I think Amazon’s Kindle Matchbook program is a good idea. They now allow you to get Kindle versions of physical books you’ve purchased from them in the past or from now on for anywhere from free to $2.99. I love the idea of having some of my favorite books in ebook format so that I always have them with me. It’s great … in theory.
Unfortunately, the reality–at least right now– is lacking. You can sign in and get a list of your purchased books that qualify for the program, but of the hundreds (mayb thousands) of books I’ve bought from Amazon over the past nearly two decades, a grand total of 7 qualify to be matched. And only one of them is a reference book that I might refer back to, while the rest are novels I know I will never read again. (Although there are some novels I would love to get as ebooks.) On top of that, they’re all $1.99 except for the one reference book which is $2.99. That’s not a lot of money, except by definition I already own these books (or owned, since I’ve already given most of these away; like I said, not books I intended to read again.)
I suspect that the list of eligible books will grow over time as Amazon creates agreements with publishers and authors, but for now there’s nothing there for me.
It was even worse for me; exactly one book matched. Like you, I have bought many, many books on Amazon in the past. Oh well……..