Amazon Officially Announces 'Kindle Unlimited' E-book and Audiobook Subscription Service

[Snowy_River]

Why?.. Would the Apple reader app be someone better than the kindle app on an iPad.. Or are you suggesting that the market needs a "done right" e reader and subscription service cos the ones already out there are pants.. I await your answer..

I vastly prefer the UI of iBooks. I do get books from Amazon (often when there is a deal for a book that looks interesting that is available from Amazon, but not the iBookstore), and so I use both. But when ever I have a choice, I get a book (or load an ePub book into) iBooks to read it. iBooks simply has more finish and polish to it.

So, I, too, am in the camp of hoping that Apple would offer something similar.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

If only Apple would do something similar because I love reading.

I love enjoying owning my books/ebooks and reading at my leisure. I'm not interested in paying a monthly tax to keep owning my books.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

If only Apple would do something similar because I love reading.

Kindle app?

 

[Primejimbo]

I love enjoying owning my books/ebooks and reading at my leisure. I'm not interested in paying a monthly tax to keep owning my books.

My wife does too. While she had a week off she read 3-4 books in that time. It's a lot cheaper paying this "tax" than buying 3 digital books too that she will only read once. The only time she buys a book if she's really likes it and read it a few times (only 2 books as of moe).

 

[Solomani]

I dont even know how to read. Maybe the audio books will be for me then.

American education success story!

 

[Jessica Lares]

You can't download the audiobook from Audible directly from the website. But I was able to download it to my iPod Touch, get the file via DiskAid, add it to iTunes, and then sync it to my iPod Nano.

Might be of use for someone here.

I think the fact that $9.99 includes the audiobooks is worth it. It means I can get through one book a day for the most part.

 

[kurzz]

Ok. Don't pay it. Go to the library. Now, why is it a problem if I decide to throw my money that way again? Why is that even up for discussion?

Because some people are offended that other people are different. Your logic just doesn't fit his and frustration sets in. I'm sure there's a book that explains this...

 

[shiseiryu1]

Good in Theory

First of all how the heck do you get audiobooks when you subscribe? It's not intuitive at all. Also, good luck ever canceling your subscription because they bury it and don't make it easy to find. Also, it's lame that the iPhone app won't let you browse titles, only view those you pick on the Amazon website. Lastly, I agree with others that $10/month is high when Netflix has studio films which cost millions of dollars to produce at a cheaper pricer per month.

In conclusion, this service sucks right now.

 

[Xiroteus]

Who wants to go to a library? Who has time?

Convenience for the win! And Amazon knows this.

Stop by when picking up food etc... Amazon wins for convenience. Another issue is anything remotely popular will be checked out and require putting a hold on it. That's all that's ever done here, holds holds holds and then wait.

Here in the UK many smaller libraries are closing as no one ever uses them.

They are boring and the stats prove it.

That's an odd way to put it. Are they suppose to be fun? The library was always just a place to pick up holds and leave.

 

[Parasprite]

Also, good luck ever canceling your subscription because they bury it and don't make it easy to find.

I googled "cancel kindle unlimited" and it was literally the first link.

 

[firewood]

I love enjoying owning my books/ebooks and reading at my leisure. I'm not interested in paying a monthly tax to keep owning my books.

I love owning my books too. But I ran out of room for more bookcases, and now boxes of books are starting to pile up in the garage. A monthly Amazon tax could work out to be a lot less than paying rent for more storage. So I can give some of the books away to charity or something (I'll still keep favorite hardbacks), but still be able to re-read them.

The only question is whether the books I want to read or re-read are really available from this "unlimited" program.

 

[Parasprite]

That's an odd way to put it. Are they suppose to be fun? The library was always just a place to pick up holds and leave.

When I was young I'd stop by the library to play Neopets...

God that makes me feel old.

 

[scott523]

This plan could encourage some lazy readers (like me) to start reading.

 

[Renzatic]

When I was young I'd stop by the library to play Neopets...

God that makes me feel old.

Could be worse. You could've been stopping by the video store to play Pogs.

 

[Xiroteus]

When I was young I'd stop by the library to play Neopets...

God that makes me feel old.

I checked and neopets came out around 1999? And you were a kid at that time? Not allowed to feel old yet!!!!

 

[gctwnl]

Bad for most authors and publishers

Amazon is pretty predatory from the perspective of authors and publishers.

