# Wow - you can rent Kindle books from Amazon now!



## Miss Minimalist (Mar 22, 2011)

I was browsing Amazon tonight, and happened upon a new (?) feature: renting Kindle books.

Here's an example:

http://www.amazon.com/Wholeness-Implicate-Routledge-Classics-ebook/dp/B000PLXCKE

You can rent it, starting at $5.50 for 30-days. If you buy it before the rental period ends, you receive full credit towards the purchase price.

-------------------------------
More details:
To see your rental price, simply select an end date 30 to 360 days from today and pay only for the time you need your book. Here are some prices for this book:
Rental Duration Price
30-day $5.50
60-day $6.88
90-day $8.09
120-day $8.76

Not sure how long to rent? You can start with just 30-days and extend your rental or purchase the book at any time before your rental ends and receive full credit for the amount you've spent to rent the book.
-------------------------------

Very interesting!

(BTW, this is one of my favorite books *ever*--a great philosophical read!)


----------



## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

What the?!?  That's nuts!  It doesn't even give me the option to buy it upfront?  I have to rent first and then decide to buy?


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Huh. I've seen Kindle textbooks for rent.


----------



## Miss Minimalist (Mar 22, 2011)

No, you can buy it if you prefer (in fact, I just bought this one for $9.99 - so excited to find it on Kindle!).


----------



## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Very interesting!


----------



## Miss Minimalist (Mar 22, 2011)

Hmm, maybe this is considered a textbook. I'd never thought of it that way -- particularly since I first read it about 15 years ago!

Even so, I wonder if this feature will roll out to other books in the future?


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

Aaaand how so you feel about Godel Escher Bach?



Miss Minimalist said:


> I was browsing Amazon tonight, and happened upon a new (?) feature: renting Kindle books.
> 
> Here's an example:
> 
> ...


----------



## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

Lol, what a great Idea to make people think they are making and saving. Not only that but it saves face for the publisher in offering a really low price compared to the printed book without devaluing it... Very clever.


----------



## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

I *think* renting is only for textbooks, though I could be wrong.


----------



## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

With cloud storage upon us the difference between renting and owning will probably get blurred. If we keep all our books and music on the cloud, possession is no longer a factor. It will all be levels of access privilege to the file. If I have privileges without an end date, that will be analogous to owning. If I have privileges with an end date, that will be leasing. So I just buy whatever duration I want and forget about the ownership/renting issue. Vendors won't be selling books. They will be selling access privileges.

The cloud will push people in this direction since eReaders won't need memory capacity for thousands of books, and batches of books can be marketed as a single access privilege. That makes them cheaper.


----------



## Christopher Hunter (Apr 11, 2011)

hmmm...if they expand this to fiction, I wonder how Amazon will structure the royalty payments...


----------



## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Christopher Hunter said:


> hmmm...if they expand this to fiction, I wonder how Amazon will structure the royalty payments...


I'd honestly be surprised if they do. Something to remember with textbooks: a) There's a HUGE buyback market, which pretty much amounts to renting / leasing anyway and b) The damn things are hideously expensive.

For three classes (4 books) this fall quarter my textbooks would have run $453 (used if I could get 'em) if I'd gone through the university bookstore (B&N). Going through Amazon I was able to get them for $260 (mostly new) but that's still ouch. My school's on the quarter system, so you're basically looking at $900 - $1500 per year on textbooks that you'll only need for 3 months. Also, I've heard that my textbook bill is getting off light, comparatively - a single book for pre-law, pre-med, or nursing can run you $400 or $500. Definitely not the same thing as a $10 novel.


----------



## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

This is great for textbooks. My only problem is that a number of textbooks are really difficult to read via kindle. The other problem would be the overall cost in a semester. I'm betting that it works out to about the same. I think they still have some tweaking to do on this if that is their intention. Maybe semester rentals instead.


----------



## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

fayrlite said:


> This is great for textbooks. My only problem is that a number of textbooks are really difficult to read via kindle. The other problem would be the overall cost in a semester. I'm betting that it works out to about the same. I think they still have some tweaking to do on this if that is their intention. Maybe semester rentals instead.


