
Amazon Prime’s new killer app: Kindle books by subscription - aaronbrethorst
http://www.geekwire.com/2011/books-subscription-amazoncoms-killer-app
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yequalsx
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.

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pedalpete
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?

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yequalsx
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.

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davidw
You realize that eInk (which is what most ereaders use) is basically only for
reading books, right? You can't watch movies or even really browse very
comfortably with it, due to the very, very slow screen refresh. The other side
of that coin is that it's fantastic for actually reading, and you're not
tempted to go check your email every 5 minutes.

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prodigal_erik
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.

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KevinEldon
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.

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thomasgerbe
“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.

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

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

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davidw
I'm sure it will, I'm just surprised they started with such a small number,
something like less than 1% of all their Kindle books if I'm not mistaken.

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danso
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

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vsl2
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.

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

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dsplittgerber
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.

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adestefan
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.

~~~
mikecarlucci
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.

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

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

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

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martey
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.

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tomjen3
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.

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altrego99
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?

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kiiski
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.

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vidarh
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..)

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ComputerGuru
"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
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.

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rationalbeats
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.

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joebo
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.

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

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chrisledet
It's for any book available on the Kindle.

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bbgm
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."

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

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BadassFractal
As a Prime member, this is good news.

