Amazon Announces the Kindle Owners Lending Library

And so, it begins.

Today, Amazon announced the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

November 3, 2011 by Amazon Librarians Libraries 8

Cyberpunk Librarian

Systems librarian, podcaster, coder, musician, author, blogger, digital creative, and cyberpunk.

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8 Responses

  1. Jessmage says:
    November 3, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    Interesting
    At $79 a year, (the price of an Amazon Prime membership, required to access this library), and with an offering of “thousands” of books including “over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers”, I don’t see this seriously rivaling conventional libraries anytime soon…it’ll be interesting to see how it goes, though.

    Reply
    • Bibliofuture says:
      November 3, 2011 at 11:09 pm

      Rival
      >>I don’t see this seriously rivaling conventional libraries anytime soon

      I am sure somewhere on the web someone will be saying that this service is the death of the library.

      I have no comment on death of the library but it is an alternative to the library at least for the books that are offered.

      I have a Kindle and I have Amazon Prime. I wanted to get the book Moneyball. My library has the book with a hold list of 17 people. If I was not a Prime member I could buy the book for the Kindle for roughly $8. Since I already have Prime I can download the book at no additional cost. Prime cost just over $6.50 per month. ($79 per year divided by 12)

      Basically I now have the equivalent of Netflix Watch it Instantly for books. There is a pool of books that I can read while paying a flat rate. Just like with Netflix streaming I have a pool of movies I can watch for a flat rate.

      I also use the Overdrive ebook service that my library has. There are books in that collection that Amazon does not have. The Amazon Lending Library just gives me another option to get the book.

      Reply
  2. Bibliofuture says:
    November 3, 2011 at 11:19 pm

    Devil in the details
    Amazon has an info page about the program.
    See: http://amzn.to/tfiaWA

    Looks like you can only borrow one book per month. So this is not really like Netflix in that you pay a flat rate and can watch as many movies in the pool as you want. You pay and can pick one book from the pool each month.

    I was already paying for Prime without this feature so for me it is still gravy but it does take something away from the service.

    Reply
  3. Bibliofuture says:
    November 3, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    Warning libraries
    >>I am sure somewhere on the web someone will be saying that this service is the death of the library.

    May not be predicting death but here is an article warning libraries.

    Amazon Lending Library. Watch out libraries
    http://bsun.md/syDhNx

    Reply
  4. Bibliofuture says:
    November 3, 2011 at 11:30 pm

    Article
    Does Amazon’s Lending Library Live Up as the Netflix of Books?
    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/11/does-amazons-lending-library-live-netflix-books/44494/

    Excerpt: On the surface, Amazon’s Lending Library, which begins today, sounds Netflix-esque: Pay a fee for unlimited digital borrowing access. But for people used to the all-you-can-eat goodness of Netflix, Amazon’s ebook service has a lot of limitations. But then again, so does Netflix these days.

    Reply
  5. Bibliofuture says:
    November 4, 2011 at 3:11 am

    Does not work with iPad
    The Kindle Lending Library does not work with the Amazon app. You need to have an actual Kindle.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      November 6, 2011 at 3:39 pm

      Kindle Lending Library
      I have a Kindle and an iPad and I really love my Kindle and Amazon. However, I am not impressed with the list of books available from the Amazon Prime Lending Library. I joined for a free one month subscription to check out the titles and to preview Amazon Instant Videos on my Roku. Hopefully, Kindle will have more titles available in the future.

      I am much more impressed with the offerings from public libraries such as the Philadelphia Free Public Library, where I can download epubs and Kindle books for “free.” Actually, I don’t live in Phillly so I pay $35 annually for membership until my local public library has Overdrive capabilities. I have already checked our more than 10 books, so it is well worth the cost.

      Carole Bell
      owmer and webmaster of http://www.infotopia.info

      Reply

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