Amazon's Kindle Unlimited lets you read and listen all you want for $9.99 a month

It didn't take long for the rumors of an e-book subscription service from Amazon to be confirmed. Just a couple of days ago, it was reported that Amazon had been testing something called Kindle Unlimited to compete against the likes of Oyster and Scribd. Now, the company itself has officially announced the service. Indeed called Kindle Unlimited, the new service allows subscribers to read freely from a selection of more than 600,000 Kindle edition e-books for just $9.99 a month. What's more, included in the subscription is the added perk of being able to listen to thousands of audiobooks from Audible, with the ability to switch between reading and listening via Whispersync for Voice. Amazon notes in its announcement:

Finding a great book is easy, and there are never any due dates—just look for the Kindle Unlimited logo on eligible titles and click “Read for Free.” Customers can choose from best sellers like The Hunger Games, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Lord of the Rings, and with thousands of professionally narrated audiobooks from Audible, like The Handmaid’s Tale and Water for Elephants, the story can continue in the car or on the go.

Kindle Unlimited is available now with a free 30-day trial, but it appears to be initially U.S.-only. It's accessible on Kindle e-readers and on Kindle e-reading apps for iOS, Mac, and other supported platforms. Kindle Unlimited subscribers also get a free three-month Audible membership that provides access to Audible's entire audiobook catalog (not just the ones included in Kindle Unlimited). As an avid reader (of both print and electronic books), I'm excited to see what Kindle Unlimited has in store. I've actually just activated my free trial of the service. As it turns out, Kindle Unlimited is limited to only 10 titles at a time. Be that as it may, Amazon appears to have a potentially “bestselling” e-book subscription service right here. Is Apple's “iBooks Unlimited” next?