Amazon first introduced their new ebook subscription service, called Kindle Unlimited, in the United States this past July. Then two months later Amazon brought the service to the UK Kindle store.
Now today Amazon has officially launched Kindle Unlimited in Spain and Italy, giving customers an option to pay a monthly subscription rate to get unlimited access to all the ebooks offered in the program, which currently consists of over 700,000 titles.
Not all of Amazon’s Kindle ebooks are available through Kindle Unlimited; most of the big publishing companies won’t agree to offer their ebooks in the program.
The monthly subscription fee is 9.99 euros from the Italy and Spain Kindle stores. In the UK the service costs £7.99 per month, and in the US it is $9.99.
One difference I noticed right away is that audiobooks aren’t included in the Spain and Italy programs like they are in the UK and US. Whispersync for Voice still isn’t offered in those countries for some reason.
When subscribing to Kindle Unlimited, the ebooks can be read on Kindle devices and Kindle reading apps, including apps for iOS and Android.
The service works by giving subscribers unlimited access to all ebooks available in the program. However, you can only have up to 10 titles downloaded at one time. You retain access to the ebooks for as long as you pay the monthly fee, but once you cancel Kindle Unlimited the ebooks can no longer be accessed unless you purchase them. It’s more like renting than buying.
There are a number of other companies competing with Amazon in the new and growing ebook subscription service industry, including Scribd, Oyster, and Entitle.
via: The Bookseller