At long last, Amazon seems to be addressing something that fans of eBooks have long clamored for. Sort of. As a major reader of electronic books, and a devoted Kindle app user on my iPad, I've often looked at my trove of physical books and wondered if I should go to the expense of replacing them with electronic versions. I've also wondered why the electronic version of a book weren't included in the purchase of an eBook. Much like they now bundle Blu-Ray, DVD and the electronic version of movies. It seems like Amazon is now addressing this with their MatchBook program. Essentially, you can now download the electronic version of any book you have ever purchased from them for a fee. That fee ranges from free to $2.99. Not bad; I could definitely swing that on some of the physical purchases I've made. Tell me, do you think this is a good thing, and does it really benefit you? Moving forward, I don't see myself going back to purchasing physical books, but looking back? Yes, there are a few that I will hunt for to replace. I'm sitting here, in my home library, surrounded by all my old books as I write this, and I'm thinking; what could I do with this room if I were to replace all these shelves of books with one slim, beautifully designed, tablet? I don't know if I could bring myself to do it, but it's a tempting thought. Maybe I'll cruise around on Amazon, after downloading a few eBooks, and see what kind of pool tables they have in stock.
Sound off in the comments section below if you think Amazon's MatchBook program is a pro or con to the book lover.
I see this as a good thing. Obviously, the reason they are doing it is to make more money, but for once there is no negative impact on authors. Music lovers have long been able to rip their CD's and this is the next best thing for book lovers. I wonder how many authors/publishers will set the ebook as free in this scheme.
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