Amazon announced another new feature to try to entice customers to get interested in the Kindle ereader. The online retail giant unveiled Kindle Matchbook, a service that will let you buy discounted ebook versions of books you bought print copies of.
Amazon said that the service will launch in October. The service will cover qualifying book purchases dating back to 1995, when Amazon opened its doors and began selling books. The MatchBook editions will be available for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99 or free, depending on the book.
These prices will also be available for future print copies. So, if you still like to have a hard copy of a book, but find it easier to read an electronic version on the go, you can get both editions much cheaper than before.
“A lot of people are really attached to the idea of sticking books on a shelf,” Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content told The New York Times. Grandinetti did say that many of the major publishers are taking part in the program, but he’d only name HarperCollins. He estimated that 10,000 books will be available when the program launches.
This deal is very similar to one Amazon has already put in place for music. The AutoRip program provides customers with free MP3s the moment they purchase a qualifying CD or vinyl album.
image: Amazon.com