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BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

You're watching multisource tech video news analysis from Newsy.

Would you rent a book? Online retailer Amazon is betting its users will. CNET has more.

“Amazon is in talks to launch their own digital library Netflix-style subscription service or plan. Details are not completely locked down yet, but those are the rumblings coming out of Washington, Seattle Washington, for Amazon.”

The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is looking to use its array of devices  -- like the Kindle and its smartphone apps -- to bring more digital content to its customers.

Angela West at PCWorld thinks this move could make Amazon the go-to provider for book research.

“...[Google] only offers a free preview of a book, many students and others only use the portions of content that are available on the free preview in their research... 100 percent of the publication would be available to Amazon Prime members.”

Jonathan Chen at the Boston Globe says if Amazon can make money renting books, there won’t be anyone else who can compete.

“With its popular Kindle, Amazon would have almost a lock down on the e-book market should it launch this service. It has nearly $6 billion in cash, more than enough to get this venture up and running, and profitable.”

TheNextWeb agrees-- Amazon’s competitors haven’t focused on the book market, and now they’ll lose out.

“...my bet is on Amazon to dominate thanks to its first mover advantage and a name synonymous with books. Let’s face it, iBooks hasn’t had quite the impact we would have expected to see from a digital giant like Apple.”

Of course, Amazon’s success depends on publishers and authors getting on board. Consumer Reports says-- that’s not likely.

“The right of publishers to “rent” e-books is a contractual gray area, at least to authors. And in the still-evolving new world of e-books, authors are wont to assert their ownership rights...”

Amazon says the service will be for older titles at first. And its massive library of digital and physical books for sale-- isn’t going anywhere.



Transcript by Newsy.