Kindle Unlimited Ebook Subscription; Amazon Launches New Service Allowing Users As Much Access To Any E-Books, Audiobooks They Want For $10 A Month

Kindle Unlimited ebook subscription service is here and its Amazon way of enticing more users to take advantage of its roster of devices and digital services. On Friday, the tech giant announced the subscription offer that allows users unlimited access to a library of e-books and audiobooks for $10 a month.

Kindle Unlimited is served Netflix-style, giving the subscriber an all-you-can-read approach to more than 600,000 e-books, including blockbuster titles like “The Hunger Games” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” It also includes access to literary fiction and classics.

The New York Times, however, notes that none of the five big publishers are making their books available through the service.

Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins, are not participating in Amazon’s newest product offering. A quick search also shows that Penguin Random House and Macmillan has no titles for Kindle Unlimited.

Since the big publishers are seemingly sitting out the digital knowledge fest, some popular titles are not available when the service began Friday. These include Laura Hillenbrand’s “Unbroken” or Veronica Roth’s “Divergent.”

Books available for download via Kindle Unlimited has a Kindle Unlimited icon under the title together with the price tag $0.00.

Since authors work with more than house, some titles of popular authors are available while some are not.

According to the New York Times, the introduction of the services comes as the relationship between the major publishers and Amazon has become increasingly tense. Amazon also faces growing scrutiny from its dominance of the e-book market and its tough negotiating tactics with publishers.

Amazon and publisher Hachette still has an unresolved dispute on the online retailer’s e-book terms.

Kindle Unlimited’s unveiling was reported earlier this week when the company accidentally posted a promotional video for the subscription service. The video was immediately removed from the site but did not escape the attention of tech bloggers.

Amazon’s latest offering joins an ever-increasing marketplace and competes with publishing start-ups that offers a similar service, like Scribd and Oyster. Both have comparable subscription fees in exchange for access to their digital titles.

Scribed has some 400,000 titles and charges subscribers $9 a month while Oyster boasts more than 500,000 selections.

Competition among e-book subscription services now boils down to content and what books and authors are included, the New York Times notes.

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