Kindle unlimited

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Has anyone signed up for this and if so what do you think?

I've just had a quick look through the first ten pages photography books and am not impressed.
They seem to be just cheap Amazon published stuff with nothing much of interest.

Whatever the free month should be worth the money so I'll probably give it a go.
 
Hmmm, the photography section looks pretty dire. I think if I was paying, and was mainly looking for photography/photoshop books, I'd go with Creative Edge - it's double the cost, but the content is much better.
 
Oh - didn't know that was available in the UK (Wired said it wouldn't be for ages because of publisher disputes). I'll take a shuftie.
 
Hmm, just checked it. The fiction seems a little "limited". Interesting that they tie in with audio books though - the whisper sync from audio to e-book is pretty clever. Needs more investigation but I can't help thinking it's like Netflix - awesome in the US, limited in the UK.
 
This has got potential to be a good service and definitely something I would be interested in. But typical that there's a number of disputes with publishers apparently!!
 
Anybody using this yet?

I just took a look at the fiction section and couldn't find anything less than 5 years old / by an author I'd heard of. Is that a fair summary? It's like a way to borrow books you'd never pay for.
 
I'm not seeing (cause I'm probably being thick) what the difference with this and the kindle lending library is?
 
boyfalldown said:
I'm not seeing (cause I'm probably being thick) what the difference with this and the kindle lending library is?
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Do you mean the one connected to the Amazon prime accounts. If so the lending library is smaller and you can only "borrow" one book a month.
 
SaintSLR said:
Do you mean the one connected to the Amazon prime accounts. If so the lending library is smaller and you can only "borrow" one book a month.
Click to expand...


That's the one, I hadn't realised the one book a month restriction
 
boyfalldown said:
That's the one, I hadn't realised the one book a month restriction
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Yeah one book and you can't get another until the following month and you have to check the current one back in, so it's not as if you can save them all up to read on holiday etc.
Oh and you can only read that book on a Kindle device, not on the kindle reading apps on iOS/android/Mac etc.
I believe the new unlimited allows you to use the apps.
 
boyfalldown said:
I'm not seeing (cause I'm probably being thick) what the difference with this and the kindle lending library is?
Click to expand...

More money, more books, more borrows, more devices ;)

Also the really attractive (on paper) bit is the audio whispersync. So you can in theory read a book on your Kindle on the train and when you get to the station slip the headphones on and listen to somebody reading it from where you got up to, then swap back to reading when you're sitting in Café Nero. It's a pretty cool idea (and probably why they increased the memory on the Kindles recently) but I can't find any books I'd want to read, let alone listen to. It absolutely isn't Kindle + Audible.
 
I believe Amazon currently cannot reach agreement with the "main" publishers, hence the limited choice of books.
Now if only they could resolve this issue, and most books were available would be perfect! Maybe in time!
 
SaintSLR said:
I believe Amazon currently cannot reach agreement with the "main" publishers, hence the limited choice of books.
Now if only they could resolve this issue, and most books were available would be perfect! Maybe in time!
Click to expand...

Yes. It seems oddly impossible for them to come to an agreement in the UK and yet in the US they managed it. Rather like the limited offering of Netflix in the UK compared to the US.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Yes. It seems oddly impossible for them to come to an agreement in the UK and yet in the US they managed it. Rather like the limited offering of Netflix in the UK compared to the US.
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Always the poor cousins!!
I believe in the US you can also use a kindle to borrow ebooks from the library. I know my local library in Hampshire does ebooks but you have to use a different app on phone/tablet!
 
It seems odd because just as the music industry are being dragged kicking and screaming to the subscription model, you'd think the book industry would want to rush there.

I no longer buy any novels on paper - just like I don't buy CDs or DVDs. I'd be very happy to pay for a subscription service like my Netflix and Spotify but it needs to have at least some decent content. If Amazon can't manage it then nobody can.
 
Its what it does to authors though. They earn so much for a bought new book. They earn nothing from second hand purchased ones. So I'd assume the prime lending could potentially reduce authors' pay. I'd imagine Amazon would reduce fees for those reading via kindle unlimited compared to those paying full price and buying the book outright.

Authors have to make some kind of living.
 
srichards said:
Its what it does to authors though. They earn so much for a bought new book. They earn nothing from second hand purchased ones. So I'd assume the prime lending could potentially reduce authors' pay. I'd imagine Amazon would reduce fees for those reading via kindle unlimited compared to those paying full price and buying the book outright.

Authors have to make some kind of living.
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You mean like musicians and actors? Sure they need to make a living and I'm happy to pay.

Like a lot of people, if I'm paying £5 - £10 for an eBook I want to know that I'll get value for money which generally means that I'll buy a book by an author I know or have had recommended to me. A subscription model would allow me to sample more up and coming authors. But I can't see the sense in paying for one if all I get is unknown up and coming authors (and there really is a lot of chaff out there that needs sorting to find the wheat).
 
I waws looking at this on the weekend as it seemed really good. Having a quick search for a review i came across this review. Its summary:-
The kindle unlimited subscription, as launched, provides little value for the vast majority of people.
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I searched for 10 books on my wish list, none of them appeared on the kindle unlimited offering, so seems pointless for me unfortunately.
 
That's an interesting article. From skimming it, it seems it says it's not worth it for most people simply because they don't read enough. I've checked and between my wife and me, we spend on average more than the subscription fee per month on eBooks so we should be ideal subscribers*. I think it's far worse value in the UK due to the limited offering.

Article on the Beeb suggesting not to bother.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29572724

* not ideal from Amazon's POV, obvs. They want to be like a gym where people join up to show how committed they are and then never go :)
 
JonathanRyan said:
Also the really attractive (on paper) bit is the audio whispersync. So you can in theory read a book on your Kindle on the train and when you get to the station slip the headphones on and listen to somebody reading it from where you got up to, then swap back to reading when you're sitting in Café Nero. It's a pretty cool idea (and probably why they increased the memory on the Kindles recently) but I can't find any books I'd want to read, let alone listen to. It absolutely isn't Kindle + Audible.
Click to expand...

So this is interesting. I just bought a book from the Kindle store - it was the 99p deal of the day. I got the offer to "upgrade" to the audio whispersync version which I always thought was pretty cool. Apparently it's not cool enough for me to pay another £3.49 (still under the regular price of the book) to try it.
 
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