know of ) who have Kindles tell me they hardly ever use them anymore. Something like this deal might get them subscribe to the Prime and start using them again.

 

[Katsmeow]

This is interesting. I actually own a Kindle but I don't actually even know where it is right now. I do all my Kindle reading on either my iphone or my ipad. Having to use the Kindle to do this is a big negative.

My dh has a Kindle Fire on order though so he might use this.

 

[sinjin]

The people I know (okay, four people that I know of ) who have Kindles tell me they hardly ever use them anymore. Something like this deal might get them subscribe to the Prime and start using them again.

I see your 4 and raise you one. I use mine everyday. My husband who got my hand-me-down kindle and who read maybe one book a year before getting the kindle is jonesing since we lost his, hopefully into storage, during our move. He called me out of the blue last week and told me to order either a touch or a fire so he could have my current kindle because our stuff will be in storage for 6 more months and he can't wait that long.

My daughter has a nook because she has a toddler and it's way better for picture books. She also uses hers everyday. Son-in-law is a tablet boy, don't know how he slipped into the family.

Son and daughter-in-law, kindles, use em all the time.

I'm not sure how worthwhile this will be. One book a month? How much is amazon prime anyway?

 

[W2R]

We're still reading as much as ever on our Kindles, too. We have been exploring the e-book holdings of our local library, as well as continuing to purchase books. I don't think that either of us have read books in any way other than on the Kindle since we got our Kindles, except for those technical books that are unavailable as e-books.

Amazon tried to get people to join Amazon Prime by offering free streaming movies. Maybe they thought free Kindle books would help recruit customers to Amazon Prime too.

 

[stevenst]

This is interesting. I just experienced my first public library kindle-book checkout. It was completely painless. I did it all from my iPad and it was delivered to my kindle. Best of all, it let me save $20 that didn't go to those bozos at Penguin, who are of the opinion that the kindle edition of a book that has been out in paperback for months is somehow worth $20. They were wrong .

Rant concluded. This lending feature from amazon may finally win me over to a Prime account. It seems I buy more of my stuff from Amazon each year. I worry that Prime account will entice me to buy even more stuff, though! And I do wonder what impact Amazon being in the lending business will do to the local library.

Steve

 

[Katsmeow]

And I do wonder what impact Amazon being in the lending business will do to the local library.

Steve

Well, it is hard to imagine much effect. My understanding is that Amazon will let you borrow one whole book a month. That doesn't compare to what I could obtain from the library so isn't very appealing. Particularly since the Kindle account books are shared between my DH and my son so if I borrow a book from Amazon during a month then DH or my son couldn't borrow a different book.

The ability to borrow one book wouldn't be enough for me to get a Prime account if I didn't already have one (nor would the Amazon streaming which so far hasn't been better than netflix...maybe that will change). However, I do use the Prime account for shipping all the time. This is not to buy things I wouldn't otherwise buy but to buy things where the cheapest place to buy them is Amazon.

 

[MichaelB]

My kindle is not gathering any dust either, and now that I can borrow a book a month we won't be buying many books either. Amazon just made a major increase in titles available to stream, and now this. Christmas season is ramping up. I think this is their marketing strategy vs Apple. Another reason to buy the Kindle and another reason to enroll in 'Prime. Titles are still limited - as are browsing interfaces - but there is a lot of potential here.

 

[pimpmyretirement]

If Amazon can make books go to a subscription model with a selection like Netflix or even Pandora, I would happily give up my local library. It would mean spending more on books, but immediate delivery of all I can read is killer. It would probably even replace my Netflix subscription.

 

[PaddyMac]

I'm not sure why the Prime account is so appealing. I buy from Amazon all the time, probably a couple of times a month. I never pay shipping. I just buy stuff that's over $25, which isn't hard to do. I keep a few small items I'd like eventually in a wish list, and if I'm short a few dollars of $25, I just add a $5 or $8 item. That might happen a couple of times a year. I rarely order anything that can't take a week to get here, but even then I get it within a week.

Not that I'm not a big Amazon fan - we have stock, have 2 Amazon credit cards, etc. Just never saw the attraction of paying extra for 2 day shipping when I can easily get free 4 or 5 day shipping.

 

[chinaco]

I'm not sure why the Prime account is so appealing. ....

It may not have met broad success yet. But Amazon seems to be at work improving the value equations.

They are looking for more ways to increase their share of customers' wallets. That sub $25 purchase limit has cause me to go buy certain thing locally. I am sure they would like all of their customers to make more purchases and eliminate shipping as part of the decision... shipping costs or relatively quick delivery winds up being the reason (for some) to not buy certain items from them.

Plus, on the device with movies and books. The books and video included in the prime deal are limited to certain books and movies. I am sure they are hoping it will lead to additional book and movie purchases... music too.

 

[Moemg]

I don't see how it is such a great deal . I would rather buy the occasional book and still use the regular library to borrow books. If they upped it two or three books a month I 'd gladly pay the $79 but for one book it hardly seems worth it .