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

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tompe

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 of WiFi and keep books for longer that you have paid for.

But I'm not necessarily talking about that. I'm just thinking that it doesn't seem outlandish to read more in some months than others--I don't see anything wrong with canceling the service one month when, say, you know you've got a busy schedule and wouldn't be able to read enough to make it cost effective, ori it's a month when your favorite authors all have books coming out that aren't included so you're buying them outside of KU, or some other reason. And then signing up again.

Obviously a pattern of binging and then canceling would probably raise red flags, and should, but I don't see why canceling and then rejoining should automatically be suspect.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Catlady

But I'm not necessarily talking about that. I'm just thinking that it doesn't seem outlandish to read more in some months than others--I don't see anything wrong with canceling the service one month when, say, you know you've got a busy schedule and wouldn't be able to read enough to make it cost effective, ori it's a month when your favorite authors all have books coming out that aren't included so you're buying them outside of KU, or some other reason. And then signing up again.

Obviously a pattern of binging and then canceling would probably raise red flags, and should, but I don't see why canceling and then rejoining should automatically be suspect.

I would agree that just cancelling and resigning wouldn't necessarily be viewed as suspicious.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

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.

The library has very little funding and we're in a rural area so they decided that they could not afford to offer Overdrive. So, they offer Freading. So far, I've found no overlap in books between Freading and Overdrive. Publishers that I've seen at Freading are Open Road Media, Algonquin Books, Mysterious Press, Albert Whitman & Company, Poisoned Pen Press, Barbour Books, and Sourcebooks. No best-sellers.

But lots of books that I'm interested in such as the Phryne Fisher Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. Here are some authors I've seen: Mysteries by William Kienzle, Mary Reed & Eric Mayer, Lawrence Block and Steven Havill. SF books by David Duncan, Timothy Zahn, David Feintuch, and William Shatner. Fantasy by Ciji Ware, Octavia Butler, and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Christian fiction by Wanda Brunstetter, Anna Schmidt, and Amber Stockton.

They have a decent selection of books for kids and teens. I don't read non-fiction, but they seem to have quite a bit on various topics.

To borrow a book, you have to spend tokens. Each book costs from 1 to 4 tokens. Generally, a book costs more right after it is added to the catalog and then the price goes down. Most of the books I've borrowed have cost me 1 or 2 tokens. Your library gives you a fixed number of tokens at the beginning of the month. You get additional tokens every Monday, then everything resets at the beginning of the next month.

According to my librarian, the library pays a small amount for each book that is borrowed -- I think she said $0.50 per book, or maybe it was $0.50 per token. And, unlike Overdrive that has a fixed fee every month, Freading only bills when books are borrowed.

.....
By the way, Open Road is issuing the Cadfael books in August and they've already shown up in the Freading catalog with "coming soon". Over the weekend, I borrowed The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, which was the one book I was most interested in from the Humble Bundle, so I don't have to feel bad that I can't buy the Humble Bundle due to my 2014 ban on buying books.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by vxf

Unfortunately, this seems the weak point of Amazon's plan. Relying on people being honest is not a great business plan. You know some people will just sign up for the trial, mass-download, strip, cancel. I love what Amazon is doing here, so I really hope I am wrong... but...

Mass-download--as in rapid cyclings of downloads and returns--is generally a flag to lock down the account. Overdrive does it.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by foghat

Show stopper in the sense I like to build up a library and have it at my disposal for future perusing. Maybe it is a bit of a vanity thing - I can look back and think, 'gee, look at all the stuff I've read'.

It would be nice if there was an option to just keep a placeholder in your library for unlimited books you've read (or want to read) - when I actually try to read/download them, then force me (if I'm at my limit) to remove one of the already downloaded books, but keep a placeholder for it.

If you don't have the DRM stripping plugins, you can load DRMed books into Calibre and it will keep the metadata but lock you out of opening the book. that sounds kind of like what you want. I have no idea if you can toggle out of using them or have to uninstall them for this to work, but I've loaded DRMed books into Calibre like this before.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

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.

I haven't noticed Scribd complaining about too many downloads--I downloaded a bunch before a trip where I expected not to have wifi access for extended periods of time and didn't know what I'd feel like reading--although to be honest I have no intention of canceling Scribd for Prime at this point.

