Microsoft Removes E-books From Store; Refunding All Past Purchases
Microsoft is officially out of the E-book business, removing the books category from its store for Windows PCs.
As of Tuesday, April 02 2019, E-books have been pulled out from the Microsoft store, means users will no longer be able to buy, rent or pre-order books via the store beginning now.
However, Microsoft is continuing to offer movies, games and TV content through the Microsoft Store.
According to Microsoft’s customer support page, users who have purchased any E-books via the store have until July 2019 to read them. After that point, books will no longer be accessible.
Microsoft will begin processing refunds in early July 2019 to the eligible customers who have purchased E-books from the store.
If you used a gift card to make a purchase, or your payment method is no longer valid, there’s no need to worry.
If user’s original payment method is no longer valid and on file with us, they will receive a credit back to their Microsoft account for use online in Microsoft Store, officials said in a customer-support article on April 2, 2019.
Unfortunately, for anyone who has made notes in their eBooks via Microsoft store is going away with the books this summer, this will come as bad news -- but there is a slight silver lining.
The company says that the customers who made any annotations in books before April 2, will receive an additional $25 credit to their Microsoft account for the inconvenience of the data loss.
Microsoft’s recommends that customers still interested in receiving their pre-ordered eBooks should place orders with other vendors such as Google, Apple or Amazon.
Microsoft’s decision of shutting down its eBook division may have something to do with the company’s upcoming new Chromium-based Edge browser.
Microsoft is attempting to give a boost to the current non-Chromium-based Edge browser which can provide a superior reading experience for all kinds of content, including books.
Further, customers with previously purchased books and rentals will soon be receiving emails with more information on refunds in the coming weeks.
Final Verdict
Microsoft seems to be giving up on many consumer service and products, Windows mobile phone is another example, and one has to wonder how things will look in a year or two from now.
It makes sense, to a degree at least, to drop products and services that are not lucrative but users who purchased these products will feel burned, even if they receive compensation.
For now, Amazon’s Kindle is reigning the eBook division, and everyone else is playing to catch up.
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