The future of reading may involve shelling out a subscription fee to access an infinitely long electronic bookshelf. Amazon is reportedly in talks to launch such an endeavor, attaching it to its premium, $79-a-year Amazon Prime program.

The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is mulling over the book service, potentially paving the way for others to follow and build the industry for book rentals.

Book publishers may oppose such a service because it presumably saps the value away from new releases, which command vastly higher prices than older books. Since books take longer than movies to consume, a $10-or-more monthly subscription fee may be tough to justify to all but the most voracious readers.

Amazon in Talks to Launch Digital-Book Library [The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) via Main Street]

(Thanks, Kali!)

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