Kindle Unlimited
July 18, 2014 5:01 PM   Subscribe

Amazon announced today a service called Kindle Unlimited, giving access to over 600,000 books and audiobooks (on any device) for $.9.99/month. There are other services similar that exist (like Scribd and Oyster), but Amazon may have an advantage with its audio service. Is it worth it? Perhaps if you are in the habit of buying more than the average five books per year. In any case, there's a 30 day free trial "so you can test your binge-reading capabilities before committing to pay for the service."
posted by SpacemanStix (68 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
I buy a lot of books, so I signed up for a trial, but I doubt I'll stick with it. Doesn't seem to be much there there.
posted by lukemeister at 5:05 PM on July 18, 2014


i wonder how many people realize that with services like overdrive you basically have this service for free in several(i hesitate to say a lot of) major cities.

This, like what something along the lines of spotify will do to music, is the future of reading for the average person though. Owning an ephemeral copy of things is dead. The way forward is either having a physical object copy of it for the few people who want that, or paying a flat fee to an all-you-can-eat service like spotify, netflix, etc.

It's pretty much board the train or be crushed at this point. Not that the itunes and regular kindle services of the world are hurting yet, but that's sort of where the puck is, not where it's going.
posted by emptythought at 5:08 PM on July 18, 2014 [13 favorites]


While I love the idea of this service when my local library is chronically understaffed and under delivers in terms of content (not to mention the headaches that Overdrive, et. al present), the real solution for those of who that love to read would ideally involve building up modern library infrastructure and fighting against onerous publisher practices (itself a reaction to Amazon's practices in part).

What I fear is that this move will only further entrench Amazon's predatory practices - namely the normalisation of more DRM and the walled garden approach, and, perhaps more distressingly, will institutionalize the continued degradation of payments and rights of authors.
posted by pipian at 5:08 PM on July 18, 2014 [22 favorites]


I do buy Kindle books, so I started searching for a number of titles I was interested in purchasing. (And we're not talking High Falutin' Lit here--stuff like detective fiction.) And...there was absolutely nothing. Saves me $9.99/month, though.
posted by thomas j wise at 5:09 PM on July 18, 2014 [6 favorites]


Finally, a service for people whose only problem with the library is that it's free.
posted by lunch at 5:16 PM on July 18, 2014 [75 favorites]


I was getting all depressed at that "average five books a year" bit, but according to the link the average is a much less depressing 12. (Five's the median).
posted by bonaldi at 5:17 PM on July 18, 2014


I'm kind of cautiously optimistic about this even though it lacks all my favorite authors, because of all the self-published content? There's a lot of stuff to sift through, but if I've already paid my monthly $10, I am a lot more willing to try things out. I'm not looking at it as a way to read the books that I can pick up at the library already so much as a way to engage with all these self-publishing authors with much less risk on my part if it turns out they're terrible.
posted by Sequence at 5:25 PM on July 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


I like the idea of Overdrive and use it occasionally but almost all the books my local library offers are locked to Windows and Windows devices only and it's not quite worth the processing power to run Parallels just to play a goddamn book.
posted by NoraReed at 5:25 PM on July 18, 2014 [3 favorites]


A couple of the major publishers aren't involved, so that rules out a lot of "best sellers".
posted by blue_beetle at 5:27 PM on July 18, 2014


I was getting all depressed at that "average five books a year" bit, but according to the link the average is a much less depressing 12. (Five's the median).

12 is the mean. Both mean and median are averages. In this case, the median is probably more descriptive of the group. 50% of people read more than 5 books and 50% read less. The fact that the mean is 12, compared to a median of 5, indicates that heavy readers are significantly distorting the impression of reading habits given by the mean.
posted by howfar at 5:34 PM on July 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


I read more books than that in a week. I can't imagine that being a yearly total.
posted by winna at 5:37 PM on July 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


"average person reads 12 books a year" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person reads 5 books per year. Winna Georg, who lives in library & reads over 10,000 books each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
posted by NoraReed at 5:40 PM on July 18, 2014 [31 favorites]


I read more books than that in a week. I can't imagine that being a yearly total.

