I am going to simply list my favorite locations to get access to Ebooks, in both to own and as part of subscriptions. I am not the most knowledgeable person in the world in any means, but I have been trying to get into reading ebooks more. It is still a struggle but I am getting there. So just to share a few options.
The most widely known ones are of course Amazon based. Kindle for ebooks and Audible for audiobooks. But there are a few more out there here I'm going to mention a few that I have used lately.
Kindle
As an FYI you no longer can buy books directly from the Kindle app, it needs to be done directly from the website. There are some reasons Kindle gives you something about privacy or something like that, I imagine it is so the purchase details and your information are kept secure.
The page is directly from online www.amazon.com or from mobile devices needs to be done via a browser in amazon.com/ebooks
I am just specifying so the next person doesn't get confused. I used to just buy them directly from my Kindle. I needed nothing else other than search- click on the one-click purchase and done. No need to go to the Amazon app and wait for it to be sent to your Kindle.
The prices for ebooks - don't be mistaken sometimes they're as expensive as the physical copy. It makes sense to be just because we're going to be paying for the effort of the author, marketing, and whatnot. If you want to get real deals, then you need to go to older titles. But for recent releases or very popular series, yes they will be almost as expensive as the physical copies.
There is an option for a subscription service Kindle Unlimited with this service you get access to read whatever books are exclusive to them. You still get an option to buy others that are not included in Kindle Unlimited.
I do not read Kindle as much and my library currently has over 400 books and 85% of those are unread. You can imagine why I am straying away from Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Keep in mind, some Kindle books come with an option for narration, in my experience most do not. Or maybe the ones I'm picking up. But the narration option is not as widely available.
For Kindle, I am not going to rate the subscription because I have not used it. But just the in-purchase book-per-book aspect. I give it
Audible
This option is nice for audiobooks, when you use the subscription you get one, or depending on the type of subscription you get its the number of credits per month you have available.
Now that I go back to the subscription I realize you only have 1 credit monthly for the Premium Plus subscription. In my defense, I have not been using the Audible subscription for a few years and things have changed a bit.
Even without a subscription, there is an option to buy Audiobooks from the Amazon webpage. The prices are a bit higher than the physical books though, so it really depends on your focus (economic well-being or convenient audios to listen to on the go from any iOS or Android device as long as you can download the Audible app).
From my experience, the book section was ok it's just having only one of the good ones as an option was not the greatest experience. I guess my main issue was the price compared to what I was getting out of it. I would rate it
Rakuten
The other one I have found is Rakuten Kobo which can be found at https://www.kobo.com/us/en it does have a very wide range of options, and the prices are similar to the Kindle store. That should give you an idea. As usual, you can find books in different languages, I used it only for English and Spanish but it has an excellent selection for both of them. It has both audio and ebook formats. I quite like that option.
The app to listen/read is available for tablets, iOS, and Android. We have options for subscription depending on what you wish to have, be it an ebook, audiobook, or both. You can select it and start that specific type of subscription.
I am not able to rate the subscription or the quality of the audiobooks, as I have not used either one so far. I am just going to rate the experience of buying books. Reasonable prices, the app works wonderfully be it on Wifi or mobile data and the selection of books is great.
Scribd
This is another very popular one, Scribd has ebook and audios also. Official website https://www.scribd.com/home
You can use my referral link https://www.scribd.com/g/72ocvr this will give you a 2-month trial. You get a limited amount of options though. There are two different catalogs, not officially, but you read 2 audiobooks or so and then other audiobooks are going to be limited until the next month. It affects mostly the most popular or new releases, you still have access to slightly older or blacklisted books. I am still not sure how those are determined.
It's not specific or easy to tell which ones will be available after you read some. That is slightly annoying. but I am normally able to just move on and read from the available options, I still get through at least 6-9 books per month from here. It's about perspective, how many books do you want to get to?
Other benefits include:
Music Sheets- the most popular ones are piano and guitar. I am trying to learn the Clarinet, I am in super beginner level because I keep giving up after a few days and don't pick it up until months later when I already forgot the little progress I made. But we do have plenty of options
And there are other options- we have comics, graphic novels, magazines, and podcasts. I should have used more of them but I can't really say I gravitate towards them (podcasts, Magazines, Sheet music).
I am going to be leaving the Scribd subscription. It's an ok service, it has limited access meant to stop you from reading more and you need to wait it out. I still enjoyed my time here even taking into account that but I just want to explore other horizons. Rating experience:
Spotify
Yes, the service does offer music and podcasts but my favorite part is that it does have Audiobooks. The selection is not too wide yet, I assume with time it will continue to grow. The only detail is that you do not get the option to control the playback speed. That should not be too much bother for most people though.
The main issue here is that so many book titles are not so easy to find. For multiple reasons:
The funniest on is that many songs or music playlists might share the name. But the books here are unabridged versions, some have music and effects.
This is another one I have not explored so much, but if you already have the app for music and podcasts, then might as well use it for books too.
Based on the quality of the books so far, it's awesome. The downside is the very limited options. I really hope that we start to see more come in.
Project Gutenberg
This is a library of free eBooks. Choose between free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for you to enjoy
The official page can be found here.
It does not need you to subscribe or download a specific app. It's an awesome idea. The limitation (as mentioned previously) is that the copyrights have expired. There are a few contemporary authors, but you will not see a brand-new release here.
I am sure there are plenty of other options, but I have a long way to go still. If anyone else has another suggestion please do let me know. We can never have too many options when it's about options available to where to find books.
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