Amazon is testing “Kindle Unlimited,” an ebook subscription service for $9.99/month

[shalym]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

This was being discussed on the Amazon forum and several people said the logo indicates that you can "borrow" those marked with Prime for free. I understand your confusion--completely and I mentioned it on the forum only to be told it wasn't confusing at all.

But there were those on that forum reporting they could borrow those books with the prime next to it. I'm not in prime and I saw no way to actually ACCOMPLISH the feat. But supposedly there is a way.

There is a way, but it has to be done from your Kindle device. This has always been the case with the KOLL...you have never been able to borrow a book using the PC.

Shari

[jhempel24]

They really need to change how they deliver the books. They need to set them up how they deliver ARC's. Otherwise you can borrow, strip DRM and return, wash repeat. You cannot do this with the ARC's that they send.

I noticed when they give you the eBook you CANNOT do that with the eBook, it's delivered right to the device and will not allow you to download it to the audible software via PC

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

You can only borrow a prime book from Amazon hardware. But I would much rather browse for what I want on the web.

You do know that you can still browse the KOLL on your PC, right? Here's a link to Kindle books that are included in Prime
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_...rnid=618072011

Shari

[shalym]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

They really need to change how they deliver the books. They need to set them up how they deliver ARC's. Otherwise you can borrow, strip DRM and return, wash repeat. You cannot do this with the ARC's that they send.

I noticed when they give you the eBook you CANNOT do that with the eBook, it's delivered right to the device and will not allow you to download it to the audible software via PC

When have you ever been able to download an ebook to the audible software?

Shari

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by shalym

You do know that you can still browse the KOLL on your PC, right? Here's a link to Kindle books that are included in Prime
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_...rnid=618072011

Shari

Yes, and that's how I normally do it. With KU it's a little more difficult. You can't tell if a book is KOLL on the authors book page anymore. It shows KU only there now and not all KU is KOLL.

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by shalym

When have you ever been able to download an ebook to the audible software?

Shari

Sorry two different trains of thought collided and there were no survivors.

You can't download the audiobook via Audible software at all, it has to be on a device.

When getting an eBook you can download it via Kindle for PC and strip DRM, where when they send an ARC it's sent to specific device under documents and will not go to Kindle for PC.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

Sorry two different trains of thought collided and there were no survivors.

You can't download the audiobook via Audible software at all, it has to be on a device.

When getting an eBook you can download it via Kindle for PC and strip DRM, where when they send an ARC it's sent to specific device under documents and will not go to Kindle for PC.

Can't you hook your Kindle to your computer using USB and then pull the book off of it that way? Why do you need Kindle for PC?

Shari

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

My impression from the rules is that the "Trial" is once. Once you do a free trial, you can't just cancel and then sign up for that again.

Well, I wouldn't expect that they'd allow folks to keep signing up for a free trial every other month, and trying to do that would be wrong even if the system allowed it. But I don't see what would be inherently wrong with signing up for a few months, then canceling, then signing up again.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Well, I wouldn't expect that they'd allow folks to keep signing up for a free trial every other month, and trying to do that would be wrong even if the system allowed it. But I don't see what would be inherently wrong with signing up for a few months, then canceling, then signing up again.

Nothing is wrong with that--but if they get the idea that you (not you personally, but anyone) is downloading "too many" books and possibly stripping them of DRM to store and read them later, they may not allow a renewal of the subscription. Even for someone who is NOT stripping DRM and downloads "too many" books, there may be some customers where they decide that they are operating at a loss and not tolerate it. And remember, I'm speculating based on how they handled the "too many" returns. At some point they obviously decide the customers with a huge return rate are not the ones they are going to work to keep happy and they turn off returns. If someone is downloading, let's say 100 books a month, then cancels their subscription, Amazon may decide they are not a customer they care to have in the subscription program. So when that customer comes back in 3 months to sign up again, they may not allow it.

BUT I am speculating as to how they might decide to handle "loss" downloaders (ie ones that go way over some expected norm).

The blogger who complained about getting her returns shut off mentioned in her complaint that "There was nothing in the terms that warned about too many returns so they shouldn't be allowed to do it." Well, there's nothing that says they won't shut it down either, and I doubt Amazon is going to come out and "warn" anyone who borrows "too many." But it wouldn't surprise me if they are going to watch for certain behavior that gets flagged and then stopped/disallowed.

They've done this with other products as well. If someone returns too many shirts/tvs/whatevers, they have been known to close accounts over it.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Well, I wouldn't expect that they'd allow folks to keep signing up for a free trial every other month, and trying to do that would be wrong even if the system allowed it. But I don't see what would be inherently wrong with signing up for a few months, then canceling, then signing up again.