This illustrates why the mean would be a poorly chosen average in this situation.
posted by howfar at 5:42 PM on July 18, 2014


I'm glad some of you are making up for those of us with young kids and fifty hour a week jobs - I'll rejoin your lot once the kids are in high school and refuse to talk to me.
posted by incessant at 5:43 PM on July 18, 2014 [17 favorites]


12 is the mean. Both mean and median are averages. In this case, the median is probably more descriptive of the group. 50% of people read more than 5 books and 50% read less. The fact that the mean is 12, compared to a median of 5, indicates that heavy readers are significantly distorting the impression of reading habits given by the mean.

Yes, I should have said I took the OP's use of "average" to mean the, er, mean and thought surely there were still enough heavy readers to drag that higher than 5. Good thing there were.
posted by bonaldi at 5:43 PM on July 18, 2014


Yeah, the mean isn't a very interesting way to look at the average number of books per year. I agree with howfar that the median is a better average to use. And, hell, 5 is probably high since I think people are probably more likely to lie about reading more books per year than they really did read rather than less.

My problem would be that I have no idea how many books I've read this year (or any year). How am I supposed to keep track? I can tell you the last 3-4 books I've read but after that it gets kinda hazy.
posted by Justinian at 5:44 PM on July 18, 2014


Until the selection improves dramatically, I'll stick with buying individual Kindle books. And I do hope that other services like Oyster give Amazon some real competition.
posted by wintermute2_0 at 5:45 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


How am I supposed to keep track?
I like Goodreads because it has a good iPhone app, but LibraryThing's also pretty neat.
posted by bonaldi at 5:46 PM on July 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


Justinian: "How am I supposed to keep track?"

My Kobo keeps track and also counts the minutes. The latter is for me a surprisingly high number.
posted by Mitheral at 5:46 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


I like the idea of Overdrive and use it occasionally but almost all the books my local library offers are locked to Windows and Windows devices only...

Overdrive's ebooks are offered as epub, pdf, or kindle, all of which can be read on multiple devices/platforms.

Unless you're talking about audiobooks, in which case, yes, some are wma only.
posted by zakur at 5:47 PM on July 18, 2014


I'm just working my way through every page of audiobooks and adding all the ones that seem remotely interesting to my library so I can get them from audible on my iDevice. It looks like there's a lot of classics on here, which is nice, because I really prefer professional narration to most LibriVox titles.

And yeah, zakur, I was talking about audiobooks.
posted by NoraReed at 5:50 PM on July 18, 2014


Winna Georg, who lives in library

hey lady I totally have some couch and chairs under all these books somewhere. and I never have books in the kitchen. mostly.

although it does explain the counter by the front door and the book slot.
posted by winna at 5:50 PM on July 18, 2014 [9 favorites]


Ooo, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat has audio! Looks like there's a TON of romance on there too, if that's anybody's cup of tea.
posted by NoraReed at 5:53 PM on July 18, 2014


If their selection was better for web design and development stuff, quick-start overview books for languages and concepts and such, I'd be all over this. The reading I do for enjoyment, I'll gladly buy those books one-by-one, because I reread them often. But, like, O'Reilly books, stuff that I read just to get me up and running on a project? 90% of the time those are one-and-done except the occasional quality reference book, and those really add up.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:54 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Oooh and so is Indexing by mefite favorite Seanan McGuire! I already bought it, but maybe some of you haven't?
posted by NoraReed at 5:55 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


No results for "laundry files" (reading the latest now so it was on the tip of my mind) but they've totally got Laundry Day (MILF Files Book 1) so there's that.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:57 PM on July 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


Trying to get ebooks from the public library to my Kindle (Paperwhite) is such a pain in the ass I'd rather pay a few bucks and get it immediately and delivered wirelessly from Amazon.

I'm not paying for the content as much as I'm paying for the convenience. On topic: the Kindle Unlimited selection looks pretty poor.
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:58 PM on July 18, 2014


Any general recommendations from the weird selection they have right now?
posted by Memo at 5:58 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Margery Allingham's Campion series is all on there except the first one which is for sale at 1.99 but skip it it's not really a Campion book.
posted by winna at 6:03 PM on July 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


Looks like there's a TON of romance on there too

what about the Very Virile Viking

asking for a friend
posted by elizardbits at 6:09 PM on July 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


Leave it to MetaFilter to spend most of a post about reading talking about math :D
posted by thebrokedown at 6:13 PM on July 18, 2014 [6 favorites]


If you're an author and opt to make your book available, it prevents you from selling/publishing that work anywhere else.

