Will you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited? - Page 13

Rbneader · 07-30-2014, 02:50 PM

It's great for me. I tend to read all of an author's work, and this service has a lot of backlist titles or classic titles. Being part of the Kindle ecosystem is a bonus over the other subscription services too.

jbcohen · 07-31-2014, 07:35 AM

I started in Kindle Unlimited two days ago and I have already gotten $20 worth of books out of it. I think that i will typically be getting at least $15 worth of books out of the program per month, based on my prior reading history.

DuskyRose · 07-31-2014, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I started in Kindle Unlimited two days ago and I have already gotten $20 worth of books out of it. I think that i will typically be getting at least $15 worth of books out of the program per month, based on my prior reading history.

I joined July 19th, and have gone through just over $25 worth of books since then, with about another $38 worth chosen as my current 10 and 43 more listed on my KU list at Amazon. I add to that list as I browse for other things and run across anything that catches my eye.

Two I bailed out on about the 1/3 mark, disappointed because I really thought they'd be my thing. So now I can cross them on my TBR pile. But I liked another two of them enough to want to re-read, so bought them to make sure I had them for the future.

I have a ton of other books to read in between the KU ones, but I imagine I'd go through about $15 per month, so for me and as long as I have books waiting in my KU list I'm counting this as a very good program for me.

The choices, so far, are so much better than my library's ebook selection. I've hardly ever borrowed anything from them, as they're mainly Thriller and/or Romance, which isn't my thing. I've barely had any there I was moved to borrow.

A year from now, maybe I'll be out of anything interesting. We'll see.

Just4kix · 08-01-2014, 10:38 AM

I'll have to wait until they go international. We already have to pay over the odds for e-books thanks to the extra $2 whispernet charge and the 14% VAT.

obs20 · 08-01-2014, 12:42 PM

Has anyone else noticed that fewer books are available for loan under the Prime program?

Hampshire Nanny · 08-01-2014, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obs20

Has anyone else noticed that fewer books are available for loan under the Prime program?

Nope. The books I put on my wishlist are still offered through the KLL.

pidgeon92 · 08-01-2014, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obs20

Has anyone else noticed that fewer books are available for loan under the Prime program?

I haven't noticed a change. I keep bookmarks in Chrome for each book I find that is Prime borrowable, and I try to remember to grab one each month. Right now I have 25 bookmarks, and I just checked each of them, and all 25 are available for borrowing via Prime.

jbcohen · 08-01-2014, 08:25 PM

Borrowing the books? If I wanted to lend the books, to a member of my family I would simply get them a kindle and connect them to my Kindle Unlimited subscription so that I can get more out of the program.

DuckieTigger · 08-01-2014, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Borrowing the books? If I wanted to lend the books, to a member of my family I would simply get them a kindle and connect them to my Kindle Unlimited subscription so that I can get more out of the program.

I don't think they were talking about lending it out to somebody else, but that you borrow them from Amazon. Nothing in KU you keep, and it is not guaranteed that the book you borrowed once will still be in KU when you want to reread.

rguion · 08-01-2014, 11:25 PM

I am getting more out of it than I thought. I read one novel, Brilliant, didn't think that was so hot and bailed after 1/3. But I am loving Chuck Wendig's Under the Empyrean Sky, which has narration on KU as well. Lots of Kindles singles to read. Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines.

One thing I realized after looking at the KU list: if you're into the books published by Amazon, you will love it. And if you aren't into them, more into books published by the big 5 or Tor, you won't like it so much. But some of these Amazon books are pretty good, which I am just now realizing.

Don't know if I will keep it forever, but for the next 2 months where I get the audible credits, it's good.

DuskyRose · 08-02-2014, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I don't think they were talking about lending it out to somebody else, but that you borrow them from Amazon. Nothing in KU you keep, and it is not guaranteed that the book you borrowed once will still be in KU when you want to reread.

Yes, I think they're talking about the Prime Loans, where Prime members with Kindles can borrow one book per month.

So far, all the books I had under the Prime Loan list on my account are now Kindle Unlimited. I'm not sure I've seen many books for the Prime Loans that weren't in KU. I'm due another Prime Loan, and tried on one that was listed as a Prime Loan that's now KU, but my kindle wouldn't let me borrow it without returning one of the 10 I have under KU.

So I'm still looking for one that lists PL only to see if I still have the ability to borrow under PL while a member of KU. No bit loss if I can't do both, just would be handy to know.

DuckieTigger · 08-02-2014, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

Yes, I think they're talking about the Prime Loans, where Prime members with Kindles can borrow one book per month.
[..]
So I'm still looking for one that lists PL only to see if I still have the ability to borrow under PL while a member of KU. No bit loss if I can't do both, just would be handy to know.

Yes, it would be nice if both are usable at the same time for 11 out at the same time. Borrowing from KOLL used to work from a kindle itself, now it seems to only show readfor free if it is both in KOLL and KU. Do you maybe now need to borrow KOLL from a computer? If not would be nice of Amazon to bundle Prime and KU - even if it was only a saving of (wild guess) 50 cent per month. But we don't know yet if and how long KU survives, if it ever will have an option to pay a year at a time like prime. And maybe KOLL will be discontinued if KU becomes sucessful enough. The savings by disscontinuing KOLL could maybe be used for additional streaming content in Prime.

jbcohen · 08-02-2014, 10:48 AM

Got another three dollar book out of the same program bringing the value of the program to $23, all for $10 once you are beyond the free month. I will be keeping track of the prices of the books that I get from the program to see if it pays to be a member of the program,

Tarana · 08-03-2014, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Hmm, I guess I will need to decide if I am willing to buy a kindle fire. I am doing a lot of thinking about this subject.

