# KU vs KOLL vs Prime Reading -- a case study



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, sorta.  Consider this as just me sharing MY experience.

So, I've been a Prime customer for years and had been borrowing one book a month via KOLL. A year ago I bought a one year KU subscription, just to see what all the fuss was about . . . plus it was bundled with the Fire I purchased so I figured, why not. And a few months ago they started the Prime Reading program.

I keep WiFi on all the time on both my kindles; I did download the last two books from KU I'd not yet finished to my Fire and turned wireless OFF on that device.

My KU subscription expired yesterday. I finished one of the books last night and, on closing it, I almost immediately got two letters saying both books had been returned since my subscription was expired. My normal practice is to re-collect the finished book into 'read it' vs 'reading queue' but I didn't even get a chance to do that -- it was gone! 

Well, not too surprising really; I knew it was coming. I sort of thought I'd have until midnight but it probably was just about the time of day a year ago I'd signed up for KU.  But it was almost like it _knew_ I was reading the book and was just waiting for me to close it to snatch it away.  I guess I'm just glad it didn't shut me down with 4 pages left to read! 

Also, I was hoping it'd be like library books where there's still a record on Amazon that I read them, even if I've returned them. But, no. There's no longer any indication on either of my Kindles, or my account at Amazon that I ever had KU or read ANY books through the program. If I'd not kept track of the books I read separately via GR, I'd have no clue. Of course, it only did show them while I had them borrowed, so I guess it is, at least, consistent, but it would be nice to have the record there.

The other book I hadn't finished also disappeared from both kindles, of course. It is still on the Fire that had WiFi off . . . but, honestly I probably won't finish the book anyway; it wasn't grabbing me at all and the disturbing nature of the plot -- very bad stuff, graphically told, happening to young girls -- is not something I generally enjoy. I'm just going to assume the investigator got the bad guy and be on my way. 

The GOOD News . . . . I was able, today, to borrow a book via KOLL. So Amazon seamlessly switched me off the KU subscription to the benefits I get as Prime Customer. Just to be sure, I also found a book in Prime Reading that I'd had wishlisted and borrowed it as well without any trouble. So that's good. When I go to MYC&D, the book borrowed via the Kindle and KOLL, has an orange *Kindle Owners Lending Library* tag and the one I borrowed via Prime Reading has the usual *Prime* tag same as you see on book pages.

As an experiment, KU was a moderate success. I read a lot of books I probably wouldn't have otherwise. The ratio of DNF books was much higher -- possibly because, having prepaid, there was no psychological spending happening with each borrow. As a result, some of the books I tried were, it turned out, not at all what I wanted to read. I did find a number of new series to follow -- I probably would have eventually via KOLL anyway, but this was faster. But, bottom line, I've got thousands of books on my account and don't need to borrow more than one a month. If I see something that looks good via Prime Reading, I can try it. Toward the end I was feeling some pressure to get the ones I'd already borrowed read and I didn't like that. Of course, if I hadn't known I'd been cancelling, maybe I'd not have felt that. On the whole, though, while it's a clever idea, it's not the right model for me.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I'm waiting for Prime Reading to come to the UK - I presume it will eventually - before I reassess whether I want to keep using KU. If I can borrow without having to pay a subscription and there's a reasonable choice of books available, it's got to be worth considering.

One point you raise is that, having finished your KU subscription, there's no longer any mention of those books on your MYC&D page, which I suppose isn't that surprising - but you also say _"Of course, it only did show them while I had them borrowed"_. Do you mean that while your KU subscription was still live, you could only see the books you were currently borrowing, not the ones you had already returned? Because I am able to list the ones already returned, right back to the beginning. This could prove useful if I cancel it and want to know what I've read. _Note to self: Take a screen shot before you cancel your subscription!_

Sadly, there's no way to list your KOLL borrowings once returned and I've had to keep a list myself for that. _Second note to self: Send feedback to Amazon about a better way to keep records of borrowings._


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I'm waiting for Prime Reading to come to the UK - I presume it will eventually - before I reassess whether I want to keep using KU. If I can borrow without having to pay a subscription and there's a reasonable choice of books available, it's got to be worth considering.


It's a much smaller selection of course -- right now it's just over 1000 titles, plus current issues of a couple dozen magazines. But curated, so much less dreck to slog through to find a book. Whether any of the choices are something you want to read is, of course, a different question. 



> One point you raise is that, having finished your KU subscription, there's no longer any mention of those books on your MYC&D page, which I suppose isn't that surprising - but you also say _"Of course, it only did show them while I had them borrowed"_. Do you mean that while your KU subscription was still live, you could only see the books you were currently borrowing, not the ones you had already returned? Because I am able to list the ones already returned, right back to the beginning. This could prove useful if I cancel it and want to know what I've read. _Note to self: Take a screen shot before you cancel your subscription!_


Hmmm. Yes. Now that you say that, I can't remember . . . I usually would look at my KU borrows by choosing the KU option in the first sorting field. I'm sure it only showed what I currently had borrowed. But it's possible that showing 'books' and 'borrows' showed KU titles I'd borrowed and returned -- I can't remember now for sure, but I tend to think not.  Someone who still has KU can check, I'm sure. 

