Kindle users can 'borrow' an extra book - forever

Amazon will lend Kindle owners a book every month as part of a new ebook borrowing scheme known as the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. The digi-library will only be available to owners of a Kindle device who also subscribe to the £49-a-year Amazon Prime programme. It is not available via the Kindle apps for Android and iPad. …

[zaax]

Sounds like a bad library as my local library allows 6 out for 6 weeks.

Looks like the US's six main publishing houses are operating a cartel to the determent of the general public.

[Eponymous Cowherd]

and.....

doesn't expect you to sign of to a "cheapo" delivery deal for £50

[Robert E A Harvey]

be fair, amazon don't get a slug of yer council tax.

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you mean the "general public that have paid for Kindle hardware and a $79/year Amazon Prime account"? Or the "General Public" that doesn't own a Kindle?

[Thecowking]

No sign of it on Amazon.co.uk

When you used £s in the article you made me believe I could actually get one of the nicer services on my Kindle here in Blighty.

Is it US only then?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, US only :(

[Anonymous Coward]

If it works on the Kindle Fire

Then what's to stop it working on any Android device?

Once the Fire is out, it'll only be a matter of time before someone produces a hack to make other Android devices appear as a Fire to Amazon. Or just hack the Fire Bookshelf app to work on other devices.

[Chris Malme]

Not if you are in the UK

As far as I can tell, this is another new feature for Amazon Prime users, alongside streaming of video and other goodies. That is, if you are a user of Amazon.com in the United States.

UK users of Amazon.co.uk who sign up for Amazon Prime get neither of these goodies, only free one day delivery on all orders. For that they pay £49, compared to $49 dollars for the feature-laden US Amazon Prime.

So while this is certainly interesting (as indicating the way Amazon UK may go in the future), it really isn't that exciting.

[MeRp]

not quite...

Amazon Prime in the US is $79; very close to £49 at Google's reported exchange rate as I write this. Also worth noting; the reason Amazon often does not give this kind of benefit to those outside the US is because the owners of the content do not allow it.

[GeoffDeGeoff]

There is a difference

It's $79 in the US and it is not next day shipping but free two day shipping, so they are not identical anyway, merely named the same.

[gafisher]

$79 in the US as others have said, and until recently that was no more "feature-laden" than the current UK offering. Free streaming et al is a recent enhancement.

[Thomas 18]

Attention

I saw the title and thought 'ooh that sounds exciting I was thinking about getting a big graphite kindle for comics'. Then I read £49-a-year and only 5,000 books and came crashing back down to earth. Something for free? fat chance.

[John Hadfield]

In the UK?

I can't see that this is available in the UK. Is it?

[SuperNintendoChalmers]

UK?

Do they have plans to offer this in the UK?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course proper EPUB readers

allow unlimited lending and 3 titles at a time, with no annual subscription fee...

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/fifty-uk-libraries-sign-overdrive-e-book-app.html

[SteveK]

Theoretically Overdrive can work with Kindles too according to their website, except again it's restricted to US schools/libraries only...

[Anonymous Coward]

E-Library Titles

If it's anything lke in the U.S., then the library will have to purchase a new copy after a set number of lendings. The number is really low (I don't recall offhand, but I think it was 20 loans) and the librarians I talked to at a book festival we had this last summer were not happy about it. I don't blame them. The costs associated with distribution for the electronic copy is miniscule to the cost of the traditional version and the library can only lend out the number of copies it's licensed.

[SteveK]

Not in the UK

While you link to the UK site's Amazon Prime page and give the cost in £, it looks as though this lending thing is US-only at the moment. There's certainly no mention of it on the UK Amazon site.

[binky_256]

does this include the UK?

is this story only relevant to US kindle users or will Kindle owners in the UK have access to this as well?

[Anonymous Coward]

everything on a Kindle is "borrowed" in this sense

Amazon can delete any book whenever they choose to, paid for or not...

(see the debacle about "1984")

[Global_S]

"Everything on a Kindle is borrowed in this sense"

No, just the content bought from Amazon.

[Global_S]

Well other then the stuff you don't get from amazon of course.

[arrow]

Not in the UK?

Sadly I think this is US only - Amazon.com says "The Kindle Owners' Lending Library allows eligible U. S. Amazon Prime members who own Kindle devices to choose from thousands of books to borrow for free " and Amazon.co.uk says "Currently, we do not offer a program specifically for library lending or group sharing of Kindle content.".

[Adam T]

Not surprised to see this really

A logical follow-on from Lovefilm.

Which, incidentally, *does* mean I buy fewer movies, but only fewer crap movies. I save my permanent shelf space for quality stuff.

So sure, the publishers are right: People will buy less junk; but they'll still buy the good stuff.

[Anonymous Coward]

Think the words "in the US" are missing between "Kindle users" and "can borrow"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re : There is a difference #

That's because the US is a tiny bit bigger than the UK so they state 2 day whereas next day is what UK couriers offer as standard

[Anonymous Coward]

Ebooks in general - I may have missed the point but ...

I still still can't figure why any sane person would part their had earned cash to purchase something that has ZERO resale value, the instant they buy it.

Ebooks are all set to eventually eradicate the secondhand book market.

Which is bad. Really bad.

People should be boycotting DRM technology, rather than adopting the onerous restrictions.