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Amazon to Launch New Digital Book Programs

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Online shopping site Amazon.com today announced plans for two new digital book programs which will enable customers to have greater flexibility in their reading choices. These programs, called Amazon Pages and Amazon Upgrade, are built upon the company’s “Search Inside the Book” technology, which allows consumers to search the interior text of hundreds of thousands of books.

The Amazon Pages program, Amazon.com said, will allow customers to purchase and read online just the pages they want from a specific book. The other program, Amazon Upgrade, will allow users the option of not only purchasing the physical book to be delivered to their doorstep, but also allow for complete access to a fully digitized text version as well which can be viewed on Amazon’s website.

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“Amazon Pages and Amazon Upgrade leverage Amazon’s existing Search Inside the Book technology to give customers unusual flexibility in how they buy and read books,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon.com. “In collaboration with our publishing partners, we’re working hard to make the world’s books instantly accessible anytime and anywhere.”

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