The Kindle Unlimited program was rolled out last month and I have been enjoying the first month free promotion as I see where this subscription program will fit within my list of subscriptions. There is quite a lot to like about it! One of the best parts is that you get a free trial month.
Kindle Unlimited – A Must For Travelers
Program Advantages
For those who are prime members, you may think it is similar to the program already available called the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. There are a couple of stark differences that make the Kindle Unlimited a far better option.
First, the Lending Library is only available to Amazon Prime members while the Kindle Unlimited subscription is available to anyone with an Amazon account and a credit card. Also, the Lending Library only allows you to have one book at a time and only one book per month. The Kindle Unlimited program is just that – unlimited books in a month and up to 10 books at one time.
Finally, what may be the biggest draw for many people is this – the Lending Library only offers the books to actual Kindle devices. So, those of you with tablets are not able to read the books, even if you have a Kindle and have borrowed the book (it will not show up in your library on the tablet). The Kindle Unlimited books can be read on any device that has the Kindle app! So, that allows you to read on your iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, computers – whatever! That is huge!
In addition to all of the above, it also has about 100,000 more books available than the Lending Library does, making for over 600,000 books in the store. That is a lot of books – all available for $9.99 per month
Listening on the Go
Listen on the go
How about if you are in the middle of a book and you are going out for a run or need to drive somewhere? The Kindle Unlimited program also offers Voice with WhisperSync. This does not replace an Audible collection but does allow you to access the audio of 2,500 of the books. It will sync with where you are in the book and start up from that point as you switch to audio. Then, it will sync the actual book later as well. To see which books are offered through this part of the program, click here.
As another perk, you will get a free month Audible subscription with Kindle Unlimited that will give you access to the full Audible library.
Why “A Must For Travelers?”
If you are like me, you try to get as much information before you depart on a trip as you can. Not only that, but it is nice to have a travel guide on the trip for reference as well. The bad part for me is that my bookshelf used to be full of Lonely Planet travel guides – bad because I never used them again after the trip! Sure, they were indispensable to me in preparing for the trip and actually being on the trip, but I do not have any great use after I return. I would have borrowed them from my library, but they never had the locations I needed in an updated format (many were over 10 years old – a lot can change in a country in 10 years!).
Borrow Lonely Planet Guides for free!
Well, the whole Lonely Planet collection is available through the Kindle Unlimited program! Many of these books are expensive even for Kindle edition! Instead, you can start your Kindle Unlimited membership during the month of your trip, borrow as many books as you need (up to 10 at once) and then cancel it until your next trip! Instead of paying a lot of money for your travel guides, they all only cost $10. That is a great deal and one which should be available for any place you visit.
In addition, you can also pick up books about the history of where you are going or maybe even current events. All of that for a one month subscription cost of $9.99 is something that I will do – and save some money and convenience.
My Experience
I must say, I have been enjoying my trial month of Kindle Unlimited! I have read more books than I normally have and find the selection to be perfect for me. Sure, it does not have any books from the biggest of publishers, but there are still many books there to select from.
Not only that, but it has saved me money on a couple of books that I wanted to get for the Kindle. I started reading them and realized that they were not all worth the price that was being charged for them. I had not borrowed them from the Lending Library because of the one-book-per-month restriction and I had other books on my list. Getting to borrow a book and read it to see if I want it later is perfect for me!
Have you tried Kindle Unlimited? What do you think?
I have had the same challenge with guidebooks from the library, whether paper or ebook format, many editions are very old and then same may be ebook but not Kindle format. Nice to have the LP library available, I would pay double if they were the most recent pre-2011 formats with the good maps! Though I must admit, using a guidebook on a Kindle is a challenge, I may even get a separate tablet at some point.
You are right – it is a challenge on the Kindle. There are some pretty good tablet deals around, especially during this time of year. The cheap tablets are nice to have on trips so it can slip in your bag for around town/pocket and also give you some internet access when needed. Seriously, though, they should get you to write some of their guidebooks!