Kindle Unlimited Subscription, is it worth it?

[VictoriaMcMillen]

I am a mother of four young readers and I love reading myself... obviously. How useful is the subscription for a family with multiple devices? Do the books you save transfer across devices? Please do let me know your likes and dislikes of the subscription!

[Clinical1]

I can answer this for you. I am an avid reader. I read for work and for pleasure. I owned a nook for several years and found that I was reading on my nook app more than the nook itself. When my husband opened an Amazon account for the 2 day shipping it came with a free month of Kindle Unlimited. I was in love. I am in my 3rd year of membership and cannot count the number of books I have downloaded and read.
I use my kindle app on my phone, MS surface and my laptop. Some books automatically sync, and some do not. When they sync it's awesome, but when they don't it is only a few seconds of inconvenience.
I use the multiple devices totally interchangeable based on my location. In my home office, I typically read work information from the laptop. I use my surface when sitting on the sofa or on a plane, and I use my phone in bed, in the car or doctor's offices, etc.
I often have 2 or 3 books in progress, so that would work well for your children and you. The only downside I would see to sharing your account with the kids is that all users might be able to see all downloaded books. You might want to be careful what you download if you don't want the kids to see what you are reading.
I strongly support kindle unlimited for a reading family.
Have fun with it.

[VictoriaMcMillen]

Thank you very much for your insightful reply. You answered most of my questions relating the applicability of the service. As with all technology, it would be nice to better manage the parental controls! Thanks again!

[polar_palm_tree]

I also like Amazon Unlimited but for different reasons. I like doing research, and some of the books are available for me to browse through without having to purchase them. The real test is that I have to read/access a minimum of $9.99 worth of eBooks every month to make it worthwhile. One advantage is the one free book selection every month that is yours to keep forever. The selections are often very good, but sometimes, there is a lack of diversity.

There are a couple of drawbacks to Unlimited. If you decide to quit, you will not have access to any of those unlimited books. They will not be accessible unless you purchase them. That may not be an issue if you are a one-time reader, but if you would like to keep those books, this will make you cry! The other downer is that many of the unlimited books are of lower quality. You will rarely find a new best-seller on the list.

[Mommareads14]

I have been using. Kindle unlimited for over. 4 years. It has saved me money. All around. Buy not buying books storing and driving to get them.You pick a book read. It and then send it back. You can read it as many time as you want. You do not have to renew them even 14 days. Your subscription. Is well worth. What the cost. The best part yet is that you can have them on several devices

[DancingLady]

I have decided not to subscribe because I don't see there being any possibility of me getting my money's worth from it. Probably, at my most prolific book buying stage of life, I spent perhaps $6-8 per month in a local shop. Now that I am doing reviews of books I get for free, I don't anticipate having any motive to buy another book for a very, very long time. BTW, I am also a supporter of out local Free Little Libraries around town, so book buying is very minimal for me anyway.

[krithikagowri]

It is a question I have too. I have an Amazon prime but yet to get a kindle unlimited subscription. After reading these posts, tempts me to subscribe.

[mcfeealexis]

I think it depends on what type of books you are interested in. For me when I browse through the kindle unlimited catalog I see a lot of self puplish books and mostly adult romance novels. I love support the authors that chose to self publish so I will contribute any way I can. Also what surprise me is that I have found some great books that deserve some more love. I think if you like supporting self publish authors then you should get kindle unlimited.

[P0tt3ry]

Thank all of you, I have a subscription but missed the free book a month aspect. I think it's time to browse the catalog!

[Ambermcn]

I feel it is worth it. I am a speed reader so buying books can get expensive because I read so fast. The unlimited subscription gives me a large source of content to choose from and keeps me in books all month. Granted, there is not always books I have been wanting to read, but I can always find something that interests me.

[louie21dr71]

I, too have been a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. What I notice that was not mentioned here was that, you are only allowed to borrow 10 books maximum. So depending on how fast you read, you can always return the books and get a new one. Also, be sure to go to your settings and sync your device just to be sure that whatever device you are on will be updated. When you choose the book you are currently reading, it will just give you a notification that says you are on a certain page of the last device used.
I hope that helps.

[Shaggy-Reads]

The books are available for all devices but I wouldn’t waste my cash. I went this route and still paid for a ton of books. Most of those offered are already free or .99 books. There are a few that are 2-3 and the rare 4-5 dollar books. All in all it is waste of time, energy, and money. Any book you purchase for kindle is available on every device you own and register with the kindle app. With unlimited the books are borrowed so they have to be returned. Why pay for books you never can keep? And why pay for free or cheap books? The most popular books and publishing companies aren’t even part of the plan. So, in my opinion and experience it is a waste all the way around. And it was a nightmare to cancel. I waited for over an hour to get help for canceling and that’s ridiculous. I believe they make it difficult to stop the plan so many just give up and pay instead of dealing with the hassle. Don’t fall into the trap and mostly don’t waste your money.

[amypattenaude]

Kindle Unlimited reminds me of satellite radio service. Something that used to be free, and now we are convinced we have to pay for it! Not to mention that the monthly subscription is in addition to any Prime account you may or may not have. Currently, at almost $100 per year, why would we want to add on $10 per month? There is a Kindle Library that you can check books out of, there are an abundance of digitally accessible libraries/archives online these days. Not to mention, there are still actual libraries, which is still the best way to teach children a love of reading! I love my Kindle, and I really like Amazon, but there are too many options out there to choose from, and I can't justify spending additional money on a subscription, when I can go down to the local library, or look in the Prime library, or the national library, or even the British libraries that will let you "borrow" e-books. Just like I can see how we justify spending money on radio, when we can still get that for free. But, to each his own, if $120 is cheaper than the gas to get to the library closest to you then I guess it would be worth it. For me, subscriptions to every tiny luxury we use will go the way of cable tv, and far away from my budget.

[dtb]

I have just started a subscription and have no complaints, although I am not using it as much as I thought I would.

[amypattenaude]

I have just started a subscription and have no complaints, although I am not using it as much as I thought I would.

That's the same "excuse" I used 5 years ago when I cancelled my cable.