Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited service is the digital library we’ve always wanted (updated)

   

Amazon has now officially unveiled the Kindle Unlimited service. As expected, subscribers will have all-you-can-read access to around 600,000 e-books — which might sound like a lot, but it’s just a tiny portion of the millions of books that you can buy from Amazon. This is because many world’s larger publishers haven’t signed up to the program (and to be honest, it may be months or years before Amazon can convince them otherwise). The original story is below.

At long last, information has finally surfaced regarding the hotly awaited all-you-can read e-book service from Amazon. Dubbed “Kindle Unlimited,” this service will supposedly offer over 600,000 e-books and thousands of audiobooks for $10 per month. If Amazon can actually deliver a massive catalog of high-quality books at roughly the same price as a Netflix subscription, maybe this signals the beginning of a new kind of library — a service for the digital age.

Amazon has yet to officially announce the program, but that hasn’t stopped eagle-eyed Kindle fans from finding evidence directly on Amazon’s site. As you can see in this Google cache, Amazon clearly intends to launch this service in the near future. With franchises like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Lord of the Rings being displayed prominently, it’s clear that Amazon has the deals in place to deliver popular literature at this relatively low monthly price. The selection of audiobooks isn’t quite as robust, but keep in mind that this service will directly compete with Amazon’s existing Audible subscription service.

Now that video streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are commonplace, it’s no surprise to see a growing number of people shirking cable and Blu-rays completely. Why buy and store plastic discs when you can binge-watch your favorite shows for a few bucks every month? If Amazon can deliver that same experience for books, Kindle Unlimited could completelychange the market. Why purchase individual e-books or bulky physical copies when you can have your pick of hundreds of thousands of books for just ten dollars?

Similarly, this distribution method puts most public libraries to shame. These aging institutions haven’t fared well during the digital revolution, and they simply don’t have the same bargaining power that Amazon does when it comes to working with publishers. Libraries still have plenty of uses for students and individuals without internet access at home, but veracious readers will probably be better off paying a small monthly fee to Amazon in exchange for the convenience of digital distribution.

I just looked at my library’s e-book collection, and frankly, it’s embarrassing. Only a few thousand eBooks and a few hundred audiobooks are available for library members, and the restrictions are absurd. You have to reserve the titles as if they were physical books, and even then there are strict limits imposed. If all of the “copies” are already checked out, tough luck. You’ll just have to wait for someone to “return” the book — just awful. This space is ripe for disruption, and Amazon seems willing to serve as the 21st century’s digital library.