Will you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Can anyone clear up my confusion....is there any charge for Audible for those three months? And are those months tacked on to whatever one currently has (I am on the $1.99 per month for three months plan)? But in order to get those free three months, one must remain a member of KU for three months?

Or would I have to stay on KU even longer than 3 months due to my other plan? I am so confused. I absolutely will not pay $15 a month for Audible under any circumstances, but I like free credits.

Current Audible members will get an extra credit each month. You'll continue to pay for your Audible subscription as usual. I'm on the same plan you have and received another credit when I signed up for KU. To get all 3 Audible credits, you must remain an active KU subscriber for 3 months. The first month is free, but the next 2 months will cost you $10 each.

edit: I plan to cancel at the end of my free KU trial, so I'll only get 1 Audible credit out of it. The extra 2 months of KU and 2 Audible credits is not worth $20 to me.

[NickyWithNook]

Not at this point but maybe eventually if they get some other publishers to participate.

[LovesMacs]

No, I won't subscribe to Kindle Unlimited in its current form. Now if it allowed access to newer international and untranslated titles, that would be awesome...

Kindle Unlimited is too limited right now.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Current Audible members will get an extra credit each month. You'll continue to pay for your Audible subscription as usual. I'm on the same plan you have and received another credit when I signed up for KU. To get all 3 Audible credits, you must remain an active KU subscriber for 3 months. The first month is free, but the next 2 months will cost you $10 each.

edit: I plan to cancel at the end of my free KU trial, so I'll only get 1 Audible credit out of it. The extra 2 months of KU and 2 Audible credits is not worth $20 to me.

Thanks, that is very helpful. It's most likely not worth it to me, either.

I also find it very irritating that the free audio (with narration) can only be used on a Kindle Fire or app, no getting it to my Clip Zip. Completely useless, to me.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Thanks, that is very helpful. It's most likely not worth it to me, either.

I also find it very irritating that the free audio (with narration) can only be used on a Kindle Fire or app, no getting it to my Clip Zip. Completely useless, to me.

YW

Jessica says it's doable. She added an audiobook to an iPod nano. See her post here.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's only currently available to customers in the US.

Yes, that's why I included the post that said I'd probably join if it would become international.

[jersysman]

Yes, I will be joining KU after this summer. Too busy with summer to do much reading right now.

[jbcohen]

I can certainly understand the opinions of most people here. The do not seem to be interested in Kindle Unlimited becuase it does not include any of the major publishing houses. While it is true that by reading books from the major publishing houses you get better authors with better writting styles and I admit that is an excelent readon for avoiding the unlimited program. Personaly I could care less if my books come from one of the major houses or not, I could simply care less which method an auhtor uses to publish his/her works. I find that I can get equally as good books from the self published books as the major publishing houses. I have not signed up for the program as yet however I might do so in the near future. I am still examining the offerings on the program.

[fjtorres]

WAG time:

Looks like about 20% of the heavy readers around here see enough value in KU to sign up.
A bit higher than I would've expected for an indie-heavy catalog.

Now, Amazon seems to have about 50M Kindle users (out of 80 million ebook buyers) in the US and at least 20M active eink readers. You don't generally buy a Kindle if you're not a heavy reader but then there's heavy readers on the app side so a good bogey would be 30M potential KU subscribers or about 6 million actual subscribers. That's $60M a month in fees and $720M a year. Over time, some will drop out, new ones come in. Figure once the novelty wears off it'll drop 30% and say it is a sustainable $500M a year business. About double what Nook is reporting this year which is almost certainly more than Kobo, more than Google, and probably (still) more than Apple.

Even at half that WAG, KU looks to be the second biggest ebook distribution channel after Kindle sales. (Gulp!)

Depending on how much it cannibalizes actual sales (20%? More? Less? 80% of Kindle books are *not* in KU, after all) Amazon could grow their ebook empire by anywhere from 10-25%. ($200M and up...) About the size of Nook...

Or maybe not.
It's just a WAG...
(shrug)

It does look like there's real gold in them there hills.
Will we see an iTunes unlimited? A Kobo or Nook service?

Maybe Apple will buy scribd or oyster.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

WAG time:

Looks like about 20% of the heavy readers around here see enough value in KU to sign up.
A bit higher than I would've expected for an indie-heavy catalog.

Actually, I've been surprised that so few are jumping on board. It's a free trial, after all. I would have expected a majority to sign up for the free month, especially with the perk of an Audible credit. And then a high rate of attrition after the trial is over.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Actually, I've been surprised that so few are jumping on board. It's a free trial, after all. I would have expected a majority to sign up for the free month, especially with the perk of an Audible credit. And then a high rate of attrition after the trial is over.

I don't think most of the "yes" votes are trials. A few maybe but I read the survey as a query about the paid service.

My expectation was about 10%, really, since this place is fairly heavy with international and library readers.

Put more simply: if Amazon captures even 5% of ebook readers in the US (4-5Million) that would still be a $500M a year business. Take it international and it could double.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I don't think most of the "yes" votes are trials. A few maybe but I read the survey as a query about the paid service.

My expectation was about 10%, really, since this place is fairly heavy with international and library readers.

Put more simply: if Amazon captures even 5% of ebook readers in the US (4-5Million) that would still be a $500M a year business. Take it international and it could double.

Actually, I hadn't even looked at the poll till just now, I was going more by the comments in the thread, where so many people seemed to be saying they'd looked at the offerings and didn't see enough material of interest.

[Zimmy]

Nope.
Lack of support. Terrible selection.
I have a hard enough time picking out prime lending books for free every month, now you want me to pay $10 per for that laughable selection?

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

The library already provides this feature, and has big publisher books. If they don't buy a book, I either decide I don't want to read it, or I buy it. I doubt publishers will ever be more flexible with Amazon versus the libraries.

Changed my mind. Found a boat load of knitting books as part of the package, and my library doesn't have many. Didn't think I would like online knitting books, but this way, rather than having to go through my bookcase, I have everything right at my fingertips. So I will subscribe, probably for 30 days, and download as many knitting books as I can find.

[Lemurion]

I'll stick with it. I signed up for the free trial on the 19th and I'm on my 9th book. That's $33 worth of books in the first three days.

It may not be right for everyone, but it's great for those of us reading indie serials.