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Amazon Is Testing a $10-Per-Month Ebook Service

Posted by Unknown on from the what-is-a-library dept.

Nate the greatest (2261802) writes "Details are still scarce but it looks like Amazon is going to be launching a competitor to Scribd and Oyster. Earlier today new pages leaked on the Amazon website which mentioned Kindle Unlimited, a new subscription ebook service. The pages were quickly removed, but not before we got some screenshots. If the screenshots are to be believed Kindle Unlimited is going to offer a catalog of over 600,000 titles for $9.99 a month. The news hasn't been confirmed by Amazon but those pages were seen by a number of authors and bloggers, including indie authors who confirmed that the new service is mentioned in their sales reports."

87 comments

  1. No thank you. by B33rNinj4 · · Score: 2

    I'll stick to either buying them, or getting shared copies from friends.

    1. Re:No thank you. by SQLGuru · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm assuming that it will be the same books that are in the Kindle lending library. It's a feature of Amazon Prime where you can check out 1 book at a time (and only one new book per month). It's limited as it currently exists, but I assume when this feature hits, your Prime account will let you have one book out at a time with more than one swap per month.

    2. Re:No thank you. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You mean, you'll stick to buying licenses which can be revoked at any time.

      At least this rental service is upfront to what it does. You don't own the books, you never did.

    3. Re:No thank you. by David_Hart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm assuming that it will be the same books that are in the Kindle lending library. It's a feature of Amazon Prime where you can check out 1 book at a time (and only one new book per month). It's limited as it currently exists, but I assume when this feature hits, your Prime account will let you have one book out at a time with more than one swap per month.

      Our family and friends share an Amazon account for Kindle books.

      If the subscription service allows books to be installed on more than one Kindle (i.e. up to 5), then this might work for us. It would allow us to use the same account but have access to the full library. However, if it is limited to the lending library, does not have newer books, or does not allow multiple Kindles then I'll pass.

      The ideal would be to to have a subscription service that allows multiple Kindles and has access to the full Kindle library. I'm willing to bet, though, that Publishers would only be willing to sign up for something like this if it is restricted to older books. They will still want the revenue from full priced new books.

    4. Re:No thank you. by rossdee · · Score: 2

      And Prime only costs $100 per year ($10 per month is $120 per year) and Prime gives you the free 2 day shipping and access to free Prime videos and music

      I'll stick witht my existing Prime suscription.

    5. Re:No thank you. by SQLGuru · · Score: 1

      We haven't tried checking out books form the lending library to multiple devices, but my wife and I regularly have the same books on both of our Kindles they we've bought or were free (logged in as the same shared account w/ Prime).

    6. Re:No thank you. by _UnderTow_ · · Score: 1

      You don't own the books, you never did.

      I'm OK with this. In my opinion, ownership of books is overrated. There are pros and cons to physical ownership just as there are pros and cons to ebooks.

      I have teenaged children that read a lot, and ebooks allow them to all read the same book on their phones/tablets at the same time. I've witnessed them argue about who gets to read a new physical book first, and I'm glad to sidestep that entire argument.

      With ebooks I don't have to store the book. I can't lose it or leave it on the train I take to work every day. Yes, DRM sucks, but I still prefer ebooks to physical books. I also don't have a problem "buying" movies from iTunes. I then don't have to worry about storing a DVD, or getting a new DVD if the old one gets scratched or otherwise degraded. I don't have to hunt through a DVD binder looking for the movie I want to watch.

    7. Re:No thank you. by afidel · · Score: 1

      How does that work with WhisperSync? Aren't you constantly getting thrown to wherever in the book the other person last read to?

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    8. Re:No thank you. by Sechr+Nibw · · Score: 1

      You either get constant prompts to go to the "furthest read page", or reset the furthest page after you finish a book and don't read the same one at the same time, or disable WhisperSync.

