[nathanb]

Most of the conversation here seems to be around shipping costs and speed. But there are a number of other perks to Prime. Here are the ones that I use:

* Streaming video: not all the stuff I want to watch is on Prime, but when it is, it saves me a few bucks

* Lending library: ditto, for books. If I care deeply about permanently owning a book, I'll buy the physical copy.

* Kindle First (get a free book every month one month before its release): the books are not exactly destined to be timeless classics, but free reading material is nice and it helps me discover new authors

Any other important Prime perks I'm missing? The shipping plus the above go a long way toward justifying the cost, to me at least.