Amazon has just rolled out their new Matchbook program today and it seeks to give you a low-cost or free digital copy when you buy a real book. Currently over 70,000 titles currently participating in Matchbook and is applicable to hard and softcover editions sold online.
Amazon will look up your purchase history of physical books via the Matchbook page, and tell you which books are eligible for digital. Of course, they won’t know what you purchase outside of Amazon, but it’s a great feature for those who may have lost a book, or just don’t want to lug them around. The great thing about Matchbook is that it encourages people to read in general by giving you two copies of the same book. One for your Kindle or Kindle app and one for your bookshelf.
Many people tend to loan out their physical book to friends or family members. In most cases a great book is seldom on your shelf for long as you want to share it with the people who matter most. Digital books are not easily shared and often have short loaning duration’s and the entire process is needlessly complicated. Matchbook basically allows you to share the physical book with your friends and insure that you have a digital backup always there. So if the real thing is lost, you don’t have to spend the full price to buy it again.
“It’s been great to see the positive response to MatchBook from both readers and publishers,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content. “MatchBook enrollment has grown from 10,000 to 70,000 titles in just a few weeks and we expect it will keep expanding rapidly in the months ahead.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.