      If you go for #2, good news: they did actually make a way for the user to do this (in the past, you had to contact customer service). Unfortunately, it's something that you have to do for each book, you can't select a bunch and say "reset all".

      If you go for #3, then you lose the advantage of one person using multiple devices and having it sync.

    9. Re:No thank you. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I'll stick to either buying them, or getting shared copies from friends."

      I'll stick to the 100.000 I downloaded for this life and several to come.

    10. Re:No thank you. by Przemo-c · · Score: 0

      Yes why teach them how to resolve conflict just make the conflict disapear. Equivalent of buying second book for piece just to shut them up.

  2. Subscription Everything by cowtamer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So for better or worse, everything is going to turn into a subscription service. You'll subscribe to read books, listen to music, stream movies, etc. Soon, we'll have grocery store subscriptions, subscriptions to hospitals (I think they're called HMOs), etc. I can imagine a furniture delivery & maintenance subscription too. At the end of the month, we'll probably see about $50 out of our paycheck -- which we won't even need to buy coffee, since we'll all have Starbucks subscriptions!!!

    This will be great until, God forbid, the plug is pulled for some reason (unemployment, desire to take a couple of months off, etc.), at which point nobody will own anything...

    1. Re:Subscription Everything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Furniture delivery subscriptions already exist. It's called Rent to Own.

    2. Re:Subscription Everything by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      at which point nobody will own anything...

      Why of course, that's the ultimate goal.

      Why sell you something when we can endlessly rent it to you?

      I will hold out from this model for as long as possible, because I don't give a shit about the profitability of these companies and their rent-seeking behavior.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Subscription Everything by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think it's actually quite a good way to get your music/movies/tv shows/books. I think it make the least sense for music because music tends to have a lot of replay value. People will listen to the same song or album over and over again. But for books, movies, and fiction books, you might use them once, twice, maybe even 20 times, but most people are constantly watching/reading new stuff. There's very little point to having a collection of movies you've already seen, or a house full of books you've already read. If they can get the price right, then they stand to make more money, and the person consuming the content will have access to a much larger library then they could every hope to purchase on their own. They are also more likely to branch out and look at other genres they hadn't considered before because they don't have to spend extra money to do so. And for media, it doesn't really matter much if you stop paying the subscription because you lost your job. You just can't watch any movies until you get a job again. Which many people are probably OK with. If it means I could have access to all of (or a large subset of) the media produced, I'm much happier spending $10 a month to have access to everything than spending $10 a month to have only 1 new item every month.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    4. Re:Subscription Everything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So for better or worse, everything is going to turn into a subscription service.

      Sounds like cable. 600,000 books and nothing good to read. Maybe the ads will be funny.

    5. Re:Subscription Everything by fermion · · Score: 1

      or convenience fee. Here is the problem with e-books and libraries. They are just like physical books. There is only one or two 'copies' to check out. For a physical library this was a real constraint, as the library could only house so many books. For e-books it is a fake constraint. Libraries should have access to as many copies of a book once they pay a basic fee to access the book, then simply pay a per use fee when the book is checked out. Maybe $5 for acess and a 50 cents for use. It costs the library more than 50 cents to process a book when checked out and returned. i think the reason this is not done is it would kill the book market. Even people like myself who spend my youth collecting a massive library are not buying new physical books as much. I don't even buy e-books that much because the authors are not getting as big a cut. But this, if it is structured correctly, could be the solution to e-books. We know ebooks are not as valuable to us because they can be recalled, they can be gone if the machine is discontinued, a whole bunch of issues that don't exist with physical books. The DRM makes e-books much less valuable. So if one bought an e-book reader, or just downloaded the software, then paid a fee to read books, that makes more sense than buying a book that for all intents and purposes is just being leased. It would especially be good if the authors get a better cut.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    6. Re:Subscription Everything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I completely agree. For things I'm going to use over and over, I'd rather own. But I rarely read a book more then once. For comic books, I recently subscirbed to Marvel Unlimited. I stopped collecting comics a long time ago and just want to read the stories now. I have no desire to pay for a digital comic (especially at the same price as print). So Marvel Unlimited was perfect. I can read the story once and move on. All at a subscription price.

