The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
Eagle-eyed folks at tech site GigaOm discovered a test page at Amazon this week that introduced Kindle Unlimited, a subscription service that offers unlimited access to ebooks and audiobooks for $9.99/month.
The test page for Kindle Unlimited was taken down by Amazon soon after its discovery, but Amazon officially launched the service this morning at Kindle Unlimited. If you check out the page you can see which titles are included in Amazon’s ebook and audiobook subscription service.
Like Netflix for videos, Kindle Unlimited gives you access to an unlimited number of books each month for a single subscription price. For $9.99/month you can read as many ebooks and audiobooks as you like without having to buy each one separately.
According to Amazon, over 600,000 ebooks and thousands of audiobooks are included in Kindle Unlimited. The page features sample titles including popular series Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings. GigaOm points out that five big publishers aren’t included in the deal: Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Hatchette, though over 8000 audiobooks are included.
As with purchased Kindle ebooks, Kindle Unlimited books are available on any device. You can read Kindle Unlimited books on Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets, plus you can read them using Kindle apps on iPhones, iPads, Android devices, Windows phones, BlackBerry phones, and Mac and PC computers.
➜ See, How to Read a Kindle Book on a Computer
This video from Amazon gives more details about the Kindle Unlimited service:
Testing Kindle Unlimited
You can sign up for a thirty-day free trial to see if you enjoy using this subscription service and whether enough books of interest to you are included.
You can also check which books are included by either going to the Kindle Unlimited Books page.
When you search for a book, you can see whether it is included in the Kindle Unlimited service:
If you’re about to purchase a Kindle book for more than $9.99, you may want to sign up for the service for a month to read the book and perhaps get the audiobook companion for free! Just be sure to finish reading the book within the month.
A Long Time Coming
News of Kindle Unlimited shouldn’t come as a total shock. Nearly three years ago rumors of an unlimited ebook subscription service from Amazon began to emerge. A Wonder of Tech poll in September of 2011 showed 44% of respondents were interested in a Kindle ebook subscription:
➜ Poll: Would You Buy a Kindle Ebook Subscription?
Did the results of that poll in 2011 predict the results of today’s poll? Time will tell…
Alternatives to Kindle Unlimited
With Kindle Unlimited, Amazon faces competition from other sites and itself. Ebook subscription services already exist from sites such as Scribd, which offers unlimited reading of over 400,000 ebooks and 40 million other written works for $8.99/month. See, Scribd: The Netflix of eBooks?
Amazon offers Kindle Owners Lending Library which lets Kindle owners who are members of Prime borrow a book a month for free. According to Amazon, over 500,000 Kindle titles are available in this program. See, Kindle Owners Lending Library – Free Kindle Books! for more information.
But neither Kindle Owners Lending Library nor other ebook subscription services include both ebooks and audiobooks. Other ebook libraries are also smaller than the 600,000 titles which are included in Kindle Unlimited.
The question then becomes which service has the ebooks (and audiobooks) you’re most interested in reading?
Poll
What do you think of Kindle Unlimited? Would you be interested in joining this subscription service from Amazon? Vote in The Wonder of Tech poll and let us know what you think:
Your Thoughts
Are you excited about Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited? Will you sign up for the 30-day free trial? Do you like that audiobooks are included too? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments section below!
I love to read, so i think this is a pretty good deal being offered by Amazon.
Hi Jhinny, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, this deal from Amazon is great if you love to read. With over 600,000 ebooks available plus thousands of audiobooks, you’re bound to find some books to enjoy. You can sign up for the 30-day free trial to see if Kindle Unlimited works for you. If you don’t find enough books of interest, you haven’t lost any money.
Hi Carolyn,
This could be a good feature. What interests me is the audio books! I like to listen while I do other things. We’ll see what happens! Thanks for the behind-the-scenes catch and share 🙂
Lori
Hi Lori, I completely agree. The inclusion of audiobooks is very exciting, especially with Whispersync for Voice allowing us to switch between audio and Kindle books.
