In what is potentially exciting news for anyone with a library split between the digital and physical realms, Amazon has launched the Kindle MatchBook service, which aims to provide Kindle ebook copies of your old, pre-digital manuscripts (or books, as some may remember them) bought from Amazon. However, the service will not be available for all books, and in many cases, matched ebooks will cost a few dollars.
Though Kindle MatchBook has seen a hike in the number of ebooks that the service can provide from 10,000 up to 70,000 since it was announced on September 3, many titles will remain unavailable. The catch appears to be that Amazon has had to strike deals with publishers, though big names such as HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan and Marvel are already aboard. Kindle Direct Publishing authors are also able to opt in the scheme. Amazon says that new books will be added daily, with the MatchBook-eligible titles identifiable on their Amazon product page.
To use the service, Amazon customers can use the Kindle MatchBook page to search their purchase history, dating all the way back to Amazon's launch of its online bookstore in 1995. Though some titles are available for free, others will be priced at US$0.99, $1.99 or $2.99.
Kindle MatchBook provides a similar service for books as Apple's iTunes Match and Amazon's own AutoRip have done for music, providing downloadable electronic copies of old hard-format purchases.
Unfortunately, the service is only available in the US for the moment.
Source: Kindle MatchBook
