Amazon has enhanced its Prime program, now for book readers as well as video enthusiasts -- Prime members now can "borrow" books for free to read on their Kindle devices, as part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
Amazon Prime membership costs $79 a year. The initial attraction for Amazon customers is the free two-day shipping on millions of items (but not all items, and not the Amazon Marketplace), with no minimum order size.
For video fans, Prime instant videos also offers unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of over 10,000 movies and TV shows via Amazon Instant Video. Just log in to Amazon and click "Watch now" to begin viewing.
And now Kindle owners can "borrow" one book for free each month from over 5,000 titles, including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers.
On your Kindle, browse the Kindle Owners' Lending Library under "See all categories" in the Kindle store. Eligible titles display the Prime badge in the search results, and have a Borrow for Free button on the detail pages in the Kindle Store.
You can read a borrowed book on multiple Kindle devices (of any generation) registered to the same account, but it cannot be read on Kindle reading apps. There is no due date -- You can borrow one book per calendar month, and must return the previous book before borrowing the next (follow the prompts when you borrow your next book, or check under Manage Your Kindle).
You can try out Amazon Prime by signing up for a one month free trial.
See my Handheld Devices Gallery for more on the Amazon Kindle line and other E-Book readers.
Find the Amazon Kindle and Amazon Kindle Touch on Amazon.com