But, if you are able to see EVERYTHING you ever borrowed, it is really wrong that you can't any more if you leave the program. Or maybe they have it set up differently in the UK which is also weird. 

I know I can see everything I've borrowed from the Library by showing 'Books' and 'Borrows'. Right now it shows the one Prime Reading book and the one KOLL book I have out, and then every library book that I've ever borrowed with a 'borrow expired' notation.



> Sadly, there's no way to list your KOLL borrowings once returned and I've had to keep a list myself for that. _Second note to self: Send feedback to Amazon about a better way to keep records of borrowings._


That's what I recalled about KOLL as well. There's still no sorting category for it, which makes sense when you realize you can only have one at a time. You can see the KOLL book in the general listing as I said, above, but only while you still have it. Like you, I'd like it if they kept track of everything I'd borrowed, however I borrowed it. They don't . . . . which is why I've always done so myself separately via GR. I suspect the same will be true of Prime Reading borrows -- via MYC&D you can see 'em while you have 'em borrowed, but they won't show after you've returned them.

Agree 110% about sending Amazon feedback that we want to have a complete record even of things we've returned!


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

> I know I can see everything I've borrowed from the Library by showing 'Books' and 'Borrows'. Right now it shows the one Prime Reading book and the one KOLL book I have out, and then every library book that I've ever borrowed with a 'borrow expired' notation.


Rather than going into 'Books' and then 'Borrows' I go into 'Kindle Unlimited' and 'Returned' to see the ones I've already returned. Was that / is that an option for you?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> Rather than going into 'Books' and then 'Borrows' I go into 'Kindle Unlimited' and 'Returned' to see the ones I've already returned. Was that / is that an option for you?


Oh! Yes! . . . . I never noticed that before.

I sort of assumed that when it showed "All" it would _include_ any returned and I actually never noticed that there were other options. So thanks for that! It does in fact show all that I've borrowed and returned.

I assume it will show similarly for Prime Reading books. I won't know until I return the one I borrowed. I suspect KOLL will continue to be un-trackable -- possibly because you can only have one at a time and have to borrow _from_ the device.

On GR, I don't make a distinction between between the three programs -- it's an Amazon borrow. I do count library borrows separately.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I have about 1,000 unread books in my library on Amazon and thousands more that I got before I got into Kindles and have now in modern formats.  So Kindle Unlimited doesn't interest me much.  I did look at it a few times and I found plenty of books I'd read but I already have plenty of books to read.

Since Prime reading began I've been looking it over every few days.  I did borrow one book just to try that but I really wasn't planning to read it.  It was just a simple test.  Toward the end of a book I'll include Prime reading in my search for a next book but so far nothing has grabbed me.

I think for people who read a lot more books than I do these plans are probably pretty attractive but I read about a book a week, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less.

I had a neighbor with Kindle Unlimited for about a year and a half and he finally dropped out of it.  He mostly reads fairly macho books and he said he'd read all those and was having difficulty finding something in there he wanted to read.  He said for the first year it was great and then it was just an expense.

I have a few other neighbors who read that much and have more general tastes but unfortunately none of them can afford the cost of Kindle Unlimited.  They focus on free books and library books.

There's no telling where book selling is heading but the one sure thing is that it's changing and I wouldn't be surprised if inexpensive subscription models are a big part of the future, maybe with prices that more closely fit the needs of each individual reader instead of one price fits all.

Barry


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

If I've missed this somewhere, I apologize.  I saw on FB today on a page titled JustKindleBooks that Amazon is doing away with KOLL and the Prime Reading is going to replace it.  This isn't the way I understand it and it isn't the results I've seen so far.  Anyone know anything else about this?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

It's certainly a possibility. I expect KOLL is underutilized . . . It's only one book a month and you have to borrow via a Kindle or Fire. I expect most people don't think about it and don't use their monthly borrow very often.

Prime Reading is better in that you can have more than one at a time, and you can borrow and send books from your computer. But the selection is much smaller. Though the books in the program are curated -- less chance of happening upon truly BAD books -- and the selection may expand.

That said, I've got quite a few things on my Prime/KOLL wishlist that are part of KOLL but not part of Prime Reading   I can't say for sure I'll ever buy them but I'll likely keep watching to see if they are ever offered for free temporarily. Or if they end up in Prime Reading. 

Regardless, I'm not going to worry about it until it's announced by Amazon.