    7. Re:Subscription Everything by KingOfBLASH · · Score: 1

      How often do you reread books? Or listen to music over again? Or watch the same movie.

      Fact is, an all you can eat plan is alluring because there's a lot of stuff we buy, use once, and can't do anything with. Sure, back in the day you could sell your used book to a book store, or swap them, but DRM is stopping that. It makes sense that people would prefer an all you can eat plan -- then the DRM becomes irrelevant, because you really don't own the content.

      Of course some things you'd still rather own -- e.g. furniture. But I for one (who spend upwards of $100 a month on books) would welcome with open arms the chance to spend $10 for all the books I can read this month.

    8. Re:Subscription Everything by afidel · · Score: 1

      Of those only music is something I normally repeat, I own a few hundred albums and I've listened to most of them many, many times despite having a Pandora subscription. Pandora is background noise/going to sleep noise for me, the act of listening to an album is a completely different experience. Then again I'm a self identifying non-stupid audiophile (better looking lamp cord is find for me, no moster cables in my system, but I did spend $2,100 on high quality speakers) so my enjoyment derived from music and my habits of consuming it are probably fairly atypical =)

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    9. Re:Subscription Everything by gnupun · · Score: 1

      So for better or worse, everything is going to turn into a subscription service. You'll subscribe to read books, listen to music, stream movies, etc.

      The 10 year cost for this subscription is $1,200, which is damn cheap, equivalent to 20 or 50 books. Most bookworms read way more than 50 books in 10 years. So you have to wonder, after amazon takes its cut from the subscription fees, how much will the authors/publishers get? They're gonna get shafted.

    10. Re:Subscription Everything by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The profit comes from the same place gym membership profits come from. People sign up, use it a couple of times, then forget about it, meanwhile - it ticks over every month pulling in money for nothing.

      --
      All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
    11. Re:Subscription Everything by Pretzalzz · · Score: 1

      How much do you pay for books? Most new ebooks are $10-15, most slightly old ebooks are $5-10, most old ebooks are $0-5. An average book is probably going to be around 7 bucks which is 171 books.

    12. Re:Subscription Everything by SteveWP · · Score: 0

      I suppose I am in the minority, I constantly re read the books I own, the same with music. I do purchase my Ebooks with real $$ but always in formats that have had the drm scheme broken (stripping the drm from my media is #1 thing I do with any media I purchase). I want to make backups of my media and I want to have my stuff on several devices and I want to be able to give a book to a friend if I want to.

    13. Re:Subscription Everything by KingOfBLASH · · Score: 1

      For me, the intriguing thing is how often do I relisten to music?

      There are some classic albums (e.g. Nirvana) that I literally have been listening to for decades.

      But I think for the bulk of the music I buy, there is a window (depending on the album) of 1 - 6 months that I play it regularly.

      Therefore, streaming services might be a better deal...

  3. Library by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, what they are doing is having a private library. Do they really need a special name?

    $120/yr looks like price of library card for non-locals (ie. not paying local taxes supporting the library).

  4. So... how is this any better than a library? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or will they be offering a subscription service for libraries?

    1. Re:So... how is this any better than a library? by radarskiy · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's better because this is capitalism and libraries are damned dirty communism.

  5. All hail Netboox! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

    If this arrangement applied to all books in the Kindle format, with unlimited one-book-at-a-time availability, I would be on it like scales on lawyers.

    1. Re:All hail Netboox! by SQLGuru · · Score: 2

      Do you have a Prime account? http://www.amazon.com/gp/featu...

      The most annoying part about the Lending Library is that you can only swap out books once per month.

    2. Re:All hail Netboox! by nabsltd · · Score: 1

      The most annoying part about the Lending Library is that you can only swap out books once per month.

