Amazon has added a new incentive for people to buy ad-free Kindles over ad-supported models by doubling the term of Kindle Unlimited that you can get for free.
Amazon has been giving customers the option to add 3 months of Kindle Unlimited to new Kindle purchases for a long time, and that option is still available for both ad-free Kindles and Special Offers Kindles.
However, now they’ve added a second option to select 6 months for free, but it’s currently only being offered on ad-free Kindles, which cost $20 more than the ad-supported equivalents.
The Kindle Oasis, Kindle Paperwhite, and entry-level model all have the option to select 6 months for free now.
A Kindle Unlimited subscription normally costs $9.99 per month to get unlimited access to a million or so ebooks, along with a few thousand audiobooks, and some magazines and comics, so being able to get 6 months for free is a pretty good deal.
It’s worth noting these free trials always come with the stipulation of auto-renewing at the end of the free term so Amazon will start charging $9.99 per month, but you can cancel Kindle Unlimited at anytime, even immediately after redeeming the free offer so you will not get charged when it is over.
Now that Amazon has rolled out the new lockscreen book cover feature that shows the cover of the book that you’re currently reading on the sleep screen when the Kindle is turned off, there’s more of a reason to buy an ad-free Kindle since that feature isn’t available on ad-supported models.
I do agree with everyone that they should just drop the whole advert versions. It would make shopping for Kindles a lot easier. Maybe all this might be in indications that in the future they might drop adverts all together?