As was reported just days ago, a new all-you-can-read service from Amazon called Kindle Unlimited launched today, granting Kindle app users unlimited access to a dizzying amount of books.
The service works in many ways like Netflix, only for books. For $10 a month users can have access to more than 600,000 books on any device that uses the Kindle App, including Android devices, Windows phone and iPhones.
Amazon is proudly highlighting popular books like the "Harry Potter" series, "Hunger Games" trilogy, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and the "Lord of the Rings." The company is pointing out that stories from Stephen King, Andy Borowitz and "exclusives" from Amazon's publishing arm are also all available through Kindle Unlimited, as well as more than 2,000 audiobooks, of which many will use Whispersync for Voice, allowing users to switch between listening and reading books. The Kindle Unlimited subscription also comes with a free three-month Audible audiobook services with access to more than 150,000 titles.
Even with more than 600,000 books to choose from, the truth is that Amazon and Kindle Unlimited currently lacks the full support of major publishing companies, and with it thousands of popular book titles that don't come with the $10 subscription fee. Publishers like Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Hachette are all no doubt wary of all-out supporting Amazon's new service out fear that unlimited subscription based services will undercut full-price book sales.
Amazon isn't the first to adopt a Netflix style approach to digital books. Through the new service, Amazon enters direct competition with other e-book subscription services like Scribd and Oyster, two slightly cheaper services with a smaller selection of titles but including books from popular publishers like HarperCollins. Amazon is by far, however, the largest company to enter the sphere, and has at its advantage a large built-in user base of Kindle owners and Kindle app users.
If you aren't sure how many books you can read in a month, you can always try Kindle Unlimited for free for 30 days time, but be wary of Amazon automatically charging your credit card if you don't cancel the service before the end of the trial. For those who don't need quite so many books, Amazon does allow users to check out one free e-book a month through its Amazon Prime service, a feature that works exclusively on Kindle devices called Kindle Owners Lending Library.