      No, the most annoying part is that you have to have a Kindle device.

      I have lots of devices that support the Kindle reading app, so why should I have to buy an actual Kindle to use the Lending Library? I know my Kindle apps support reading books loaned from other people, and those books disappear once the loan period is up, so there is no technical reason behind the limitation.

    3. Re:All hail Netboox! by Sechr+Nibw · · Score: 1

      In my opinion, the most annoying part about the Lending Library is that you can only read the KOLL book on an actual Kindle. I use a Kindle Paperwhite, iPad, iPhone, Kindle for Mac, and Kindle for PC, but I can only read that checked-out book on the Kindle? Why?

    4. Re:All hail Netboox! by Sechr+Nibw · · Score: 2

      Like I posted (at the same time as you, apparently!), it's worse than that. I have a Kindle device, but I have to read the book JUST on the Kindle, I can't switch to any of the alternate devices, which is something I do all the time when reading a book. Whether I'm at my desk (Kindle for Mac/Windows), on the bus (iPhone/iPad), or at home, reading before bed (Kindle PW), I want to be able to read the same book, which just doesn't work for the KOLL checkout system.

  6. High useage by gurps_npc · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I am a heavy reader and this would save me money.

    But it would also mean I would have to give up paper and switch entirely to my e-reader, which I currently use for about 1/2 to 1/3 my purchasers. There are a lot of advantages still for paper books- charts, graphs and pictures for example do not show up well on ereaders. Nor do I worry about taking a paperback anyplace. I can take them on a camping/rafting trip.

    It would also mean I would end up being locked into Amazon, not a good thing. I don't trust them as much as I trust Barnes and Nobles, as they have done vile things before (Hatchet, pulling back books people purchased)

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    1. Re:High useage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They have a free subscription plan for dead tree editions, it is called the public library ;-)

    2. Re:High useage by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      Depending on your library, you might also be able to take out ebooks like you take out paperbacks. In fact, since we're New York State residents, we're members of both our local library and the New York Public Library. They have different amounts of ebooks available and different waiting lists. So if we can't get it from one, we can likely get it from the other.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    3. Re:High useage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am a heavy reader and this would save me money.

      So how does one's weight mean you'd save money?

    4. Re:High useage by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      "switch entirely"
      Actually no, it does not prevent you from buying paper books at all.

      "locked into Amazon"
      Actually no, the most you can be out is only the amount on money you've spent for the current subscription term plus one more if you are currently reading something that is completely unavailable from any other source and which you are unwilling to leave unfinished (though if that work is so important I wonder if purchasing would not have been the correct move anyway).

    5. Re:High useage by bangular · · Score: 1

      Charts, graphs, equations, and possibly others show up terribly on kindle apps. In chrome, when I resize a page, it seems graphics for the most part resize as well. Not so in kindle. I have some school textbooks I purchased from amazon as ebooks that are only 80% useful because of unusable graphics.

    6. Re:High useage by gurps_npc · · Score: 1
      My statements are dependent upon me being a rational human being that does not waist money. If that doesn't apply then this service makes no sense. Your complaints all assume I am an idiot that spends money on a service then does not use it.

      If it doesn't save me money, then why would anyone use it? See additional problems I mentioned. If I kept buying paper books at my current rate, then it would not save me money. Similarly, it makes zero sense to buy an ebook from B&N if it is available through this program. So it does mean I am effectively locked into Amazon.

      I stand by my comments.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    7. Re:High useage by gurps_npc · · Score: 1

      I know - same thing with B&N's nook. The only zoom functionality increase font size. Worse, they always size things so the entire graphic fits on the screen, never splitting into multiple pages. They really need the ability to zoom on a picture. Or include all pictures in a book separately as a zoomable file.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    8. Re:High useage by Abstrackt · · Score: 1

      Similarly, it makes zero sense to buy an ebook from B&N if it is available through this program. So it does mean I am effectively locked into Amazon.