The big name books like Harry Potter don't have the same restriction I don't think.
posted by reiichiroh at 6:21 PM on July 18, 2014


Consider the authors' perspective. A recent Askme: As-a-Kindle-eBook-author-how-terrified-should-I-be-of-Kindle-Unlimited.
posted by travelwithcats at 6:22 PM on July 18, 2014 [6 favorites]


A lot of the Georgette Heyer books are on there! I recommend The Reluctant Widow, Masqueraders, Cotillion and Talisman Ring, but they're all good. I just picked those because they're my favorites.
posted by winna at 6:32 PM on July 18, 2014 [6 favorites]


This, like what something along the lines of spotify will do to music, is the future of reading for the average person though.

Buffet streaming services that essentially replace recording collections gut sales revenues, replacing them with fractional scale streaming revenues, but at least we're largely talking about pop music, something one could argue we already have enough of, something that will probably remain within enough reach that some people will do it in their spare time for free, something for which marked depth is neither valued nor essential for important social reflection.

Meanwhile, in publishing, we're just talking about a long form medium for discussing ideas that include some that may be essential for a better (or even continued) future for society, supported by an industry that barely has an idea of how to make its economics work at all right now.

Sounds great.
posted by weston at 6:42 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


You could argue that we have enough pop music, but there's also a lot of serious important music that's been affected by the decline in sales and rise of streaming. Yes the pop stuff is what most people pay attention to, but it's the same with books. Most readers aren't going into serious writing on a regular basis. It's trashy romance novels, airport thrillers and Book 12 of an indistinguishable from the hundred other fantasy series. Which is fine, but let's not pretend one medium is inherently better than another.
posted by downtohisturtles at 6:58 PM on July 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


How does this selection overlap with the "kindle owners lending library" / "prime" kindle books? It sounds like this new service is not linked to kindle devices, which is good, but unless the selection is better on Kindle Unlimited than Lending Library, it's not worth much.

As for overdrive vs kindle paperwhite: last time I used it, it was painless. Select book on overdrive, check out with library card #, go to amazon, click "deliver to paperwhite". The book appeared on my device when I connected it to wifi (which was right away, as I was at home at the time). I wonder what was different when twobucksplus tried it and was frustrated. (I do think this has become a bit more streamlined on the overdrive side since they first introduced kindle support, but don't quote me on that)

For 3g-only devices like a Kindle 2, it is indeed a pain (download & transfer with USB cable).
posted by jepler at 7:01 PM on July 18, 2014


James Gleick's book Chaos is on there, and William Benjamin's Illuminations, if you're in the mood for heavier reading. So is Jayne's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.

And the complete Lilith's Brood trilogy by Octavia Butler!
posted by winna at 7:07 PM on July 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


I would seriously like a detailed account of how exactly one manages to read 5 books a week, every week.
posted by the bricabrac man at 7:12 PM on July 18, 2014


Lots of novels can be read in an evening, but for me they have to be pulp that doesn't require much attention.
posted by jepler at 7:18 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


I would seriously like a detailed account of how exactly one manages to read 5 books a week, every week.

I need to do something while waiting for my Actions in Fallen London to refresh.
posted by betweenthebars at 7:31 PM on July 18, 2014 [5 favorites]


I would seriously like a detailed account of how exactly one manages to read 5 books a week, every week.

It's certainly doable. My wife writes a daily book review blog that covers (mostly) genre fiction. She also contributes a post a week to a collective book review blog. The upshot is that she reads an average of five to six books a week.

She reads on the bus to and from work, at lunch and dinner, and for an hour or two at bedtime. Yes, she's a fast reader, but from my experience watching her, what matters more is simply sticking to a regular reading schedule.
posted by metaquarry at 7:32 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


I read quickly and don't have cable. In the time it would take to watch an hour-long show, I can finish a short to normal-length novel. If it's dense material it might take longer.
posted by winna at 7:35 PM on July 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


I vowed publicly that if I subscribe, I'll donate $10/month to the local library too. I might do the second part anyway.
posted by DigDoug at 7:35 PM on July 18, 2014 [3 favorites]


For people with little kids, the John Bellairs Johnny Dixon books are on there.

