Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited eBooks subscription service is now officially live
Earlier this week Amazon was found to be testing a service called Kindle Unlimited that would grant all-you-can-eat access to hundreds of thousands of eBooks for a low monthly fee of $10. We weren’t sure how long this “testing” would take, but apparently it wasn’t going to take Amazon very long to dole it out to everyone.
There aren’t any surprises here: the service is exactly what Amazon is advertising it to be. They’ll offer up suggestions on books from featured authors, spotlighted genres and the like, but otherwise that massive library is yours to dig into should you find yourself hankering for some pages on a rainy night.
We should note that — in a very non-Amazon-like way — there is no trial period. You’re paying $10 the moment you sign up, so think long and hard about whether this service is right for you before you do that. That said, there’s never an obligation to continue should you find yourself dissatisfied. And you’re always free to check out the roster of books they’re offering before signing up.
Digging through their terms of use didn’t unravel anything unusual. As with any subscription service of this sort, access to books may be removed without a moment’s notice, and the list will always change as licensing agreements are added or expire. Unfortunately, the one thing the terms did confirm that many of you might not like is that this is only available for folks in the United States right now, but that might change in the months and years to come. Let us know if you’ll be turning in your library card to give this a shot.