      You're "effectively locked in" because they offer a better deal? You have no choice but to go for the cheapest option? Sorry, but that's like me saying I'm locked in to buying my groceries at Wal-Mart because they sell them cheaper than the local supermarket. While it may be more expensive we can both shop elsewhere if our morals dictate that the cheaper option is not the better one. If you don't trust Amazon don't give them your money. Then you can chalk the difference in price up to the cost of maintaining your morals.

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    9. Re:High useage by radarskiy · · Score: 2

      "Similarly, it makes zero sense to buy an ebook from B&N if it is available through this program."

      If you *currently* have the subscription service then your *current* choice would be to not buy thorugh B&N. However, your *future* choices are not constrained if the terms of the service change unfavorable (since you can you just drop the service).

      Since "constraint on future decisions" is what lock-in means, and there would be no constraint, there is no lock-in.

    10. Re:High useage by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      That's why I rarely buy nonfiction for my Nook. Most of my book purchases this year have been fiction on the Nook and real paper editions of more technical books. (I actually bought a paper version of "Skin Game" so I could lend it easily.)

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  7. Licensing Fees? by Thruen · · Score: 1

    I wonder how they managed to work out a deal with the publishers to make this work, if they already have. I was under the impression at least a couple publishers were displeased with Amazon's practices, that was supposedly part of the reason they were offering Apple a better deal than Amazon. I'd like to see this service succeed, though, so hopefully everyone who matters is or will be on board. Maybe one day, a monthly fee to Amazon will allow you access to all media, whether it's movies, books, games, or anything else you can get over the internet. I don't agree with everything Amazon does, but this idea is very appealing to me.

    1. Re:Licensing Fees? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here you go.

  8. Depending on the selection, I'm probably in by Overzeetop · · Score: 2

    My wife goes through 8-12 novels a month, and often the more recent ones are either not available from the local library or are checked out/reserved, so we're spending $40 or more on new or used books that generally get given away when she's done with them. She almost never re-reads, so there's no real loss in the rental model for her.

    So depending on what the selection is like, it might be worth it. Even more so if it's a per-family cost instead of a per-device, since my daughter seems to be trying her best to put B&N back in the black, esp. during summer months.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    1. Re:Depending on the selection, I'm probably in by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      Check to see whether your local library lends out eBooks. Ours does and we take out a lot of eBooks this way. It might save you some money on buying new/used books.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re: Depending on the selection, I'm probably in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      12 novels a month? You might want to spend more time with your wife...she is living almost entirely in fantasy land...

    3. Re: Depending on the selection, I'm probably in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And plenty of married men would like to know his secret :-)

    4. Re:Depending on the selection, I'm probably in by praxis · · Score: 1

      My wife goes through 8-12 novels a month, and often the more recent ones are either not available from the local library or are checked out/reserved, so we're spending $40 or more on new or used books that generally get given away when she's done with them.

      I solved a similar problem by time-shifting my reading a little. When I want to read a book, I reserve it at the library. When my place in line comes up, I read it. With a sufficiently flexible schedule I read everything I want to read, just not immediately. That's okay though because my reading list is long enough that I'm not without things to read.

  9. Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by demon+driver · · Score: 1

    And I might, perhaps, consider it.

    Even if "no DRM" ought to be in the list, too, but I wouldn't demand that from Amazon.

    1. Re:Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by netsavior · · Score: 4, Informative

      DRM is a publisher choice. It is a checkbox in the Amazon "publish my book" interface. All of my books sold through amazon are DRM free. If you want to know how to tell (since it is non-obvious)... under "product details" there is an item called "Simultaneous Device Usage" if that says "unlimited" it is DRM free.

    2. Re:Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by alexander_686 · · Score: 1

      Question – how would a lending library work without DRM? Subscribe for one month, download a thousand books, cancel, and keep the books? Anything better than the honor system? (Note, this is only a limited argument for DRM in context of lending or a all you can eat streaming buffet.)

