PC Owners Get Some Amazon eBook Love

Can't get enough of Amazon's proprietary eBook format? Or maybe you'd like to read eBooks from Amazon but can't afford a Kindle just yet.

If so, then you're exactly the kind of person the online retail giant had in mind with its release of the "Amazon for PC" program.

The free program basically allows PC owners to read Amazon eBooks on their computer. It also allows consumers to sync their electronic bookmarks across other devices, so they can set a bookmark on an eBook via the PC, pick up the same eBook on a different device (such as a Kindle, for example), and continue where they left off.

Now as a big open-source fan, I'm not exactly enthused about Amazon's proprietary approach to its eBooks. But given the large chunk of the eBook market that Amazon currently holds, I guess a lot of people don't exactly care about that particular issue.

Here's a list of features for the Amazon for PC program, courtesy of Amazon:

• Purchase, download and read hundreds of thousands of books available in the Kindle Store
• Read the beginning of any book for free before you buy
• Access your library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon's servers for free
• Read books in full color including children's books, cookbooks, travel books, textbooks and graphic novels
• Choose from more than 10 different font sizes and adjust words per line
• Add and automatically synchronize bookmarks and last page read
• View notes and highlights marked on Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, and iPod touch
• Zoom in and out of text with a pinch of the fingers (Windows 7 users only)
• Turn pages with a finger swipe (available in a future release for Windows 7 users)

Photo © Amazon