I agree. I don't know, I honestly haven't really looked into it. For purposes of studying, I like having a physical book. Not that I've tried with a Kindle. Hrrrm. Maybe a Kindle DX?

As for the time-frame: yeah, quarterly / semester rentals would be nice. I'm not sure if it's any cheaper overall, but one thing monthly rentals (is it monthly?) would do would be to break the cost down into smaller chunks so it's maybe not such a wallop all at once.


----------



## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

Also you wouldn't have to keep around those clunky books that are pretty much valueless after the semester. It's funny, I was just thinking that the DX or even an iPad might not be so bad for textbooks since it seems like it might be easier to navigate.


----------



## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Very interesting. Although I agree, reading text books on the Kindle is kind of clunky how they're designed right now. Maybe in the future they'll come up with a more text book friendly Kindle.

The nice thing is not having to lug so many heavy books around to your classes!

Vicki


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

As suggested, I think you're only likely to see the option on 'textbooks'.   This was announced a month or so ago, as I recall.

Remember, library borrowing via Kindle is supposed to be available by the end of the year; I see this 'renting' as a similar process.  And I have wondered if it would be enabled for 'regular' books.  Sort of direct borrowing, for a fee, from Amazon.  I'm guessing NOT because of the partnership from overdrive, but we'll see. 

From the beginning there have been people who have said they'd take advantage of being able to rent a fiction book.  These are folks who are very unlikely to re-read, figure they can finish it in a few weeks, and would be willing to pay -- but not full price -- for quick, easy access to the book.

(BTW, I moved this from the Cafe to the Book Corner as it's something that may be of interest to more than just our author-members. . . .  )


----------



## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

Arkali said:


> I agree. I don't know, I honestly haven't really looked into it. For purposes of studying, I like having a physical book. Not that I've tried with a Kindle. Hrrrm. Maybe a Kindle DX?
> 
> As for the time-frame: yeah, quarterly / semester rentals would be nice. I'm not sure if it's any cheaper overall, but one thing monthly rentals (is it monthly?) would do would be to break the cost down into smaller chunks so it's maybe not such a wallop all at once.


It would make a dent in Barnes and Noble text book business.


----------



## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

3 of my 8 textbooks for this semester are in e-format. Buying them instead of hard copies saved me over $200. I haven't checked yet to see if they are now rentable, but man! if they are?

Checking:
I paid $54 for this e-textbook renting it for the semester would be $18.
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Analytically-5th-Edition-ebook/dp/B0030HKYMY/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1314972131&sr=1-2

This one not available for rent .. and I just bought it last week:
http://www.amazon.com/Analyzing-Criminal-Minds-Investigative-ebook/dp/B005FKW0GM/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1314972247&sr=1-9

This one, while obviously in e-format at Amazon, they do not have hardcover, but on campus it was $248. Kindle format (no rental) is $110.
http://www.amazon.com/Plazas-4th-Edition-ebook/dp/B005DXROM6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1314972332&sr=1-1

So one of my three is rentable..


----------



## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

This was announced in July: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1586008&highlight=
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000702481


----------



## KateEllison (Jul 9, 2011)

Interesting idea, especially for textbooks. But I agree that the Kindle is probably still a bit clunky for textbook reading. It's a good direction, though.


----------



## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Decon said:


> It would make a dent in Barnes and Noble text book business.


B&N is doing the same on Nook (rentals). In fact, I think they may have done it first, though I definitely wouldn't swear to that.


----------



## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> From the beginning there have been people who have said they'd take advantage of being able to rent a fiction book. These are folks who are very unlikely to re-read, figure they can finish it in a few weeks, and would be willing to pay -- but not full price -- for quick, easy access to the book.


Count me in that group - but as a monthly subscription like Netflix.


----------



## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Interesting idea.  I prefer to buy my books, though (well not my own books, but you know what I mean...)


----------



## joshtremino (Jul 31, 2010)

That is very awesome.


----------