Hey Carolyn,
Seems this is to be! I received an email to that effect today!
😉
Lori
Yes, Lori, Kindle Unlimited launched within an hour of the original publication of this article so I edited it to make clear that this is no longer a test service from Amazon, it’s a live service! :-bd
Thanks for letting us know about this service. My son and I just gave it a quick walk through. Looks great especially for audio books. Sadly none of our current favorite authors have many books included. Hope Amazon adds them soon and then it would be more worth while for us.
Hi Carol, Exactly. I believe the addition of audiobooks plus Amazon’s Whispersync for Voice feature makes Kindle Unlimited very compelling.
But you’re 100% right. With any subscription service you need to have access to content you want. If you’ll still end up buying books because you can’t find books that interest you then it’s not a good deal.
As Kindle Unlimited just started today, it may continue to gain publishers to its collection. The more books it adds to its service, the more exciting Kindle Unlimited will become.
I think Amazon took a good initiative to tackle with competitors, I actually like to deal and would love to use it. But can’t say about other users. 😉
Hi Pankaj, Yes, time will tell whether Kindle Unlimited is successful. I imagine this service will change in the future, perhaps by pricing fluctuations, tie-ins with Prime membership or by adding more publishers. The future of Kindle Unlimited will be very exciting!
Hi Carolyn,
This feature is great, there’s no doubt at it. But I don’t like reading ebooks rather I prefer the hard ones. I don’t know why but I only read novels that I bought as hard copy.
So, it doesn’t matter to me as of now, maybe soon this will change when I will get a good android smartphone.
Have a nice weekend!
Hi Anurag, Yes, way back in olden times there used to be a subscription service for print books called The Book of the Month Club where you would get a new print book each month at a discount.
Yes, when you get an Android phone you could give Kindle Unlimited a try with their free 30-day trial.
I love reading, but i think the ebooks and the audiobooks like an inorganic foods.. They haven’t got taste like hardcopy books 🙂
Hi Baylan, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Lol, that’s a wonderful analogy, but I’m wondering if you’ve ever read an ebook? Perhaps the idea is too distasteful to you. 😉
Yet another amazing offer from Amazon. Hope that there is no “CATCH” in this offer :–)
I’ve always been a fan of Amazon and its services, and its going on advancing!
Hi Akhil, Yes, this is a very exciting development from Amazon and may be the future for consuming ebooks. I don’t believe there is a catch, you can try the service for 30 days for free. If you don’t like it, then you can quit.
Well to be honest I’m not a kindle person and I’ve read 2 to 3 books so far on my kindle that too seo related. But the new features of kindle are intriguing and I guess I’ll have to check it out.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Akritri, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, you don’t need a Kindle to use Kindle Unlimited, you can read Kindle books on almost any mobile device. You may want to give the 30-day free trial a chance to see whether enough books of interest are included for you.
Hi Carolyn,
It’s my first time that I am reading about such type of review. I mean eBooks are not included in my interest.
I never thought about this kind of launch from Amazon. The review you have written may help many people who are interested to know more about Kindle.
People who like to read eBooks and listen audioBooks will get the benefits from Kindle.
But it’s paid so may be there are little chances that people will like it. Though there are millions of people who like to read eBooks but still at some cost there are few.
Great review.;)
Enjoy the weekend.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi, I’m glad you liked the review even if you don’t enjoy ebooks. I’m curious, have you ever tried reading an ebook? Many people have tried ebooks and it’s not their cup of tea, but others say they don’t like them because they like reading print books so much they don’t even want to try reading an ebook.
You’re right, many libraries offer free ebooks, but have a time limit for reading the books. Sometimes they have waiting lists for popular books that can stretch for months. Plus, Kindle Unlimited has the advantage of combining ebooks with audiobooks.
It will be interesting to see how popular Kindle Unlimited becomes.
That is pretty cool. I thing have unlimited access as opposed to pay per book is a good deal. Especially for avid readers.
Hi Sandra, Yes, if you read enough books using Kindle Unlimited, this subscription service could be a very good deal for you!