Pictures

A U.S. Army soldier from 3/1 AD Task Force Bulldog uses his night vision equipment before an early morning joint patrol with Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers in a village in Kherwar district in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan, May 22, 2012. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Photo

Maxim Hot 100

The world's most beautiful women as chosen by Maxim readers.  Slideshow 

A cross is seen in Joplin, Missouri May 17, 2012. May 22 marks the one year anniversary of a deadly EF-5 tornado that ripped through the town, killing 161 people. The tornado damaged or destroyed about 7,500 homes and 500 other buildings, but the city is now well into a recovery mode that has spurred some segments of the local economy. REUTERS/Eric Thayer (UNITED STATES - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT RELIGION)

Joplin, one year after

May 22 marks the one year anniversary of a deadly tornado that ripped through Joplin, Missouri, killing 161 people.  Slideshow 

Amazon in talks to launch digital book library: WSJ

Related Topics

Ben VanderWerp demonstrates the features of a Nook e-reader for a customer at a Barnes and Noble store in Boston, March 18, 2011. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Ben VanderWerp demonstrates the features of a Nook e-reader for a customer at a Barnes and Noble store in Boston, March 18, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

NEW YORK | Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:42pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is in talks with book publishers about launching a media library service similar to Netflix Inc for tablets and other digital books, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Seattle-based Amazon, which makes the popular Kindle electronic reader, is also expected to release a tablet to rival Apple Inc's iPad in coming weeks, the Journal reported.

Under the proposal for a digital media library, customers would pay an annual fee to access a library of content, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

It is unclear how much traction the talks have received, the Journal reported, citing the people familiar with the matter.

Several unnamed publishing executives said they are not enthusiastic about the idea because it could lower the value of books and could strain their relationships with other retailers that sell their books, the newspaper reported.

An Amazon spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Nadia Damouni; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Tech

Related Quotes and News

Company
Price
Related News
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
hereone wrote:
Amazon’s new “digital” library attempt is just a weak try to overcome Nook’s huge advantage over Kindle as Nook (unlike Kindle) provides ability to check out library eBooks, and there are a huge number of libraries that provide ebooks in ePub format ( that Nook supports but Kindle doesn’t.) Also, if one goes to any Barnes & Noble store with a Nook, one’s allowed to read any available eBook for free while in the store via free provided in the store Wi-Fi – another “library” option that is already there.
Current e-Ink Nook Simpletouch is much better than current e-ink Kindle as Nook has the latest generation touch screen display, no page turn lag, it weights less, its battery lasts twice as long, and it doesn’t blink on each page turn – much better than current Kindle 3.

Sep 12, 2011 12:35pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »