Kindle Owners Lending Library

Kindle Owners Lending Library: If you have Amazon Prime (which includes free shipping of products that Amazon ships - and access to thousands of streaming videos (movies/TV shows), choose from over 5,000 titles (including more than 100 current and former New York Times bestsellers) to read on your Kindle. This is works on all Kindles even those of us with last year's models. There's a 1 month free trial even for people who don't have Prime. It sounds like you can borrow 1 book a month with this program - or... it's 1 book at a time? Not quite sure! The newspapers are saying "1 book a month" from this lending service, but from the Kindle Lending library info on the Amazon page, it sounds like "1 book at a time" (?) How do we access those books from our Kindles? Use the Menu. Turn on Wireless. Then from the Menu, go to Shop in Kindle Store and click the button and then... look for "See all..." and click on that - and then you'll see Kindle Owners Lending Library. I just borrowed the second book of Hunger Games which I've yet to read (Save your battery life - Remember to turn off Wi Fi.) This does NOT work on Kindle apps - It's Kindle devices only. Here's one of the press releases "Amazon has launched a new feature called the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. The library gives Amazon Prime members that own Kindles the ability to borrow books for free. Participants can borrow a book a month for as long as they want. Books included in this lending library include: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, The Big Short and Liars’ Poker by Michael Lewis; The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins; Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen; Guns, Germs, and Steel; Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential; and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.This offering expands the free content that is available to Amazon Prime members. These members also have access to streaming a library of about 13,000 movies and TV shows." Reminder: Watch for Kindle Daily Deal Link which changes every night at midnight. As I'm writing this, Neve Maslakovic's Regarding Ducks and Universes is the daily deal for $1.99. A note "For Kindle Device Owners" indicates that this is one of the books that I could get for free through the new Lending Library. Keep an eye on http://kindleworld.blogspot.com/ which looks like a good place for more tips and info on free Kindle books, discounted books, and promo lists. Example: Kindleworld links to Monthy book deals What are the librarians going to say now? This will skim off some library Kindle-owning customers who would have come to library web sites to check on free offerings. What will Amazon offer via libraries? Non-best sellers? Or... will they seed the library holdings with some best sellers in order to entice readers to join Prime membership? Do libraries need customers?

A few freebies for the Kindle - and Kindle for PC software

I found a few things for free at the Kindle Store related to new media:

New Digital Media and Learning as an Emerging Area and "Worked Examples" as One Way Forward by James Paul Gee (Kindle Edition - Jan 12, 2010) - not out yet, but it will be soon and the electronic version is going to be free apparently)

The Civic Potential of Video Games by Joseph Kahne, Ellen Middaugh, and Chris Evans (Kindle Edition - Jun 30, 2009)

Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media: A Synthesis from the Good Play Project by Carrie James (Kindle Edition - Oct 30, 2009)

Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project by Mizuko Ito, Heather A. Horst, Matteo Bittanti, and danah boyd (Kindle Edition - Jun 26, 2009)

The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age by Cathy N. Davidson and David Theo Goldberg (Kindle Edition - Jun 30, 2009)

These might be available in PDF out there for free somewhere. I didn't check. But these are available for zero dollars at the Kindle Store. (I also spotted some murder mysteries for free that might be great for a plane trip.)

Free books for the Kindle - including Kindle for the PC

Alan Levine from the New Media Consortium reports that Henry Jenkins "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century" - the Kindle edition - is available for free. In my efforts to be frugal I find myself way behind on technology toys- no Kindle! - but the Kindle for the PC software is also free - so I downloaded the software and the book onto my tablet pc - and I'm ready to go! (Well, I did get a little over-anxious about the download for the book. It was quick enough, but not instantaneous.)

Thanks for the Lifelong Information Literacy blog crew for posting Alan's note.