This rumor erupted over the weekend:


Amazon is reportedly in talks with publishers to turn a selection of Kindle books into a Netflix-like content library as an added bonus for Amazon Prime customers. Under the rumored plan, Prime members would get to read a limited number of books for free every month from a library of older titles as part of their annual $79 Prime membership fee, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Internet snark is in high gear, comparing this to Netflix-like book sites that never took off and asking why anyone would pay for a library card. But I don't think this is intended to be a change in Amazon's model. Amazon has been adding value to Prime membership for some time now. If, as MG Siegler at TechCrunch said, buying the Amazon tablet gives you free Prime membership, free access to thousands (?) of books would be another incentive for buying the tablet. And it's a way for Amazon to promote midlist e-books that disappear in the shuffle. This is probably just another minor addition to Amazon's game, not a change in the way they operate.