Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/...

600,000 available titles, some audible books available, only in the US.
Bears watching.

30 day free trial available.

Over the course of a year, Kindle Unlimited costs more than Prime and there are more benefits to getting Prime. Kindle Unlimited is causing me to look at Prime more favorably.

I followed the link to see what books I was reading were available. The newest of releases were not in the library, but there were books within 6 months of current. For now, I'm sticking with my blend of new release, used book store, library, and swaps with friends.

Interesting, thanks for sharing, Barry.
A hypothetical example:
So if I buy 12 kindle books a year at $10 each now, I could spend the same and get those plus a whole lot more? I wonder if the Whispersync deals on audible.com would still work with any Kindle book in your Kindle library?

It's tempting but alot of the books I want to read aren't there. I'm gonna hold off. Interlibrary loans, overdrive give me most of what I want to read for free. Free wins!

I only buy usually if I'm impatient or I love the author and feel like I'm not being supportive by reading their work for free.

I agree with the "Free is Good", Christina!
My Kindle book purchases are rarely over $5 each. I may buy them when there are no Overdrive library copies, mainly to accompany an audio book from audible. I don't know that $120 a year on top of Prime makes any sense for me at all, but I can see that they need to be competitive with others having a similar service.
The options for accessing books, the various formats and the easy availability and portability of downloads makes for some complex decision-making when contemplating reading a book.

I saw this when I logged on to Amazon this morning. A quick check to see if Cop Town was available (it wasn't) had me conclude that new releases were not part of this, and a scan of the ones being presented as available didn't interest me. Barry's more extensive research backs up the new release conclusion.

It sounded appealing at first blush, but then I had to remember that I barely keep up with the books I can get from the library for free, my Audible subscription, and what I swap with friends. So, nice try, Amazon, but no thanks to KindleUnlimited.

it seems that - like with the kindle lending library- that many of the newer books are not available. i think it's a ridiculous amount of money to spend to borrow books- especially when we can get those same books free via the library's e-book program. i might look more favorably on it if they added it on as a benefit of prime- especially since they are raising the yearly price of prime.

Sherry: I haven't checked out (pun intended) the list of books, and appreciate those of you who have. It is a pretty high amount of money if new releases aren't included, they might be pricing it higher because of the audio content included?

Sherry wrote: "it seems that - like with the kindle lending library- that many of the newer books are not available. i think it's a ridiculous amount of money to spend to borrow books- especially when we can get the same books free via the library's e-book program ..."

Ann wrote: "Sherry: I haven't checked out (pun intended) the list of books, and appreciate those of you who have. It is a pretty high amount of money if new releases aren't included, they might be pricing it h..."

good point, ann.. it seems like an awful lot of $ to me on a monthly basis. i wonder how people will respond to it.

Cell phone with internet access, cable/satellite TV with special packages, satellite radio, now a book subscription plan. Add them up.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/19/how-...

Another shot fired in the war to end book publishing as we know it. I am not inclined to believe that either side has our best interests at heart.

Nope, neither side does, I am afraid, Barry. So what you noted as absent from the offerings is even more widespread, entire publishing houses sitting out. That doesn't surprise me really, not sure what the benefit (to traditional publishers) would be to be included.
Barry wrote: Another shot fired in the war to end book publishing as we know it. I am not inclined to believe that either side has our best interests at heart. "

None of the "Big Five" printing houses are part of this.

As I said on Book Nook earlier today, I don't care about the Big Five not participating. If I read one of their books in digital format, it's usually from Net Galley. I prefer to read print format books. The purpose of Kindle for me is to obtain books that are only available digitally.

Ok so I'm doing this one and Oyster. Doing the free trials for both. I just read a book on Kindle Unlimited that I enjoyed. However, Oyster has a much a better selection.

I did it mainly for the Anna Seyton novels. They are tomes so I don't want to carry them around, they aren't available from Overdrive for me and the kindle price is about the price as a month's subscription. So I said what the heh, I'll try it. Seemed a way to get more for the money I was prepared to spend regardless.

I have made a list of Kindle Unlimited only books. When I'm done with them I will re-evaluate, probably discontinue. Oyster on the other hand I think I'm gonna hang on to. They have every book in a couple of series I want to read.

Sounds like a wise strategy to monitor and cancel if you run out of kindle titles you might have bought anyway, Christina!
I thought something similar about Kindle Unlimited. I should check more often to see what is included. Oh for the days when one format and one main source (the library) were my options.
Then there were audio books and the library is still my first choice if available.
As for kindle, the print on the screens hurts my eyes a lot less than the printed page, so digital copies gets preference. Again, I am so glad the library often fills that need.
Kindle unlimited with the option for more than the one loaned book allowed at a time from Prime, and no due date like the library - is attractive to me.