Ebooks: Entitle eBook Subscription Service Goes Live, A Rebranding of eReatah

UPDATE: We just learned the Entitle is a rebranding of the eReatah service that we first mentioned in September. Sorry for the confusion.
We’ve talked a lot about all you can read, subscription based services during the past two years.
We recently posted a summary of some of our thoughts and continue to wonder why the library community (especially those in public libraries)  continue to spend little or no time discussing what these services might mean for the future of  libraries and ebooks We think it’s important for the library community to not only be aware of these services (with more to come) but consider what they might mean for circulation and spending. Again, more in our post from a few weeks ago.
eBook Subscription Services We’ve Mentioned Include:

• Oyster
• eReatah
• 24 Symbols (Europe)
• Scribd’s New eBook Service
• Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL has gone from 5,000 to more than 400,000 titles in less than two years).

We’ve also mentioned a few of these services for kids.
Today, TechCrunch reports that Entitle has launched.
This service is a bit different than what we’ve seen from the services listed above.
An Entitle membership provides you with titles you own. It’s more of a book club/ebook club model. For $14.99/month you can select two ebooks.
From TechCrunch:

A new service called Entitle is going in a different direction — users still pay a subscription fee, but they can only download a few books each month.
Isn’t that a worse deal? CEO Bryan Batten argued that it’s not, for a couple of reasons. First, Entitle users actually own the books they purchase, so if they unsubscribe they still have access to the titles that they’ve already paid for. And while many people have become accustomed to the pay-for-access model popularized by Netflix and Spotify, Batten argued that there’s still “a majority of people who like the thought of owning something.”
The company has deals with major publishers including Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, HarperCollins Christian, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt…
Entitle’s current pricing is $14.99 per month for two books, $21.99 for three books, and $27.99 for four books.

Read the TC Complete Article
See Also: Coverage from the Los Angeles Times

Along with its public launch, Entitle announced the close of $5.3 million in Series A funding.

Learn More: Direct to Entitle Web Site and FAQ

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Funding, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries, Reports