As if ebooks weren’t ephemeral enough, today Amazon launched a lending library for Kindle owners, offering just over 5,000 titles—though none, the Wall Street Journal notes, from the 6 largest book publishers, who have indicated concern 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.” Readers can borrow one book at a time from the library, one per month, and there are no due dates. (The term “library” is a bit of a misnomer, as books can only be borrowed by Amazon Prime members—membership runs $79 per year—and there’s no place for homeless people to use the bathroom.)
The Wall Street Journal has all the details, and Forbes has a consideration of whether this will help or hurt novelists and publishers.
Great. I’m sure the annual fee for “free” eBook reading will later extend to unlimited book reading, further pushing down the value of Kindle sales for publishers. Thanks once again, Amazon, for pushing more of us toward the edge of the cliff.
I really just wish so many eBook users were not tied to Amazon.
You can borrow Kindle-friendly ebooks from the public library now.