Amazon Prime’s new killer app: Kindle books by subscription

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/books-subscription-amazoncoms-killer-app

by aaronbrethorst • 15 years ago

120 65 15 years ago

geekwire.com

bennesvig• 15 years ago

Oh man...so tempting to get a Kindle now despite having an iPad 2.

chrisledet2• 15 years ago

I don't see why you can't just use the Kindle app for this.

martey• 15 years ago

The article very clearly notes that the lending program is only available on actual Kindles. It even specifically calls out the fact that applications on other platforms (like the iPad) do not include this feature.

mikecarlucci2• 15 years ago

Amazon must have concluded that people with Kindle hardware would be more likely to buy books than those with who have Prime but an iPad which uses the Kindle, Nook, and iBook stores to name a few.

Maybe they'll loosen that restriction after the holidays when the free Prime trials from the initial round of Kindle Fire sales will have expired, potentially adding many new Prime subscribers.

aheilbut• 15 years ago

It's not a sin to just have both.

13rules• 15 years ago

Totally worth it. I was itching for a Kindle, but held out for the iPad. However, less than a year after getting the iPad I purchased a Kindle as well. The Kindle is a great reading device, especially outdoors. The battery life is fantastic and the screen is gorgeous.

Nice thing is too, for the books that you purchase, it will automatically sync your last page read ... so you can start reading on the Kindle, switch over to iPad, go back to the Kindle ... all without losing your place and while maintaining your highlights and notes.

bbgm2• 15 years ago

I have both. The Kindle is used for long form reading (Books, Essays), while the iPad is for comics, periodicals, etc.

icarus_drowning• 15 years ago

Yeah, a large, heavy book fell on my Kindle, breaking the screen. I took that as an excuse to get an iPad, and while I have loved owning one of those, I just bought a replacement Kindle, because the reading experience is just plain better.

thomasgerbe• 15 years ago

“One book can be borrowed at a time, and there are no due dates. You can borrow a new book as frequently as once a month, directly on your registered Kindle device, and you will be prompted to return the book that you are currently borrowing.”

Hmm only once a month? That seems rather low.

res0nat0r• 15 years ago

12 free books a year say at average cost of $10 is still $120 of added value to a Prime subscription.

sliverstorm2• 15 years ago

Plus that's still more books than the average American reads every year.

baddox3• 15 years ago

Once a month seems extremely reasonable to me, but obviously it all depends on your personal reading habits. I read every day on the train to work, and it takes me about 2 months to finish a 1000 page novel.

davidw3• 15 years ago

Yes, and '5000 books' is a pretty low number, all things considered.

smackfu3• 15 years ago

Although choose 12 out of 5000 makes it not so bad.

MikeCapone• 15 years ago

It's not a bad start, though. I'm pretty sure that this number will go up over time.

ja27• 15 years ago

Well, they would still like you to buy books. But this is a great supplement. I can also get free ebook "loans" from my local library, but with a 2 week loan period and there's often a waiting list to get popular books.

gallamine2• 15 years ago

I find that 2 weeks isn't enough time for me. So, the no due date idea is quite compelling. Grad. school + fatherhood makes for little reading time.

ryanfitz2• 15 years ago

is there an easy way to see or search for books that are available for this?

chrisledet2• 15 years ago

It's for any book available on the Kindle.

bbgm2• 15 years ago

That doesn't seem to be the case.

" ... the available library consists of more than 5,000 titles, including more than 100 current and former New York Times bestsellers."

ryanfitz2• 15 years ago

some of the kindle product pages have a specific section mentioning the borrow feature. For example http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-ebook/dp/B003G83UI2/r...

However I don't see this on most of the kindle pages, so I assumed it was only available for specific books.

jroid• 15 years ago

You can do this from Kindle.. Go to Kindle Store and then to Owner's Lending Library. There are categories and subcategories and books are sorted by bestselling

alttag2• 15 years ago

I think it's a great question. I have an older generation Kindle 2, so do about half of my kindle shopping via a computer. It's too slow otherwise. (More specifically, browsing via a computer, specific purchases sometimes through the kindle.) I'd love to be able to filter to the lending library through my desktop.

If I have to browse lending title over 3G, I'm less likely to do it. Maybe that's the point.

yequalsx2• 15 years ago

Amazon is doing a very good job of enticing people to buy the Kindle Fire. I opted to get a Kindle Touch instead of the Fire or an iPad. What's interesting is that I don't even think about getting an iPad.

I would have gotten one had Apple upgraded the camera for the iPad. But then the announcement for the Fire and Kindle Touch came out. All other tablet makers have been trying to compete with Apple by copying Apple. Amazon has created compelling reasons to consider it's devices and I think the strategy will be a great success. They aren't copying Apple.

What's shocking is how much Google has dropped the ball. They have Youtube and Google books and could have created compelling reasons to buy Android devices. I don't think about Youtube when I want to rent a movie I can't get on Netflix. It's clear that pretty soon I'll ditch Netflix and just go with Amazon Prime. This is even more likely given that books will be part of Amazon Prime.

pedalpete• 15 years ago

I'm a bit confused by your comments.