Or for those of us who loved them when we were kids.
posted by winna at 7:40 PM on July 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


I tried Scribd and quickly found there simply wasn't enough content. It's incredibly frustrating to find that virtually nothing you search for is there. Leaves you with a negative feeling about the service overall. I'll take a look at this Kindle deal but 600,000 books is really not very many at all, not unless they're really picking and choosing the very best. Which I doubt. Scribd, sorry to say, was mostly like browsing the bargain bins at a chain bookstore.
posted by HotToddy at 7:57 PM on July 18, 2014


When Netflix started its streaming service, it was really one of the worst things ever. It had nothing except for a handful of movies you'd hardly ever heard of. What they had, though, was a customer base on which to build a better service, and they pulled it off in a few short years. I'm pretty sure that Amazon's current offering will grow quickly, if they can prove that there is a way to monetize it.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:14 PM on July 18, 2014


bricabrac: I would seriously like a detailed account of how exactly one manages to read 5 books a week, every week.

My personal record was 13, one long summer's day. I don't read anything near as much these days (or rather, I don't read novels that much anymore), but anything I do read I knock off in 1-3 hours generally. So it's just someone who reads a book instead of watching TV or whatever in the evenings.
posted by tavella at 8:47 PM on July 18, 2014


I've purchased 5 Kindle books in the last 24 hours (and read 3 of them). So in theory, that $40 could have gotten me 4 months of Kindle Unlimited - except none of the books I bought are offered.

I like the idea .. mostly .. but until their selection gets better, it hardly seems worth it.
posted by dotgirl at 12:48 AM on July 19, 2014


I would seriously like a detailed account of how exactly one manages to read 5 books a week, every week.

I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.
-Woody Allen
posted by Pantalaimon at 1:22 AM on July 19, 2014 [3 favorites]


Leave it to MetaFilter to spend most of a post about reading talking about math :D

If you do a statistical breakdown on this thread and it's topics of discussion, you'll find more discussion regarding people's reading habits and content availability than the discussion of the math.

I can send you some detailed analysis if you wish.
posted by el io at 1:49 AM on July 19, 2014 [4 favorites]


I won't be subscribing at this time because I don't read enough, but KU would be a decent solution for me. My local library system is not listed on OverDrive. And they (my library) support every e-reader I've ever heard of except non-Fire Kindles. I use a Kindle Paperwhite primarily because it doesn't trigger migraines like my tablet sometimes does. Their page on the topic basically states that supporting Kindle would mean going through Amazon for downloads, which for whatever reason, they don't want to do.

Also, it looks like it might have recently changed, but I am pretty sure that borrowing ebooks from my library still required I go there in person.

I really wish this was either bundled with Prime, or let me choose between their new music service (which I don't want/need) and this.
posted by IndigoRain at 3:27 AM on July 19, 2014


I recommend The Reluctant Widow, Masqueraders, Cotillion and Talisman Ring, but they're all good. I just picked those because they're my favorites.

Come on, what about The Grand Sophy?
posted by smoke at 3:59 AM on July 19, 2014 [2 favorites]


When Netflix started its streaming service, it was really one of the worst things ever. It had nothing except for a handful of movies you'd hardly ever heard of. What they had, though, was a customer base on which to build a better service, and they pulled it off in a few short years. I'm pretty sure that Amazon's current offering will grow quickly, if they can prove that there is a way to monetize it.

But when Netflix started their streaming service, it was a free side-benefit of having a disc-mailing account (didn't you get 1 hour of streaming for every dollar you monthly subscription cost?), not something you had to pay $10/month extra for.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 4:05 AM on July 19, 2014


I would seriously like a detailed account of how exactly one manages to read 5 books a week, every week.

