Amazon has been in the book scene for quite sometime now and surely if anyone wanted a really good deal on books, it would always be at Amazon. Recently, Amazon introduced its Kindle Unlimited plan which is a paid subscription service to read unlimited number of books for a monthly fee of $9.99. Priced along the lines of Spotify for music, Amazon Unlimited seems like a good deal. But will it compare with book subscription competitors Scribd and Oyster?
Both Scribd ($8.99/m) and Oyster ($9.95/m) have a significantly nicer collection in comparison to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. Nicer however, is not good enough. Needless to say, Kindle Unlimited currently has the limited yet largest collection of them all.
Scribd and Oyster are still very good subscription services that boast a decent selection of books and user interfaces that are light years ahead of Amazon’s. Amazon’s advantage lies in the presence of big tickets in its collection such as the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series and award winners such as Life of Pi and the fact that Kindle Unlimited has the potential to truly becoming unlimited.
Selection of Books
Kindle Unlimited is more oriented towards a commercial platform. They have all the books you could possibly want that are already selling in millions. That does not mean they have all the popular ones. There are major ones like Fault in Our Stars or The Book Thief by Markus Zusak that does not make it to Kindle’s Unlimited collection. The best collection of them all is simply the one that appeals to your individual taste the most.
User Interface and Device Compatibility
Oyster introduced an app for its Android users only quite recently. As of now, the 3 major book subscription services offer apps for all platforms and devices.
Oyster takes the cake on user interface. They have simply the best looking app of the three. It not only looks good, it makes you want to read. There are plenty of palettes to choose from. They have features that every book reader would want in their app. Simply told, Oyster takes your ebook reading experience to a whole other level.
The Winner
Personally, I would still stick with Amazon until Oyster decides to go bonkers with its collection of books or when Amazon decides to bring a radical change to its design. For me, the price difference of 5 cents does not make a huge difference. I would pay the extra 5 to get a larger collection than be stuck with a service that all the features but a barren collection. However, if user interface matters strongly to you, Oyster is worth taking a look at.
Divya Ramamoorthy is a graduate from Madras university and a post-graduate (MBA) from Jain Group of Institutions- Bangalore, India, based in San Francisco Bay Area, United States. Divya area of expertise revolves around creating careers, identifying talents, recruiting and assisting people . she is also currently enro ...
