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Amazon working on a subscription library for books, says WSJ

Amazon working on a subscription library for books, says WSJ

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Amazon's working on a subscription service for books, but publishers are hesitant about it.

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Amazon is exploring a new Kindle subscription library service for books, according to the Wall Street Journal -- think of it as Netflix for literature. There aren't many details in the WSJ report, except that the service would be focused on older titles and included with a $79/year Amazon Prime subscription, much like Amazon's existing Instant Video service. Publishers are said to be somewhat hesitant about the idea, as they fear it could lower the value of books; Amazon is reported to be trying to allay those fears by offering a "substantial fee" for participation and potentially even limiting the number of titles customers can read each month.

Interestingly, Amazon announced the Kindle Lending Library program for public libraries and schools back in April, based on the OverDrive service currently used by almost every major public library in the country. Lending Library was supposed to launch sometime this month -- it remains to be seen if that's still on track or derailed by Amazon's decision to pursue a private subscription library service.

Source: Wall Street Journal