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

Being a series-holic, I've noticed a lot of 'first book of a series' being on Prime Reading - a LOT!  I have then gone to KOLL and gotten the second book because it seems to me that everything that is in KU, is also in KOLL - just one book a month.  Keeping my fingers crossed that they don't do away with KOLL.  Someone asked to borrow a book from me.  It was lendable but in doing that research, it dawned on me that I had never bought a single one of this author's books.  And she's one of my favorite.  Stumbled across her on KOLL and started following her.  Now I follow too many Amazon authors to keep up with only using KOLL.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Vicki G. said:


> If I've missed this somewhere, I apologize. I saw on FB today on a page titled JustKindleBooks that Amazon is doing away with KOLL and the Prime Reading is going to replace it. This isn't the way I understand it and it isn't the results I've seen so far. Anyone know anything else about this?


Just to follow up: The rumors of the demise of KOLL have been greatly exaggerated.  I found, at the turn of the month, that KOLL is still operating and I was able to borrow a book.

Interestingly -- but logically once I thought about it -- when I was browsing my wishlist (via the kindle) of KOLL/PRIME titles -- if the title was a Prime Reading book as well as part of KOLL, it defaulted to having me borrow it via Prime vs using up my KOLL borrow for the month. It might have let me borrow it via KOLL if all my Prime Reading slots were used.

So, I don't think KOLL is going away -- at least not any time soon.


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

Up to and including last month (April,2017) I was able to use the Kindle Owners Lending Library (KOLL) through Prime to borrow one book each month.  This month I can't find any books to borrow this way.  The books list the KU program, but I am unable to click on the Prime logo to borrow any book through KOLL. In the past, I found the program nice to help fill in certain book series and to try different authors.  Am assuming that Amazon has done away with KOLL.  Have tried the new Prime reading and have found a couple of books to try, but it is very limited in comparison to KOLL.  Sure wish Amazon would have sent an email to those of us using the Prime KOLL program.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

luvshihtzu said:


> Up to and including last month (April,2017) I was able to use the Kindle Owners Lending Library (KOLL) through Prime to borrow one book each month. This month I can't find any books to borrow this way. The books list the KU program, but I am unable to click on the Prime logo to borrow any book through KOLL. In the past, I found the program nice to help fill in certain book series and to try different authors. Am assuming that Amazon has done away with KOLL. Have tried the new Prime reading and have found a couple of books to try, but it is very limited in comparison to KOLL. Sure wish Amazon would have sent an email to those of us using the Prime KOLL program.


I just borrowed a book via KOLL earlier this week. Of course, I had to do it from my kindle and I had to return the book I'd had out that way previously.

I also have 4 currently borrowed via Prime reading, and 2 from local libraries. 

edited to add: when I go to the menu from the home page of my voyage and select the kindle store, I can then select menu again and one of the options is Kindle Owners Lending Library. So I'm thinking it's definitely still active.

FWIW, I have a wishlist that has Prime/Koll books I want to read. . . . when I finish a KOLL book I look the list via my computer to see what I want to borrow next. Then I go and search specifically for the book on my Kindle. I find this easier to do than browse via the kindle.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I borrowed a book from KOLL about three weeks ago. Similar to what Luvshihtzu said, I couldn't borrow it via my Kindle Oasis. I believe I couldn't activate the button. Called Kindle CS, and they tried various things on their end without success (I'd already tried the reboot that is standard in mysterious gadget problems). The rep,suggested trying to borrow on another device, and I was easily able to borrow with an old Kindle Fire I blew the dust off of, then read the book on my Oasis.  I had assumed this was a freak occurrence, but it sounds like it may be happening to others.


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

Thank you both (Ann in Arlington & The Hooded Claw) for your help.  I mainly use one of my five Kindle Keyboard3 units and none will presently let me borrow the books through KOLL.  I did use my Kindle Fire 6 a few minutes ago and by looking up one of my authors, I was able to get the button to come up that allowed me to borrow the KOLL book for this month.  I will try and call the Kindle Service people tomorrow or next Tuesday after the holiday and ask when they plan to have the problem fixed. Sounds like they don't know there is an actual problem.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I borrowed a book from KOLL about three weeks ago. Similar to what Luvshihtzu said, I couldn't borrow it via my Kindle Oasis. I believe I couldn't activate the button. Called Kindle CS, and they tried various things on their end without success (I'd already tried the reboot that is standard in mysterious gadget problems). The rep,suggested trying to borrow on another device, and I was easily able to borrow with an old Kindle Fire I blew the dust off of, then read the book on my Oasis. I had assumed this was a freak occurrence, but it sounds like it may be happening to others.


Now that you say this -- I'm not sure if it was my Voyage or Oasis that I used to borrow the book -- but next month I'll pay closer attention. 

It does sound like there may be a glitch somewhere, though . . . .


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