Amazon is testing a “Netflix-like” subscription service for digital books according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The e-book rental service would enable customers to “pay an annual fee to access a library of content” reveals The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with Amazon’s digital service plans.
An e-book rental service featuring Amazon’s extensive catalogue of online books would not be a far stretch for the company who just months ago launched Kindle Textbook Rental, an e-textbook rental service for students.
The Kindle Textbook Rental service features an online catalogue of tens of thousands of electronic textbooks that can be rented for any period of time ranging from 30 days to 360 days.
While Amazon may be keen to push ahead with a digital book rental service there is no fixed launch date in site. Book publishers are hesitant to jump on board with the concept even though sources say the service would only be available to Amazon Prime members and would be limited to older titles.