Amazon's new e-book store offers about 1,000 titles, all in the Microsoft Reader format. That's a tiny portion of Amazon's total offering of more than 28 million books, recordings, electronic devices and other merchandise, but company executives said they expect the category to grow rapidly.
Customers can download the files to their personal computers or other devices.
Amazon and Microsoft announced a deal in late August under which the software company created a customized version of its Reader software for the Internet merchant. The software is available free through Amazon's or Microsoft's Web sites. Microsoft receives a small percentage of each e-book sale on Amazon, and also charges publishers for use of the technology. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.