    3. Re:Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Informative

      Question â" how would a lending library work without DRM? Subscribe for one month, download a thousand books, cancel, and keep the books?

      That's pretty much how it already is with ebook libraries that use Amazon or Adobe's DRM solution. From discussions on pirate ebook communities, I've seen that it's already common for pirates to buy a temporary subscription to a service, download everything through some clever scripting, break the DRM, upload to a pirate site, and let their temporary subscription lapse. Considering how trivial it is to break the DRM on these books, it really is only the honour system keeping people paying.

    4. Re:Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by praxis · · Score: 1

      DRM is a publisher choice. It is a checkbox in the Amazon "publish my book" interface. All of my books sold through amazon are DRM free. If you want to know how to tell (since it is non-obvious)... under "product details" there is an item called "Simultaneous Device Usage" if that says "unlimited" it is DRM free.

      If a book says unlimited, is the file actually DRM free, or is the DRM just permissive. Can a publisher, or Amazon, later change that number from unlimited to something more restrictive and push out the update to terms to devices just like they can push out deletion commands to devices?

    5. Re:Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by kesuki · · Score: 1

      drm is trivial because the fundamental concept of what a computer is is a device that reads memory processes that memory through an script or program and then dump the useful data to a memory device.

      this means that any device dumps useful data somewhere. no encryption scheme is unbreakable and with digital is totally dependent on the end user not intentionally adding a mod chip to the device to read and capture the data in an unencrypted form from the own devices memory as it passes along the chain.

      as a side note passwords are only as secure as the hosting computers own memory scheme, since at some point passwords themselves are in an unencrypted state, even if while transmitting across wires is not possible to decrypt in human lifetimes worth of brute force decryption. all it takes is one computer with legit access to memory to be modded to store that data elsewhere.

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
    6. Re:Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by Sasayaki · · Score: 2

      Kindle author here (and other platforms too).

      The book is genuinely DRM free. The .mobi file format, which is what Amazon uses, is well documented by FOSS projects such as Calibre. You can transcode your DRM free .mobi files into .epub (which is just a .zip with HTML in it), into PDFs, Word documents, even plain text.

      All of my books are DRM free for this reason (and many are also free-as-in-beer).

      --
      Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
    7. Re:Make it $4.99 and epub, not mobi by praxis · · Score: 1

      The book is genuinely DRM free.

      So is there a conclusive way on the Amazon website to tell before making a purchase that a file is not DRM protected? From what I've read of the mobi documentation there is a new DRM scheme that requires client-side account verification which does not use device ids encoded in the file by the server, which would imply "unlimited" devices permitted but the book would still be tied to an account. Does Amazon notate the distinction somehow?

  10. Screw That by bogie · · Score: 1

    How about a $10 month unlimited Audiobook service?

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
    1. Re:Screw That by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      According to an update on the article, there are 7300 audiobook titles listed.

      You can also take out audiobooks from your local library for free.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  11. Public Libraries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We still have these things called public libraries, and subscriptions for residents are usually free.

    1. Re:Public Libraries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We still have these things called public libraries, and subscriptions for residents are usually free.

      Not where I live. For some reason, in my city they do not have a library and they don't participate with surrounding cities to provide access to theirs. I can go read a book there, but if I want to check something out I'll have to pay the yearly fee. Really sucks.

    2. Re:Public Libraries by praxis · · Score: 1

      We still have these things called public libraries, and subscriptions for residents are usually free.

      Not where I live. For some reason, in my city they do not have a library and they don't participate with surrounding cities to provide access to theirs. I can go read a book there, but if I want to check something out I'll have to pay the yearly fee. Really sucks.

      If you live in a democracy, you might want to lobby your city to change this stance. It'll make for a more desirable and livable city.

  12. I am a mamber of a free by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    eBook service called: The Library.
    You should see if your library has an eBook lending service.

