Amazon MatchBook turns real books into ebooks

Amazon MatchBook turns real books into ebooks
We can't wait for the Amazon Inferno

Amazon has announced its latest push into turning every living thing into a digital entity, with the arrival of Amazon MatchBook.

Amazon MatchBook isn't just an excuse for Amazon to unleash another witty fire-based pun into the ether, it's a service that will turn a print edition purchase you have made on Amazon into a digital copy.

Unlike AutoRip, where Amazon turned all CD purchases made on the site into digital copies for free, MatchBook does cost a little bit of money.

According to Amazon, customers will be able to grab a digital copy for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free. And, yes, they are dollar signs which means that MatchBook is only available in the US for the moment.

Fire, Kindle, Match... it's getting hot in here

Speaking about MatchBook, Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content, said: "If you logged onto your CompuServe account during the Clinton administration and bought a book like Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus from Amazon, Kindle MatchBook now makes it possible for that purchase - 18 years later - to be added to your Kindle library at a very low cost."

Yes, Amazon remembers what you've bought all the way back to 1995.

Over 10,000 books will already be available when Kindle MatchBook launches in October but you will have to wait for your favourite author to agree to joining the service before you get discounted digital copies.

Some of the authors (or their estates) that have already signed on the digital line include: Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, James Rollins, Jodi Picoult, Neil Gaiman, Marcus Sakey, Wally Lamb, Jo Nesbo, Neal Stephenson, and JA Jance.

And, no, we don't think that Ray Bradbury being first on the list is a coincidence given Amazon's obsession with fire and books.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.