Amazon is beta testing a new library page for all audiobooks, ebooks and print books on one page. Only certain people have been invited to get a sense of what the system is all about; everyone else will be greeted by a message that thanks them for their interest in the beta program and to try back later as they gradually roll out this new experience to customers.
This new page is excellent for people who have been purchasing digital content from Amazon for a long time. It lists all of your purchases on one page, and there are many filtering tools, such as looking at genres, Kindle Editions, and Audible audiobooks. When you click on a book, it brings up a new window with an overview of the title, reviews and a copious amount of recommendations based on similar content. One of the downfalls of the new library page is the absence of Kindle Scribe documents, notes or anointed files.
The new beta system is just a way for Amazon to sell more books. This is similar to the Kindle enhancements that have been ongoing for a few years. The home page of Kindle e-readers has just turned into a never-ending parade of recommendations and featured titles. Some people find this intrusive, lambasted with recommended titles instead of the home screen populated with the books you bought.
It remains to be seen if Amazon will roll this out to a broader audience. How many people use the existing “manage your Kindle device” on your Amazon account? It is literary buried in sub menus and serves no real purpose other than manually deleting content from your Kindle library. The vast majority of people just use their Kindle device or a Fire Tablet to purchase books or use the Amazon website to buy titles and have them wirelessly synced to the Kindle app for Android or iOS.
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.