    Seriously, if you don't want to own it, why wouldn't you use a library?
    This also goes for movies and games.
    Your library doesn't do this or have enough titles? get involved.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:I am a mamber of a free by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      Ours does. But there are limits on their copies, and limits to their purchasing budget, which means very few new books in a given year. Interestingly, they also have CDs and DVDs - yet the selection I can get for $10 through Spotify or NetFlix, available any time with no worries about the item(s) I want being checked out, is 100x as large as theirs.

      Libraries are good. But if you're okay dropping $10/mo for a much larger selection (potentially...nobody knows yet) it still might be worth it.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    2. Re:I am a mamber of a free by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Informative

      eBook service called: The Library.
      You should see if your library has an eBook lending service.

      You joke, but my mother in law used to work at a local library. A very small local library with a very small budget.

      At one point, they started getting into eBook lending. Because the publishers are greedy, the cost of an eBook to a library is huge -- in the hundreds if not thousands per title.

      Basically what they used to do was go to book sales, used book stores and stuff like that, and buy a very large amount of titles for the library. It was inexpensive, and got them a lot of titles.

      After the eBook thing, they had no budget for new paper books, and only about 100 eBook titles (or something equally ridiculous). Because they'd spent the entire budget on getting screwed over by publishers.

      Unless you're a very well funded library, eBook lending is so prohibitively expensive that you almost have to give up your money to buy paper books for the library.

      She couldn't retire fast enough, because she figured if they were spending the entire budget on a handful of eBooks, the library was pretty much screwed.

      Me, I prefer to stick with my dead tree editions of books. I can sit by a pool reading Tom Clancy, battery life isn't an issue, water splashing isn't going to be a catastrophic failure, and some greedy bastard doesn't get to monetize my reading habits.

      But I wouldn't think for a minute that eBooks and the like aren't actually damaging many libraries more than they benefit.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:I am a mamber of a free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Libraries have woeful stock, even when they're in a network unless you have a huge city library that hasn't been closed down and sold to make room for condos. e-book titles available is even worse.

      I've given a huge amount to my local library, probably over 50 DVDs, huge boxes of as-new books. What happens to them, sold or taken home by staff. When you've gone out of your way to ensure they have a good stock of Pixar and Dreamworks movies for kids, seeing as their stock is unknown tosh, and then see that the library doesn't have any stock of said titles shortly after, you have to wonder why bother getting involved.

    4. Re: I am a mamber of a free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All depends on the library, I can get movies on DVD and often Bluray before they are in Redbox probably 75% of the time.

    5. Re:I am a mamber of a free by jerel · · Score: 1

      See: https://www.overdrive.com/ I don't know how other libraries do it, but this is how ours handles it. Yes, there are limitations, but add up all of the subscriptions we are now being asked to fund every month. Everything is becoming a monthly fee, conveniently charged to your credit card or coming out of your bank account.

      --
      Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.
  13. yeah it is a good thing for me (as an author) by netsavior · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My DRM-free, Amazon hosted and sold ebooks already net me more revenue via "Kindle Lending Library" (where customers may pick one "free" book per month if they are prime and kindle customers) than they do via sales.

    The way the lending library works is they fund it every month, then they divide it up based on how often your book was checked out. I assume the ebook service would be similar, but better funded.

    1. Re:yeah it is a good thing for me (as an author) by Talahamut · · Score: 1

      Why so? I mean, do your books lend themselves (no pun intended) to more people checking them out (ugh...) via that method rather than through a purchase?

    2. Re:yeah it is a good thing for me (as an author) by Sasayaki · · Score: 1

      Fellow author here. The problem is, it requires Prime, and the payment is only a borrow. Expect the borrow rate to increase. Of course, that's fine if Amazon increases the pool accordingly; they might treat Kindle Unlimited as a loss-leader and just accept that some people will read 50 books a month and accept the loss, or recoup it on those who buy subscriptions but never read anything.