You weren't interested in the iPad, were interested in the Kindle Fire, but got a touch instead? Is that right? I've got the HP Touchpad, and don't really use it. I don't think the tablet market is as important as the marketing hype is saying it is. I suspect we are going to see more dedicated touch devices for specific uses, like the kindle (non-fire) rather than the do-everything tablets that you'll just take everywhere.

As far as Google dropping the ball on the YouTube/Netflix thing, YouTube wasn't about renting or watching full length videos. It is very difficult to occupy two concepts in the consumers mind. YouTube was always about UGC, so the transition to now also having mainstream content was always going to be a huge challenge for google and opportunity for competitors. At the same time, I don't think Google has yet released a compelling 'store' for getting content. what do you think?

yequalsx2• 15 years ago

I had been thinking about getting an iPad. But iPad has some deficiencies which kept me on the fence. I was hoping for an update but none came. Then Amazon came out with its announcement. I ended up preordering a Kindle Touch but now am thinking about a Fire/Amazon Prime combination. I'm not thinking about the iPad anymore.

I've thought that Google should buy Netflix and have Netflix handle the consumer aspects of Google.

It might be hard to transition YouTube to include a service that rents/streams movies but Google is trying that right now. They haven't advertised it well and they didn't try doing this until recently. They've moved slowly.

Amazon and Netflix have very good customer service. When there is a problem I can get it fixed. I don't trust Google with customer service and this is why I can't ever see myself using a paid Google service. Google has dropped the ball in this respect. They have a great brand in YouTube and could have a great brand in Google Books but they just can't seem to create an atmosphere where consumers go to them for their purchases.

zheng• 15 years ago

> I suspect we are going to see more dedicated touch devices for specific uses, like the kindle (non-fire) rather than the do-everything tablets that you'll just take everywhere.

Just like we have a mobile phone and an mp3 player and a GPS, right? I see the exact opposite trend, and I think amazon does too, hence the fire.

ComputerGuru• 15 years ago

"one book a month"

That makes it pretty much useless.

EDIT

I guess I'm just not the target audience. For the record, I borrow three longer novels from the local library every one or two weeks (depending on how busy I am with work and life).

drivebyacct2• 15 years ago

For you, maybe, but that's awfully short sighted. It's an insanely cheap way to intice people to buy a Kindle device. I don't have a lot of time to read, but Kindle's are cheap compared to the price of books. I was considering getting a Kindle but chickened out because I don't read as often as I might like, but now, with a free book a month? I'm probably going to pick it up for Christmas.

I have to think this will convert potential buyers.

Edit: Disclosure, I just flew with only an algorithms book. It's fun to read on the way to the interview, not so much on the way back.

rationalbeats• 15 years ago

I think it is great. One free book a month. Say 13$ a pop at 12 months that is $156 a year in free books.

I only read a couple full books a year now. Pre-Internet I was consuming a couple dozen a year.

I already have Amazon Prime for their free tv/movie streaming library (which has more of what I like than Netflix had), plus free 2 night shipping (never mind the $3.99 for overnight shipping which is pretty amazing) I personally think Amazon Prime is the best deal out there right now for a one price multimedia consumption program, with the added bonus of free shipping.

I was on the fence about getting a kindle fire, I think this may be the nudge to get me to buy it.

sliverstorm2• 15 years ago

I don't read as often as I might like

The Kindle doesn't have to fall victim to that- it can be a tool to fight it.

I have found the instant availability of a vast library of titles, combined with the portability and excellent reading experience, has helped me get back into books.

danso• 15 years ago

I've been tempted to get Amazon Prime. The free shipping is great, and with their video streaming, I could also get rid of Netflix. This book deal is even sweeter, of course.

However, I really like Netflix. If AP's movie selection was different enough, I'd almost just subscribe to both. But in my browsing of Amazons selection, it seems they only have what Netflix has, just less of it

prodigal_erik• 15 years ago

Cool. I'm a lot less uncomfortable with DRM-restricted content on a limited appliance, if it's presented honestly as a temporary rental on subsidized hardware that's substantially cheaper than a legitimate purchase including first-sale rights.

I'm surprised the time period is so much longer than it takes to read one book, though. Netflix got a very strong start offering "keep n DVDs, we don't care which ones, swap them every day or two if USPS can keep up". An all-you-can-eat version of this for $50ish/month would be compelling.

dym• 15 years ago

Amazon is becoming the Costco of the Internet: you pay a yearly membership fee and get a ton of good deals.

altrego99• 15 years ago

I searched but none seemed to mention it here so far... but how are they going to prevent piracy? How will they ensure that the borrowed books cannot be easily stored somewhere else permanently?

kiiski• 15 years ago

With the same DRM they already use I suppose (I don't have a kindle, so I don't know any details). If it was possible to store the books somewhere else, people would be already doing that to share the books.

vidarh• 15 years ago

The DRM is what's stopped me from buying a Kindle so far. But for a lending service like this it wouldn't bother me much... If they roll this out in the UK too I might just get one, especially since I already have prime (curse you, Amazon, for leading me into temptation; Prime has made me spend so much more money with them..)

smackfu3• 15 years ago

If you wanted to get Moneyball on your Kindle, there are easier ways to pirate it than through this lending feature.