Probably reading a lot of 200-250 page light novels.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 4:31 AM on July 19, 2014


It doesn't look to me like any book I have bought this year (and there have been many) is there, but I am doing the trial anyhow. One of my many addictions is flashy superhero comics, and I can easily read through a 200-page collection of those in an hour or two, so this would more than pay off for me if anything like that was there; it's not, really. On the other hand, a lot of the Fantagraphics Peanuts collections are, and I've been reading those as monthly borrows, so that is cool. I'm not sure I'll actually start paying $10 for this service, though. I'm positive I would be pleasantly surprised by books I found browsing the selections, but if I still have to buy most or all of the books I set out to find, I'm not sure it'd be worth it.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:10 AM on July 19, 2014


the bricabrac man
I would seriously like a detailed account of how exactly one manages to read 5 books a week, every week.


winna
I read quickly and don't have cable. In the time it would take to watch an hour-long show, I can finish a short to normal-length novel. If it's dense material it might take longer.


Okay, so I have to do a little math on this. Let's say a normal-length novel is 250 pages. And an hour-long TV show runs 40 minutes. So, this means a reading speed of about six pages/minute or a page every 10 seconds.

I guess that's doable, but, dang, that sounds like head-down, plow-through-this-mother work. Then again, I'm not what you'd call an Evelyn Wood Speed Readerâ„¢.
posted by the sobsister at 7:04 AM on July 19, 2014


Kittens for breakfast, have you tried Marvel Unlimited? Shitloads of flashy superhero comics for $10/month.
posted by NoraReed at 7:16 AM on July 19, 2014


I'm going to give it a try. My public library lets me download ebooks, but the selection is limited. Amazon might not have all my favorites, but it will give me a chance to try out books I'd never look at otherwise.

I have to believe that the more people who sign up, the more authors will want their books made available. Maybe the payment structure will mean that more readers at a smaller royalty will give a higher payout than a smaller level of sales would. Or maybe new books are still priced higher, but older books could make some money since people wouldn't be buying them as used books.

I do see that Liz Williams' Inspector Chen novels are available. I recommend them all the time. Here's your chance to try them out.
posted by AMyNameIs at 7:40 AM on July 19, 2014 [1 favorite]


Which is fine, but let's not pretend one medium is inherently better than another.

I love music. Really, really love it. I listen a lot. I spend money on it when I have money. I play two instruments passably well, I sing, I have delusions of songwriting/composition competence, I like to study theory.

But I also don't think there's any question about whether the written word is more important that recorded music; it is. It's a major engine behind the transmission and durability of ideas and histories and disciplines. It's a significant part of our ability to learn as individuals and solve problems as a society. We mess with its place at the risk of imperiling those benefits.
posted by weston at 8:10 AM on July 19, 2014 [1 favorite]


Okay, so I have to do a little math on this. Let's say a normal-length novel is 250 pages. And an hour-long TV show runs 40 minutes. So, this means a reading speed of about six pages/minute or a page every 10 seconds.

I guess that's doable, but, dang, that sounds like head-down, plow-through-this-mother work. Then again, I'm not what you'd call an Evelyn Wood Speed Readerâ„¢.


Well, as someone said above, I'm not reading Proust at that rate. If you're reading a Gladys Mitchell whodunit before bed (they're on kindle unlimited, too!), the pace doesn't impair your ability to enjoy it. And I'd forgot an hour show isn't an hour - I meant a real hour. But yeah, I read at a gallop and always have a book. When I was little the worst punishment my mother could concoct was to forbid me to read. So it's just how I am.
posted by winna at 8:29 AM on July 19, 2014


Romance novelist Carolyn Jewel wrote an interesting post analyzing the program and its profit possibilities from an author's perspective.

I read many books a month but definitely don't spend $9.99 a month on them. The extent of books available on Kindle Unlimited isn't quite worth it to me yet, when I can borrow from the library enough books to keep me happy.

But I think I might take the free trial offer eventually, because there ARE a lot of good books in there! It looks like Open Road's entire catalog is available. They publish the backlist of A LOT of authors across many genres, and a reader could be kept busy with a month of Octavia Butler, Muriel Spark, Dorothy L. Sayers, Barbara Hambly (The Ladies of Mandrigyn! it's awesome!), Nicola Barker, Alice Walker, Jennifer Johnston, etc., etc.