      Prime just isn't worth it for me, because it requires KDP Select, which is essentially Amazon exclusivity. I make about equal amounts between Amazon, Google Play, and Apple. Last month I did particularly well on Google Play and it doubled my Amazon revenue. This month, due to a Bookbub promotion on my best selling novel, Amazon's equal to Google Play + Apple. But that's rare.

      Even if Kindle Unlimited takes off and doubles my Amazon sales, I'll still lose money, and exclusivity always makes me nervous. Back in 2012, when I started publishing, I was exclusive and it meant heart-attacks every time Amazon did something messed up like de-activate my product page, or put me in the wrong category, or ranking problems, or whatever.

      I might give it a shot with some of my smaller series such as my paranormal romance serial, or my fantasy novel, but I'm not going to put my cash-cow into Amazon exclusivity without something more than Kindle Unlimited behind it.

      --
      Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
    3. Re:yeah it is a good thing for me (as an author) by Sasayaki · · Score: 1

      Some things might, like serials. Means you can just read through.

      --
      Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
  14. You can only read frpmo the list.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Welcome to the future. Where access to culture is behind a paywall. No monthly fee ? No admittance. Everything wrapped in 200 layers of crypto.

    No say in what's on the list, no sharing of culture, where works that are deemed "unsuitable" by TPTB will disappear from history.

    Start hoarding physical and digital copies now !!!! Your great, great, great grandchildren wil thank you !

    At least Stallman was right about one thing (see Gnu "The Right To Read")

  15. Sure, why not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is "buying" anything but a "lifetime subscription"?

    1. Re:Sure, why not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if that's what the EULA of life says....

  16. which 6E5 titles? by cellocgw · · Score: 1

    It's kinda like cable tv: 500 channels, of which 450 are QVC, 40 are rerun channels, and 10 are worth watching.

    Similarly, gutenberg.org plus its "affiliates" claim 100k books, but rather a lot of them are of extremely limited interest to anyone other than historians.

    Amazon has roughly 33 million listings; even allowing for overlap between kindle, paperback, and hardcover (and audio), 600k is a rather small fraction of what's out there.

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  17. Why? by wiggles · · Score: 1

    I pay $300 per year in my property tax bill for the public library system in my town. Why would I use anything else?

    1. Re:Why? by hendrips · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for you, but in my case it's because the selection in my local library system sucks. They continually overspend building fancy new buildings with statues and whatnot, but can't seem to find any money for a wide variety of books to put in them. And let's not even mention the selection of audiobooks.

    2. Re:Why? by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      "I don't use the library because it has a shitty selection" doesn't wash for a large amount of public libraries in the United States. Inter-library loan can get you whatever title you want, no matter how obscure, for a fee of as little as 50 cents (or even for free).

  18. I'll tell you what's going to happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Someone's going to pull an Aaron Swartz on 600k books, and release them all over the torrents -- possibly in themed packages, because 600k books is a whole lot of books.

  19. ..."Leaked" by gunner_von_diamond · · Score: 1

    Earlier today new pages leaked on the Amazon website

    Someone "accidently" leaked pages on a website. This was not an intentional plan to raise hype all over the internet over a new subscription service. Of course not.

  20. Privatized version of a library. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Seriously, that is what that is.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  21. If they handled it like they do Audible... by microsquishy · · Score: 1

    I might actually like it if they handle it like they do Audible. Pay a flat monthly rate for credits to buy a single book of your choice per credit (The maximum subscription is currently 2 credits/month), the ability to bank credits you don't use, and discounts on books that you want to buy when you are out of credits. You keep the books you purchase in your digital library indefinitely.

  22. This is why Hachette started a war by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Amazon has their way, they'll turn books into commodities you subscribe to consume. Hachette will no longer sell books, but just get the pittance that Amazon gives them for "rentals" while Amazon gets millions (20m Prime subscribers x $120/year is a lot) from the publishers' work. The RIAA members slept through a decade when Apple set the price of a song at $0.99 instead of $20 for a CD, and book publishers aren't about to do the same.