BadassFractal• 15 years ago

As a Prime member, this is good news.

tomjen3• 15 years ago

This could be the start of a good thing, but I am really itching for them to get a more reasonable limit to how often you can get a new book, not because I read that much but because I don't waste time on books that aren't great.

However I see no reason for them to not included any book in the offer. If a particular publisher isn't interested remove his book from Amazon completely.

dsplittgerber• 15 years ago

Does anyone know if your bookmarks and annotations stay saved on your Kindle even after returning the ebook? It's all I really care about after having finished a book - saving my bookmarks/annotations for future reference.

palebluedot• 15 years ago

I don't know for sure about this new prime lending in particular, but if it works the way the public library lending does, then the answer is 'yes'. With ebooks you check out from the library to your kindle, your bookmarks remain if you later check that same book out, or even purchase it.

adestefan• 15 years ago

At the end of the help section:

Bookmarks, notes, and highlights are all available on Kindle Owners' Lending Library titles, and will be saved to your Amazon.com account. Should you ever borrow or purchase the book in the future, your notes and highlights will be available for you.

mikecarlucci2• 15 years ago

What would be great would be a discount to purchase books you've already borrowed for free. Or just include book credits like Audible. Each year your Prime membership gives you 12 credits that can be used to purchase books.

RusAlexander• 15 years ago

Another one reason to buy a kindle reader + kindle fire for your family.

Tichy• 15 years ago

Does Prime make a lot of sense in the US? In Germany I don't quite get it, because mail only takes two days anyway. It seems at most I would save a day here or then with a certain probability. Not enough to warrant the cost, and one book per month doesn't change that much.

trobertson• 15 years ago

It actually makes a lot of sense. The thing you need to remember about the US is that it is huge. Oftentimes, when you order something, it has to be shipped from ~3000 miles away. The 'standard' shipping time is 3-5 days, but is more often closer to a week.

Guaranteed 2 day shipping is very convenient, and well worth the $80 a year it costs. Especially when you consider the included streaming of movies, TV shows, and now book subscriptions.

atto• 15 years ago

And it's "free" 2 day (after paying for Prime). That completely changes my purchase behavior to favor more impulse and small orders.

Leynos• 15 years ago

Unfortunately the streaming service seems to be a US only thing which further reduces the value of the service to those elsewhere.

_pius• 15 years ago

Exactly. Plus, it reduces the cost of next day shipping dramatically.

smackfu3• 15 years ago

For $80, it's a minor luxury. I could certainly do without it, but it's nice to have since Amazon rarely delivers to here in two or three days without Prime. It's especially useful around the holidays where Amazon's free shipping may get slower, even taking a day or two to ship after ordering, while Prime is still fast.

mikeash• 15 years ago

I live near Washington, and a lot of items with Prime get bumped up to overnight shipping for free. Without Prime, there's a decent chance that something will end up coming from California by ground shipping, which can take a week.

peripitea• 15 years ago

(Disclaimer: I've been working with Amazon for a while but have been a Prime member for much longer.) It's also the free shipping on any order that's important. It's free shipping on any order, whereas I think normally you need to spend at least $25 or $50 to get free shipping. This enables me to purchase anything on Amazon whenever I want without worrying about added cost and turns shopping into an almost entirely asynchronous experience. It's a huge time savings.

KevinEldon• 15 years ago

This is the major move, much bigger than just boosting sales of Kindle and Amazon Prime. Amazon is testing a books by subscription service. They're using Kindle owners with Prime to limit their test market to good loyal customers. They're limiting the number of books you can check out to control their costs during the test, but it's likely the copyright owner gets some payout per read. With this limited test Amazon will understand the business model and technical requirements to roll this out on a much larger scale.

I expect we'll see an Amazon book subscription service for all Kindle readers with a payment plan based on the number of books you can check out at a time and the number of books you can check out per month.

vsl2• 15 years ago

I see Amazon trying to build itself, at high cost (I'm sure the Prime membership doesn't cover all of the videos/books licensing plus free 2 day shipping), as the major source of digital entertainment content delivered through the Internet.

Once they've become the primary source and particularly if they're able to control access through their own hardware (Kindle devices), they'll be able to negotiate from a position of power with content providers. Without this type of negotiating power, Amazon (or any other digital media medium like Pandora, Netflix) will always be at the mercy of content creators.

Obviously, Amazon also has its dominant Internet retailing business so its in a good place regardless of whether the digital media services are successful. They now just want to rule the Internet world too.

joebo• 15 years ago

Any suggestions on books from the list? I couldn't find an easy way to see which books are included and it would be great to compile a suggested reading list from it.

Amazon Prime’s new killer app: Kindle books by subscription

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