Amazon to launch “Netflix for books”

Amazon could be trying the Netflix model for e-books soon.

A Web page introducing a subscription service promising unlimited access to a vast library of Kindle digital books appeared and then quickly vanished on Wednesday, 16 July 2014.

A snapshot of the page stored in a Google cache captured online retail titan and Kindle-maker Amazon touting unfettered access to more than 600,000 titles along with thousands audiobooks for a monthly fee of $10.

Works pictured on the page included Water for Elephants, Life of Pi, and Flash Boys along with complete collections of Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Lord of the Rings books.

“This is a game changer if it’s real,” an author said in an exchange the sighting prompted at a Kindle community online message board.

Amazon did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

The news website GigaOm reported on the planned Amazon service, which would compete with similar subscription services from Scribd and Oyster.

Kindle dominates the e-book market, putting Amazon in a position to field a stand-alone all-you-can-read service.

Amazon last month launched a streaming music service in the US in a move aimed at keeping customers in its orbit amid the rise in services like Pandora and Spotify.

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