Amazon announced a new subscription service which allows customers to read as much as they choose from its library of more than 600,000 e-books, according to The Associated Press.
Subscribers to the Kindle Unlimited service, which costs $9.99 per month, can read the e-books on Amazon's Kindle reader or on any device that supports the Kindle app, the AP reported. Subscribers also have access to thousands of audio books.
The service will offer about 2,000 audiobooks from Audible with Whispersync for Voice, which lets users switch between reading and listening to books and subscribers will get a free three-month membership to the broader Audible service, which has 150,000 titles, according to the AP. Amazon is also offering a free 30-day trial to entice users to try the service.
The move is a switch from Amazon's latest efforts, which have largely focused on adding services to its Prime loyalty program, the AP reported.
Amazon has recently launched a video streaming box and grocery delivery service, unveiled plans for a smartphone and expanded its Sunday delivery service, all for members of Prime, but Kindle Unlimited is for anyone with a Kindle device or app, according to the AP.
The changes come at an uneasy time for the company and its relationship with publishers, because it has been in a public squabble with Hachette over e-book prices, the AP reported. Amazon did not disclose the terms it worked out with publishers who are part of Kindle Unlimited.
Major publishers like Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon and Schuster confirmed they are not part of the service, while Penguin Random House declined to comment, according to the AP. Still, the service offers a selection of high-profile titles, including the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the "Harry Potter" series and classics like Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" and George Orwell's "Animal Farm."
