Hi Friends,
Today, I’m talking about the recent changes to Kindle Unlimited! Amazon just announced that Kindle Unlimited is now Kindle+. The main question I had was whether this was just a name change to fit in with other subscription services like Disney+, Paramount+, and Hallmark+, or whether there were bigger updates. Well, apparently, a Kindle+ subscription now lets you listen to way more audiobooks! As a Kindle Unlimited subscriber and avid audiobook listener, this is actually pretty exciting news to me.
What’s stayed the same?
Price: The $11.99 monthly price hasn’t changed, which is nice to hear considering many subscriptions have been going up lately.
Borrowing Limit: You can still borrow up to 20 titles at a time, and there’s no due date for returning them.
Where to Read: As always, you can access Kindle+ through your Kindle e-reader and any device that can access the Kindle app.
So, what’s changed?
Massive Audiobook Catalog!
Personally, I believe that adding more ebooks with the Read and Listen feature makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint. For one, Audible costs $14.99, and you only get one credit per month to redeem for an audiobook. While Audible does have some free-to-listen titles, most readers gravitate toward Kindle Unlimited not only because of its price but also because it includes titles from well-known authors as well as self-published authors. If you’re anything like me and love supporting indie authors, you know that a lot of them use KU, or now Kindle+, as a huge source of income. So, I can understand how shifting more audiobooks to Kindle+ could help if people are unsubscribing from Audible.
Related Post: Audiobook Subscriptions | My Recommendation
AI-Narrated Audiobooks
Now, the biggest thing is that Amazon is also using AI narration for some audiobooks, which is completely mind-blowing to me. I have a lot of thoughts about AI, especially in the book community and creative spaces in general. However, I’ll save those thoughts for another time. But if Amazon cares about readers at all, they would know that AI is a no-go in the book community.
I would like to preface this by saying that this is an entirely optional choice for authors, and they can opt out of allowing AI voice narration. However, my biggest problem is that the app doesn’t really show you if a book uses AI narration. I borrowed two ebooks that included the Read and Listen feature, and while my research suggests there should be a disclaimer stating that the book uses an AI narrator, neither one provided any information about the narrator. That said, I have seen screenshots from others showing the narrator info in the book details tab, so I’m not sure if this is just a glitch with my Kindle app.
I was able to find the narrator information by going to each book’s audiobook page on Amazon’s website, and sure enough, one of the audiobooks listed the narrator as ‘Virtual Voice.’ However, the other book was by a well-known author, and the audiobook listed an actual narrator. So, if you aren’t able to find the info in your Kindle app, check the website and see who the narrator is.
What Do I Think?
All of this feels like Amazon is slowly testing the waters to phase out Audible and combine both services into Kindle+, which honestly wouldn’t be the worst idea. I discovered that if you borrow an e-book that doesn’t include audio, you can upgrade and buy the audiobook through Audible at a discounted price—which supports my theory that Audible might not be doing so well.
As an audiobook lover, I think adding more Read and Listen books to Kindle+ is great, especially for anyone who wants to listen to audiobooks without paying for a separate Audible subscription. However, I’m really not here for AI narration. I don’t want to bash authors who choose to allow it because I understand how hard it is to make it as an indie author, and producing an audiobook can be quite expensive. Offering an audiobook could potentially help them reach a whole new group of readers, so I can see how it could be appealing to an indie author. Still, I feel as though AI narration lacks emotion and takes work away from actual, dedicated human narrators.
I will say that the fact that Kindle+ and Audible aren’t included with an Amazon Prime subscription is kind of ridiculous. I think that if Amazon included Kindle+ in Amazon Prime or made it an add-on for possibly $4.99, more people would subscribe to both Amazon Prime and Kindle+, meaning more people would likely shop through Amazon. But what do I know about business?
Still, one thing I do believe is that we might be seeing the end of Audible. I have a feeling that in a year or so, there might not be an Audible anymore, and we’ll just have Kindle+, which will include audiobooks. There would probably be a price increase if that happens, though.
In the comments, let me know your thoughts on the transition from Kindle Unlimited to Kindle+ and the fact that they now offer books with AI narration! Don’t forget to like this post and share it with your reader friends, especially the ones subscribed to Kindle+. Please consider signing up for my mailing list, as it helps my little blog grow and reach new readers!
Until The Next Chapter.
Bunny
All book synopses are sourced from Amazon or Goodreads.
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