14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has decided to discontinue the books category in the Microsoft Store, with customers no longer allowed to purchase new content since April 2.
Furthermore, the software giant says that all books would be removed in July 2019, and users would be offered refunds for their purchases.
“Starting April 2, 2019, the books category in Microsoft Store will be closing. Unfortunately, this means that starting July 2019 your ebooks will no longer be available to read, but you'll get a full refund for all book purchases,” the company announces.
“While you can no longer purchase or acquire additional books from the Microsoft Store, you can continue to read your books until July 2019 when refunds will be processed.”
All refunds will be offered with the same payment method that you used to purchase books from the store, Microsoft says. In case this method is no longer valid or if you purchased a book using a gift card, the credit is added to your Microsoft account and you can then spend it in the Microsoft Store.
Poor adoption of the service
While you can no longer buy, rent, or pre-order books, Microsoft says you can continue reading your content until July in Microsoft Edge. After this date, all books would be removed. Books that you rented will remain available through the duration of the rental period. Free books will be deleted as well.
As for annotations that you made on books purchased from the Microsoft Store, the company says that in addition to a full refund, you’ll also receive store credit.
“Mark-ups and annotations made in books acquired from Microsoft Store will be available until early July 2019 when your books are removed from Microsoft Edge. If you have made mark-ups or annotations in any of your acquired books prior to April 2, 2019, you'll receive an additional $25 credit to your Microsoft account at the same time refunds are processed,” the firm says.
No details have been provided on why Microsoft is killing off the service, but given it was previously launched in the United States exclusively, the limited availability is probably the reason behind its poor adoption.