(WICHITA, Kan.) — Amazon is upping its own ante and trying to stay as the leader in ebook offerings.
With an Amazon Prime subscription, for $79.99 a year, you'll be able to download one ebook a month for free and keep it for as long as you want. The subscription also offers free shipping on almost everything you buy on the site, and you'll have access to the streaming media library for movies and television shows.
It's called the Kindle Owner's Lending Library. It says that more than five thousand titles are currently available on the service with one hundred New York Times Bestsellers. It is only available to Kindle owners who have an actual device. If you have the Kindle app for Android or the iPhone or iPad, you're out of luck.
This service competes directly with Overdrive, which is offered by Adobe and is compatible with the Barnes & Noble Nook and the iOS app. Overdrive lets you borrow ebooks from the public library. Amazon is also trying to entice people to purchase the Kindle Fire, a $199 Android-powered tablet which comes out soon.
