Prime Reading. Image source: Amazon.
What happened?
Amazon.com (AMZN -1.35%) introduced a new benefit for Prime members on Wednesday, Prime Reading. Prime members can now select from a catalog of over a thousand Kindle books, magazines, comics, and more to read at no additional cost and without any other limits. Amazon notes a few popular titles include The Hobbit, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and The Butterfly Garden, among many others.
Prime Reading is similar but different from the existing Kindle Owners' Lending Library, a long-standing Prime benefit. The Lending Library is pretty much exactly what it sounds like -- owners borrow Kindle books for free and then return them at a later date. Prime Reading is more of an all-access pass to a selected catalog of content.
Does it matter?
The news comes shortly after Amazon added Twitch Prime as another benefit for Prime members. Twitch, the popular livestreaming platform that Amazon acquired in 2014, is predominantly ad-supported. Prime members can link their Twitch accounts to their Prime accounts to get rid of ads, along with a few other perks.
Amazon continues to aggressively add features to Prime over time, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. It's not as if Prime was lacking in the value department, but as Amazon keeps adding more and more benefits to the membership, it gets increasingly difficult for consumers to pass. At $11 per month or $99 per year, Prime is not a tough sell -- and that's a good thing for Amazon investors.
