The Amazon confirmed expectations and launched on Friday (18), the Kindle Unlimited, a service that offers unlimited access to a catalog of more than 600 000 thousands of ebooks and audiobooks with a monthly subscription of $ 9.99. No deadline for returning the books can be read both as Kindle readers on smartphones, tablets and computers with free Kindle app.
How this business works?
Thinking on Kindle Unlimited as a “Netflix for books” is the easiest way to understand how the service works. In the Amazon page, there is an option to enjoy the Kindle for 30 days Unlimited. While you subscribe, you will receive a monthly charge of $ 10 on credit card and can read as many books as you want your account tied to the device. To unsubscribe, ebooks are automatically removed from your collection.
As far as the Kindle in the Amazon store, next to the buy button, there will be a button to “read for free” in more than 600 000 works. Once the ebook is downloaded, you can read it as if it were his:.’s Sync with Whispersync, which means the page, markings and annotations are synchronized between all your devices
Audiobooks can be heard on the Android and iOS
There is no deadline to return, but there is a limit of 10 ebooks borrowed simultaneously. When you try to read the eleventh book, Amazon will suggest returning the borrowed ebook longer – but you can select another. At any time, a borrowed ebook can be downloaded again previously, including markings synchronized in the cloud.
In addition to text-books, the Kindle allows Unlimited access just over 2000 audiobooks, but they can only be heard on devices with sound, which includes none of Kindle readers sold today (Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite), only the tablets and Kindle Fire Android and iOS devices with the official application of the Kindle. The file size varies; here, spent 156 MB to download the audiobook of The Hobbit .
Not available in Brazil, but …
The Kindle Unlimited was only released in the United States, but the service works in Brazil if you have an American Amazon account with an American address. The credit card must be international, but not necessarily issued in the United States.
If you fit the above case, should have no difficulty to test and sign the service. If the account is Brazilian, you can migrate it to an American without losing the purchases already made (however, you can not purchase new content in Amazon.com.br). Just go into Manage Your Kindle and select “Settings country.” In “Brazil”, click the “Change” link, fill with American address and save the changes. You can return to a Brazilian account at any time by the reverse path.
In comparison to the Brazilian Amazon, the Amazon American has a larger amount of ebooks (2.7 million vs. 2.2 million), but less titles in Portuguese (27 000 against 35 000). Prices are not fully connected: some books are cheaper on American store; others, in the Brazilian.
You can subscribe to The Globe and Zero Hour on Amazon (but not in Brazil)
In the American Amazon, you can purchase audiobooks and make subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, such as <> The Globe Zero Hour The New York Times National Geographic and Vogue . Strangely, even with Brazilian newspapers, the signature is not available in Brazil, so if you do the reverse path (migrate an American account for a Brazilian), their signatures will be automatically canceled.
And when the Kindle Unlimited will be officially launched in Brazil? Sought by Tecnoblog , Amazon said that “does not comment on future plans.” As the service still does not work even in the UK, another major market for Amazon, it is good to wait sitting.
What’s good to read?
At the time of writing this paragraph, there are 639,000 books available in Kindle Unlimited, just under a quarter of the 2.7 million ebooks from the American store. Many titles are not available, but Amazon highlights some known works: can you read the trilogy The Lord of The Rings , the seven books Harry Potter , and . 2001: A Space Odyssey The Hobbit and Life of Pi , eg
All the books are up in english but there are also fewer than 8000 titles on Kindle Portuguese Unlimited
The problem is that, as in Netflix, releasing the contents requires trade agreements. And the five major American publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Random House Simon & amp; Schuster) have not provided many books, so there are a number of famous titles missing. Much of Unlimited Kindle books, including works in Portuguese, are small independent publishers or authors.
So even if 600 000 ebooks seem much in practice the story is a little different, and the collection is still weak if you are only interested in the best sellers.
How weak? Among the list of 20 best-selling Kindle ebooks, only 3 are on Kindle Unlimited: My Mother Was Nuts , in 1; Pines , in 13; and One Lavender Ribbon , in 20th. In the category Computers and Technology, the situation improves (10 of 20 can be read for free), but most books are guides and tutorials -. Nothing to read for free the biography of Steve Jobs or the new book by Glenn Greenwald, therefore
Among the books in Portuguese, the thing is even sadder, but it is even understandable if we consider that the service officially or works in Brazil. The list of the top 20, only one is on the Kindle Unlimited. And indeed, this unique book is not facing Brazilians, but for foreigners who wish to learn the Portuguese language.
Is it worth the effort?
The price of $ 9.99 a month is quite attractive. If you consider that many ebooks cost that price or even more, just ask one or two books borrowed and the monthly subscription was worth it.
But Amazon still needs to improve the collection for Kindle Unlimited be really advantageous. 600 000 ebooks is a lot, but a very small portion of these books is what people want to read. I’m sure that most of you reading this text would quietly 10 hours per month watching movies and series on Netflix, but would not spend the same amount of hours reading random books on Amazon.
The question is whether Amazon will boost the availability of books and, more importantly, whether it will be able to convince publishers that the business model is interesting. We are so accustomed to streaming movies or music services, but not for books – although already existed before the Kindle Unlimited options such as Oyster. I, as a reader, I find great pay only $ 10 to read as many books as you want. But being on the other side, commanding a publisher, I do not know if toparia receive only a few cents per user.
No comments:
Post a Comment