It seems the rumors were very much true. Amazon has just announced a new $9.99 monthly subscription service for reading an unlimited number of books on your Kindle.
The bad news, however, is that it’s only open for business in the US for now. But nonetheless, this is a huge step for the internet giant, as it covers north of 600,000 books from its gargantuan library. It will of course be better suited to heavy-readers – those who read at least two or three books a month.
That said, those who typically only get through one book a month could also be well-served here, given they can start as many books as they want before finding one that they enjoy.
It’s worth noting here that Amazon is actually opening the service beyond the reading realm – via its associated Audible service, users will be able to listen to 2,000 audio books across any supported device.
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While it’s no doubt great news for both would-be and existing Kindle users, it will surely deal a blow to the likes of Oyster and Scribd, two startups that already operate in the so-called ‘Netflix for books’ space. Oyster currently offers 500,000 books for $9.95 a month, while Scribd serves up 400,000 books for $8.99 a month.
Kindle Unlimited is open for all US-based readers and listeners now, and it’s available to anyone who reads their Kindle-procured books on a Kindle e-reader, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, PC, Mac or Windows 8 device.
Meanwhile, check out the official Amazon promo skit in the video below.
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