In this case, you get your book only in that subscription set if you are in the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program and that you can only do if the book is not sold anywhere else, in other words: if Amazon as a bookseller has a monopoly on the published e-Book. Not as iBook, for instance. KDP is part of Amazon's attempt at building a (near-)monopoly. The new subscription service is another part of that attempt.

Some books of the Big 5 publishing houses like Harry Potter get in as special deals to make it look like you get access to everything important.

The way this market is going, it will become more and more a place where you can't make a living, except for a few big-sellers and the big publishing houses.

There is no good channel anymore for lower volume higher price goods: Selling your book as Kindle book via Amazon nets Amazon in most cases >65% of the revenues (65% plus a download fee depending on the size of the book). Only if the book is <$9.99, and only for a limited set of countries, Amazon will take 30% (plus the download fee). Not a good option for professional books which have low volumes and require higher prices and thus end up in the 'Amazon take >65% category'.

For fiction/non-fiction books that are (mostly) text, the MOBI/EPUB format works well. For more professional books with large and detailed diagrams and such, it is very poor. There is hardly any innovation on this front (even iBooks have serious limitations here)

The while eBook business works only for low price, high volume, low complexity manuscripts. If you don't fall in those categories, it's not always that positive.

Amazon has monopoly power. It shows. And it is never a good thing. Nice blog post about it from an author:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/05/amazon-malignant-monopoly-or-j.html

Diversity in the press is at stake in the end. Here, the pure market ends up in a stifling monopoly and the politicians must do something to make sure market power does not destroy other fundamentals of society.

 

[Parasprite]

I checked and neopets came out around 1999? And you were a kid at that time? Not allowed to feel old yet!!!!

Sounds about right. I think they had a heavily modified/locked down Windows 98 or 2K with a custom browser I've never seen since which didn't support anything but the most basic web pages.

 

[silentmajority]

I am willing to bet that the majority of books offered by Amazon will be Public Domain books that can be found free at Project Gutenberg, and Amazon self published books, with about 30-50 books by well known authors sprinkled in to make it look like you're getting a deal.

The audio books is interesting, but from personal experience you have several narrators who make a book spring to life, while other narrators are just people reading a book to you. I doubt you will see many books narrated by someone with the talent of Scott Brick or George Guidell.

 

[candle]

Why not use the library...for FREE? Why give money to Amazon?

Because there is a limited number of checkouts available. There are readers who don't want to wait ... just as people with Netflix enjoy being able to stream a movie instantly.

 

[Danny Boy 555]

Kindle on all Apple platforms

By the way, you can read Amazon (Kindle) eBooks on any Mac, PC, iPhone or iPad with Amazon's free software: http://amzn.to/1irka2c

 

[class77]

Why not use the library...for FREE? Why give money to Amazon?

Because some of us live in smaller cities without access to a fabulous public library

 

[cgc]

I love the convenience but I don't have time to read as much as I like so I'm going to pass until the new year. Amazon really needs to roll this into their Prime membership.

 

[milo]

a monthly tax to keep owning

Tax? Is the concept of renting really so alien?

You want to own, you buy. Other people want to rent.

I am willing to bet that the majority of books offered by Amazon will be Public Domain books that can be found free at Project Gutenberg, and Amazon self published books, with about 30-50 books by well known authors sprinkled in to make it look like you're getting a deal.

That's exactly what they are offering. You can browse and search the selection on their website, good luck finding titles you have even heard of.

Because some of us live in smaller cities without access to a fabulous public library

That's a shame if your library doesn't have any ebooks. These days it seems like many libraries have them, even in smaller cities. It's really common for multiple libraries to partner up on their ebook websites, which makes it easier for even smaller communities to have a decent selection. I have to wonder how many libraries really don't offer ebooks, or if they are offered and people just aren't aware of it.

 

[Gasu E.]

Less valuable as in production cost, not entertainment value. I've never heard of a book that cost over a million dollars to write.

You probably don't track book deals at all. $1M advances are common for proven or celebrity authors. Hillary Clinton got a $14M advance.

 

[Moto G]

Unlimited purchase profiling and user habit tracking opportunities for Amazon? I bet they're pleased - now privacy is exchanged for convenience, you may as well post them your bank statements and medical records too...

#wakeupworld