I thought you paid for having the book available for the period you have paid for. And that is the distribution that was licensed. So to me it seems like copyright infringement or at least going against the Term of Use to turn off WiFi and keep books for longer that you have paid for.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by cybmole

There's no way to get the loan onto K4PC , or into an app on a on Kindle tablet, and you have to go to amazon web site to return a book.

You can only *borrow* a book from the KOLL with a true Kindle device. But once the book is borrowed, it can be retrieved from "cloud" with the Kindle app. I just downloaded this month's loaned book to my iPhone.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

It's not. You have to go to the store and jump through hoops.

I have never returned a book using the web site or the store view in the Kindle. I just ask to borrow a new book and them must return the one I had borrowed earlier. The fact that one can only borrow 1 book per calendar month and only during that month (and if you forget, you get fewer books per year) is much more of an inconvenience than the process of borrowing/returning.

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

The overdrive app for my library allows me to borrow up to 20 digital items, for free. Max loan period of 3 weeks. I can return anytime I like and borrow more, as long as my title list is no bigger than 20. For free. If I didn't have the access to this, I'd consider Amazon.

My library limits us to 3 loaned digital items -- 2 weeks for eBooks and 3 weeks for audio books. Default loan period for an eBook is 2 weeks, but I set my preference to only 1 week. Yes, I can return early, but even if I forget to return, I'm not holding an "in demand" book for too long.

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

My impression from the rules is that the "Trial" is once. Once you do a free trial, you can't just cancel and then sign up for that again.

I remember seeing a statement that the free trial is available only if you haven't already had a 30-day free trial.

I spent a lot of time on Saturday prowling through the KU titles. There are **plenty** there to keep me interested. However, I found that many of the books I'm interested in are available through Freading's library program. Big disadvantage is that Freading only delivers ePub through ADE, so I can't read on the Kindle. Fortunately, like many MR members, I have more than one reader. If my library dropped their Freading option in favor of Overdrive, or if I just wanted to put all my reading onto my Kindle, then I might sign up for KU. For now, however, I'm going to just watch and see how things go with KU.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by twowheels

I don't see that option. Before logging in I see $1.99 and the prime logo. After login, no change. There is a "read for free" button, but it says "with Kindle Unlimited". I don't see any way to get it for free as a Prime member.

Yes, the web ui doesn't seem to let you borrow a book with the KOLL, but I can do it on my kindle.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Yes, and that's how I normally do it. With KU it's a little more difficult. You can't tell if a book is KOLL on the authors book page anymore. It shows KU only there now and not all KU is KOLL.

I'm pretty sure anything that is in the KOLL is also in KU and vice versa.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

You can only *borrow* a book from the KOLL with a true Kindle device. But once the book is borrowed, it can be retrieved from "cloud" with the Kindle app. I just downloaded this month's loaned book to my iPhone.

I have never returned a book using the web site or the store view in the Kindle. I just ask to borrow a new book and them must return the one I had borrowed earlier. The fact that one can only borrow 1 book per calendar month and only during that month (and if you forget, you get fewer books per year) is much more of an inconvenience than the process of borrowing/returning.

My library limits us to 3 loaned digital items -- 2 weeks for eBooks and 3 weeks for audio books. Default loan period for an eBook is 2 weeks, but I set my preference to only 1 week. Yes, I can return early, but even if I forget to return, I'm not holding an "in demand" book for too long.

I remember seeing a statement that the free trial is available only if you haven't already had a 30-day free trial.

I spent a lot of time on Saturday prowling through the KU titles. There are **plenty** there to keep me interested. However, I found that many of the books I'm interested in are available through Freading's library program. Big disadvantage is that Freading only delivers ePub through ADE, so I can't read on the Kindle. Fortunately, like many MR members, I have more than one reader. If my library dropped their Freading option in favor of Overdrive, or if I just wanted to put all my reading onto my Kindle, then I might sign up for KU. For now, however, I'm going to just watch and see how things go with KU.

How does Freading compare to overdrive (as far as selection?) My library is looking for an alternative to overdrive and I'm wondering if I should mention it to them to investigate? They want to expand their e-reading program due to demand, but overdrive is so expensive, they can't expand very far.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I'm pretty sure anything that is in the KOLL is also in KU and vice versa.

That is not true. I did some matching of books of interest to me from my calibre library. Of 2924 books I searched (mostly F&SF) that are available from Amazon, 122 are in KOLL and 443 are in KU. There are a few in KOLL that are not in KU, but many more in KU that are not in KOLL.