Pretty sure it's free after $35. Also, I'm paying the 79 now and was told it goes up at renewal time.
If you're Canadian, you may simply be remembering incorrectly as Amazon.ca used to be $39, but also changed to $25 a few year ago.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=5...
I apologize for the error.