As mentioned above, Sourcebooks has tons of Georgette Heyer books available (but not all--what's the matter with Devil's Cub, huh??) as well as Susanna Kearsley's lovely time-slip novel, The Winter Sea.

Shelly Laurenston's shifter romance novels through Kensington are available. She writes ruthless, violent, brainy women in zany, multicultural settings. These are ridiculous shifter romances, but these are THE ridiculous shifter romances to read. Her latest is Bite Me, with a romance between Chinese-Polish honey badger shifter and a Russian grizzly-tiger hybrid shifter. I'm about halfway through it, and I admire the author's restraint in crafting sentences that could basically be translated as "Honey badger don't care" but without saying those words exactly. Also, they go to a Renaissance Faire run by bears. It's no Bear, but it has its good points.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 9:36 AM on July 19, 2014 [1 favorite]


Amazon has morphed from being a bright young thing to being a mature company - and a mature company that systematically mistreats its workers at all levels. Once my wife and I realized this they ceased to get a dime of our money, even if it costs us more to go elsewhere.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:04 AM on July 19, 2014


I signed up for it yesterday. There's a few reasons I think it'll be worth the money for me. First off, I constantly scour the deal sections and buy stuff for $2, with so much available to borrow, I feel less a need to do that. I'm working on my Excel skills, and it gave me access to a few of those books for free, along with job interview ones and even computer programming books. Finally, while I don't have a Kindle Fire yet, this could be great for exposing my kids to a bunch of different books at a low cost.

My house is filled with books (and a Kindle and a Nook), and this probably won't effect the physical books I buy that much, but it's a cool service.
posted by drezdn at 10:33 AM on July 19, 2014


Kittens for breakfast, have you tried Marvel Unlimited? Shitloads of flashy superhero comics for $10/month.

I've heard good things, but I'm looking for a more generalized selection across a variety of publishers; if everyone had their own $10 a month free service, I might as well just buy stuff! (ETA: I do in fact buy stuff now. I only buy stuff. Just to make it clear!)
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:47 AM on July 19, 2014


I wonder if this is going to have all the advantages but also disadvantages of other subscriber media. Take netflix. First of course, is the insanely limited selection. But much more irritating from my perspective is that even if you do manage to find the thing that interests you, all sorts of availability fuckery starts - "available until date x", titles suddenly no longer available, and other bullshit like any kind of rights or market or promotion conflicts and boom, suddenly what was there is no longer there. And remember the disappearing '1984'? Bu..bu...but they proooomised they'd never do it again - nnnnot until the next time! Forever held hostage by the fact that you don't _own_ the material. Which is why my music/books etc. hard drives and even physical media like vinyl/CD are forever growing in the face of laughter and jeering from my younger friends tethered to Spotify and the like... I'll charge them an arm and a leg or at least feed them a massive meal of crow when the time comes. OK, ok, so I understand this is just another additional service, not a replacement, but well, one wonders - at least when it comes to music, first the physical media market collapsed and digital downloads were supposed to be the savior, until that too started declining recently. One can only hope it's different with books, and hope is not an easy thing to muster these days.
posted by VikingSword at 12:13 PM on July 19, 2014


My experience has been that betting against Amazon is a losing proposition, so I went ahead and signed up without worrying too much about the content, as I expect it will only get bigger. I remember people saying the same thing when the Kindle first came out - that there weren't enough books available to make it worthwhile. I don't read as much as some of the folks in this thread, but according to my Kindle history, I've bought 485 things from the store in the last 5.5 years, so call it roughly 80 (e)books a year, or six or seven books a month at an average of maybe $5/book. I usually keep a queue of a couple of dozen samples that I intend to buy in a folder on my Kindle, so that was a good test for how much the current Kindle Unlimited content matches my tastes. Most of my "to buy" samples aren't in the 600,000 book universe, but a couple are, so if that hit rate is representative, the financials will probably work out for me. Worth a try, at least - I'll come back in a couple of months and look at how many "free" books I read and re-evaluate.
posted by BlueTongueLizard at 12:14 PM on July 19, 2014


@emptythought Thank you for the heads up on Overdrive. I don't live in what anybody would consider a major city, but our library system's supported.
posted by broken wheelchair at 7:51 PM on July 19, 2014


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