[BearMountainBooks]

Thanks Nanny and Joykins.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Joykins

If you don't have the DRM stripping plugins, you can load DRMed books into Calibre and it will keep the metadata but lock you out of opening the book. that sounds kind of like what you want. I have no idea if you can toggle out of using them or have to uninstall them for this to work, but I've loaded DRMed books into Calibre like this before.

You cannot toggle it on import, but the plugin (like any builtin, but not most of the User Plugins) can be disabled from preferences. No restart required.

If you don't have the keys configured it will simply import the books with an error: no keys found in %s tries -- or something like that.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

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.

For me, personally, I have only found a couple Freading books I want. The vast majority of library books I borrow are from OverDrive (and they have a great selection).
Example: Freading doesn't have Harry Potter, LotR, HHGTTG, or most other popular (Big 5) books.

The other really annoying thing about Freading is that they don't have a Kindle option, and Kindle is a far more popular ereader , especially in the US, where OverDrive enables the Kindle checkout. (I don't know, does Freading even operate outside the US?)

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

For me, personally, I have only found a couple Freading books I want. The vast majority of library books I borrow are from OverDrive (and they have a great selection).
Example: Freading doesn't have Harry Potter, LotR, HHGTTG, or most other popular (Big 5) books.

The other really annoying thing about Freading is that they don't have a Kindle option, and Kindle is a far more popular ereader , especially in the US, where OverDrive enables the Kindle checkout. (I don't know, does Freading even operate outside the US?)

Thanks. The Kindle thing would probably be a deal-breaker because that is what most people have. But the lack of selection means it's not likely my library would spend money on it in addition to overdrive. Not that those books aren't good ones, but they can hardly implement two systems that are so different, maintain them and then not have kindle support on one...

[foghat]

Originally Posted by Joykins

If you don't have the DRM stripping plugins, you can load DRMed books into Calibre and it will keep the metadata but lock you out of opening the book. that sounds kind of like what you want. I have no idea if you can toggle out of using them or have to uninstall them for this to work, but I've loaded DRMed books into Calibre like this before.

Yes I can remove drm. But what I mean is to keep my collection in my kindle library (kindle ios app).

Not sure how I feel about removing drm and side loading as long as I continue to pay the monthly fee. Reality is, if I were to re-read a book I'd re-download the kindle version for the real page numbers and xray.

Plus even if I were to side load, those aren't available to my wife - so if she ends up downloading, she forces out one of the 10 and we possibly end up with duplicate books in the shared library.

I'm a little anal about things like this and going the unlimited route may be too much overhead for me. I don't really mind paying for the books so...

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Thanks. The Kindle thing would probably be a deal-breaker because that is what most people have. But the lack of selection means it's not likely my library would spend money on it in addition to overdrive. Not that those books aren't good ones, but they can hardly implement two systems that are so different, maintain them and then not have kindle support on one...

Yup.

It wouldn't be so bad if they at least had a large selection of more popular books, because I personally would just deal with the inconvenience so I can read my books (maybe time to start reading on a tablet?) but the two together is just a bad combo.

OverDrive is still king.

3m has been showing up a fairly decent selection field, I believe, but I still prefer OverDrive just because it alone has Kindle support.

[foghat]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I think it is mostly integrated right on the kindle.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/19/g...hite-hands-on/

And that articles a bit old, so I expect it to be even better now.

Actually, I currently use Library Thing, and it is an extra manual step. It is because of this integration that I have been considering getting a Paper White and moving to Good Reads. Seems like it would be so nice to have this all integrated.

Anyone using this integration? (yea I know this is OT).

Ya, I actually logged back into shelfari for the first time in years and there is kindle integration. But as noted by someone else, you still have to manually go in and add the book to your shelf.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

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

Nope. KU has more than just Amazon - Open Road Media is in KU, but not in KOLL. I'm hoping KU gets more publishers. I know they won't be the latest releases, but for 9.99 a month it would be worth it to me with more variety.

[crich70]

I don't know about more variety but being able to download a book as a KU choice and read it before deciding if I want to go back and buy a copy sounds like a good deal to me. The more expensive the book is the more I would like being able to do that especially if it's an author that I don't know already. And the price of $9.99 a month for access sounds a lot more reasonable than $75.00 or more a year even if the other Amazon service includes other things besides books.