If you just want to read, just get one of the ereaders. The lowest cost regular price one is only $69. That's the one I take with me everywhere since if it falls on concrete, it didn't cost that much. Kindle fire is great if you WANT to get whispersync books or need to use TTS. Otherwise, it's quite a bit heavier than any ereader. In addition, you have to charge the sucker up a lot more often than an ereader. I have to charge it pretty much daily vs. my Mom's paperwhite which only get's charged once a week (and she reads a LOT!).

Quote:

Two I bailed out on about the 1/3 mark, disappointed because I really thought they'd be my thing. So now I can cross them on my TBR pile. But I liked another two of them enough to want to re-read, so bought them to make sure I had them for the future.

This is what I used to do with the library for other books back when I could actually read deadtree books. read it first, if I really thought I'd read it again, I'd buy it. I still bought random paperbacks new now and then though.

TheRevolutionist · 08-04-2014, 09:37 AM

I've switched my account from Amazon UK to Amazon US to try it out with the 30 day trial. Most authors that I follow don't have their books included, so it's not much good going on there in the hope of finding anything specific, but I've been able to find 10 or so books that interest me fairly quickly from browsing the different categories.

The real question for me is whether it can consistently surface new and interesting content. While I don't mind spending an hour or two exploring Kindle Unlimited as a new service, I generally read books that I'm looking for specifically, rather than going on the store to look for something new.

Unless it can become very efficient at recommending books to me (better than the existing "you may like" algorithms) or expand it's range so that enough books that I'm specifically looking for are included, I think I would quickly find looking for the gems on Unlimited a bit too much like hard work.

But overall I think it's an interesting development with lots of potential, and I hope it makes it over to the UK before long.

View Poll Results: Will you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited?
Yes	47	20.80%
No	179	79.20%
Voters: 226. You may not vote on this poll

08-02-2014, 10:48 AM	#193
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Got another three dollar book out of the same program bringing the value of the program to $23, all for $10 once you are beyond the free month. I will be keeping track of the prices of the books that I get from the program to see if it pays to be a member of the program, Last edited by jbcohen; 08-02-2014 at 02:14 PM.

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07-30-2014, 02:50 PM	#181
Rbneader Fanatic Posts: 503 Karma: 2661351 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: None	It's great for me. I tend to read all of an author's work, and this service has a lot of backlist titles or classic titles. Being part of the Kindle ecosystem is a bonus over the other subscription services too.

07-31-2014, 07:35 AM	#182
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	I started in Kindle Unlimited two days ago and I have already gotten $20 worth of books out of it. I think that i will typically be getting at least $15 worth of books out of the program per month, based on my prior reading history.

08-01-2014, 10:38 AM	#184
Just4kix Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 365040 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Durban South Africa Device: none	I'll have to wait until they go international. We already have to pay over the odds for e-books thanks to the extra $2 whispernet charge and the 14% VAT.

08-01-2014, 12:42 PM	#185
obs20 Wizard Posts: 2,793 Karma: 29028512 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Florida Device: Sony PRS 600, Nook ST, Toshiba Excite 10.1 AT 300	Has anyone else noticed that fewer books are available for loan under the Prime program?

08-01-2014, 08:25 PM	#188
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Borrowing the books? If I wanted to lend the books, to a member of my family I would simply get them a kindle and connect them to my Kindle Unlimited subscription so that I can get more out of the program.

08-01-2014, 11:25 PM	#190
rguion Zealot Posts: 122 Karma: 623810 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bay Area, CA Device: Kindle Oasis	I am getting more out of it than I thought. I read one novel, Brilliant, didn't think that was so hot and bailed after 1/3. But I am loving Chuck Wendig's Under the Empyrean Sky, which has narration on KU as well. Lots of Kindles singles to read. Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines. One thing I realized after looking at the KU list: if you're into the books published by Amazon, you will love it. And if you aren't into them, more into books published by the big 5 or Tor, you won't like it so much. But some of these Amazon books are pretty good, which I am just now realizing. Don't know if I will keep it forever, but for the next 2 months where I get the audible credits, it's good.

08-04-2014, 09:37 AM	#195
TheRevolutionist Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle PW2	I've switched my account from Amazon UK to Amazon US to try it out with the 30 day trial. Most authors that I follow don't have their books included, so it's not much good going on there in the hope of finding anything specific, but I've been able to find 10 or so books that interest me fairly quickly from browsing the different categories. The real question for me is whether it can consistently surface new and interesting content. While I don't mind spending an hour or two exploring Kindle Unlimited as a new service, I generally read books that I'm looking for specifically, rather than going on the store to look for something new. Unless it can become very efficient at recommending books to me (better than the existing "you may like" algorithms) or expand it's range so that enough books that I'm specifically looking for are included, I think I would quickly find looking for the gems on Unlimited a bit too much like hard work. But overall I think it's an interesting development with lots of potential, and I hope it makes it over to the UK before long.