This would not be the first bullshit patent from Amazon. Amazon is the bane of many folks in the IP business because of their one click patent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click

I expect they intend to use this. I guess I will just have to preview books with Google Books instead.

So, I will sometimes use the preview feature on Amazon for hiking / travel guides when I am too lazy to go to the library or the bookstore. But, I cannot imagine reading a whole book on it. That would be... unpleasant.

have these guys ever heard of a library?

If they start charging for previews, I'll take my business elsewhere

Will this apply to Kindle previews? I use those, and have bought several books off the back of them, books I wouldn't have taken a chance on otherwise, but I'll never pay a penny for them. That's lost book sales, Amazon.

good thing internet porn hasn't caught on

Next thing you know, Jimmy John's is going to start charging for smells.

That would be a bad idea. I buy more books because of the free Kindle previews, not less. This allows me to read enough of a book to be pretty sure if I'd enjoy reading it, so I've ended up buying a ton of books that I never would have risked spending $10-15 on just based on the back cover description.