Last October, I wrote about the two new subscription services for eBooks.
eBooks: Oyster or Scribd, Who Will Become the Netflix of eBooks? As your dedicated Readers & Book Lovers eBook correspondent, I subscribed to both services to give them a trial run.
Oyster now has a library of 500,000 books, none of them current bestsellers, but they do offer titles from Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins and have introduced an app for Android users. Scribd has increased its library to 400,000 and they also offer Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins eBooks. Oyster is still priced at $9.95 and Scribd's monthly fee is $8.99.
I only kept the services for a couple of months. I do so much reading that I have been relying more and more on audiobooks and neither service offered any, so neither was that appealing to me.
Enter Amazon.
Of course.
Amazon has just introduced
Kindle Unlimited, a subscription service which offers unlimited reading of their eBook Library, now at 600,000 books, and over 2000 audiobooks. The monthly price is $9.99. I felt duty bound to take it for a spin. This is what I found.
An absence of titles from the big five publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin Random House). The history between Amazon and the big five publishers has been contentious. The big five need Amazon's distribution network and Amazon needs the big five's content. Currently Amazon and Hachette appear to be arm wrestling over contract terms. Hachette is the first of the big five to face contract negotiation with Amazon, according to the staggered renewal schedule imposed by Federal Judge Denise L. Cote as part of the settlement of the restraint of trade suit brought by the Justice Department against the big five and Apple.
So, it is not terribly surprising that none of the big five publishers' lists appear in the Kindle Unlimited library. At least not at the present time. While both Oyster and Scribd offer libraries that include titles from HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, Amazon titles are from the smaller and independent publishers (including, of course, Amazon's own publishing arm). Another difference between them is that Kindle Unlimited books can be read on a Kindle, unlike books from Oyster and Scribd - although both have apps for Androids so they might be available for Kindle Fire.
That does not mean that there aren't some really enticing titles on offer as part of Kindle Unlimited.
The eBook edition of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty retails for $21.99. (I was able to snag a copy on the release date for only $19.99) The audiobook narration is available for an additional $6.49.
Or, you could get the eBook and the narration as part of the $9.99 monthly Kindle Unlimited service. Flash Boys, by Michael Lewis is also included, although no audio is offered on that book. Nor is narration offered on the Harry Potter series. Hunger Games and the Lord of the Rings trilogies are both included with audio. And some audiobooks are offered with discount when you borrow the eBook as part of the Kindle Unlimited program.
A lot of the books that are included are those that Prime members can already borrow, but the Prime Lending program only allows the borrowing of one book a month. In spite of the name, Kindle Unlimited limits the subscriber to ten books at any one time. That said, how many of us read more than ten books at one time?
Click to enlarge
In the illustration above, eBooks from the Kindle Unlimited program are clearly marked. They will remain in my library until I manually delete them or end my subscription. They can be read on any kindle or kindle app just like a purchased book. Purchased books are unaffected by your subscription status. Should you cancel your subscription, all of the books that you have borrowed under the program will disappear from your library.
Whether or not this, or either of the other two subscriptions services, is the right one for you will depend on the type of books you read, how many you read and whether or not the audiobook feature is one you would use.
The best way to find out is to try the free one month trial. From any or all of the three services. If you decide that you just aren't finding books that you want to read (or listen to) through Kindle Unlimited, cancellation is a simple click of the button at the end of the month. If you do decide to subscribe at the end of the trial, Amazon is also offering a free subscription to Audible.com for up to three months.
Happy reading, however you do it!
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