Kindle Freetime Unlimited Subscription Service

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Doubt if there's a market for it for adult books alone. Children (if my nephews are anything to go by) get through a lot of books as young children. Most adults don't read more than few books a year. The "book a month" borrowing that Prime gets you is more than enough for the overwhelming majority of people, I'm certain.

1- There has long been a lot of speculation about a "netflix for ebooks", a for-pay ebook library service, and Amazon (always looking for an angle) has been trying to find a busiess model that would make sense for users,, publishers, and them.
2- Whether or not they can find such a magic mix that *grows* the market instead of cannibalizing sales is unclear, which is what makes these experiments interesting.
3- "Most adults don't read more that a few books a year" reminds me of the old conventional wisdom : "eBooks are for techies and hobbyists only.

As Gregor of Barrayar says: "Let's see what happens."

Amazon has surprised us before. They may not be done yet.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

So sorry. Move to Seattle, we have plenty of room here; and you'll be in Amazon's backyard.

Only if you have webbed feet! I spent a year and half at Ft. Lewis. I wanted to be near home (FL), so the Army sent me as far as they could (still being State-side). I know how much it rains there. Here, the sun still shines while it's raining. There, you don't see the sun for nine months.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kevinp

Only if you have webbed feet! I spent a year and half at Ft. Lewis. I wanted to be near home (FL), so the Army sent me as far as they could (still being State-side). I know how much it rains there. Here, the sun still shines while it's raining. There, you don't see the sun for nine months.

I'll take rainy Seattle over sunny Florida any day

[booklover6]

The Amazon product page is such a teaser. I want it now! Of course might as well wait, since the child won't get to use it til Dec 25.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

The Amazon product page is such a teaser. I want it now! Of course might as well wait, since the child won't get to use it til Dec 25.

I'll have the free trial period all set up, except for the final step. My son can activate it on Christmas morning to start the one month trial.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

This new service looks to be a great add-on for the Kindle Fire I'm giving to my 4yo grandson for Christmas. Couple it with the heavy duty Gumdrop case I got and you have a great kid-proof device.

I don't bet on the horses or dogs, and I learned early on that I was a poor card player. Too impatient.
Casinos are rigged and I don't believe in taking on odds that are against you. I have been in a few though for some of the prettiest women in the world work in them.

All that said, I can estimate and guesstimate with the best, and the idea that you have a kid-proof device is to put it mildly (nice language here) far fetched.

Why not go with "kid-resistant device." I could see that, (and raise you two.)

[Nexutix]

My neutral point: Shooting multiple birds with one arrow. They are promoting fire as well as creating a future userbase by including children, plus other birds.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

3- "Most adults don't read more that a few books a year" reminds me of the old conventional wisdom : "eBooks are for techies and hobbyists only.

I believe my statement to be true. The vast majority of my friends and work colleagues don't read for pleasure. Do you know many active readers (other than here at MR, of course )?

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I believe my statement to be true. The vast majority of my friends and work colleagues don't read for pleasure. Do you know many active readers (other than here at MR, of course )?

I agree, Harry. Some quick googling throws up numbers that average out to roughly a book a month, for those that read at all. Factoring in the non-readers brings it down to about 8.

[petrucci]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

However, looking at the list I see Bratz and Spongebob on there, two things that some parents may find objectionable.

As per usual I skim over the posts. When reading your last sentence, I thought that you were going to say that those were titles that the parents wanted to read.

In terms of the service, I think that its primary competition is the public library. Given the lack of availability of popular titles at the library, and that library membership costs money, I think that the service will be very popular.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by petrucci

In terms of the service, I think that its primary competition is the public library. Given the lack of availability of popular titles at the library, and that library membership costs money, I think that the service will be very popular.

Library membership here is free. My wife takes my kids to the library every week and comes home with about 15 books between my two sons. We read to them at night before bed. My older son (almost 8 years old) is reading on his own and enjoying it.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by HarryT

-snip- The vast majority of my friends and work colleagues don't read for pleasure. Do you know many active readers (other than here at MR, of course )?

True but unimportant. If we look at the 1% who bought 10+ books a year that's millions of sales and customers.

Consider the millions of Kindle's and Nooks sold. Nearly all of these were for reading for pleasure, yes ?

[booklover6]

The update for the Fire is available now.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you know many active readers (other than here at MR, of course )?

About a dozen, actually--excluding relatives.
(Their gear breaks down as one Sony, two iPxxx, one Android phone, and 8 kindles.)

But then, being of an engineering persuasion I've long moved in SF-centric circles.

[JeremyR]

If adults don't read, then who are buying e-readers, then? Clearly the market for an e-book subscription is essentially the same market as those who buy e-readers.