Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited is now Kindle+, and the 2 big changes include AI audiobooks
Unlike narrated audiobooks from Audible and other providers, the audiobooks created with Virtual Voice in Kindle+ will instead be narrated by AI.
Amazon has rebranded its Kindle Unlimited subscription to Kindle+, introducing two key changes. The first is the expansion of its audiobook category to include books narrated by AI. Additionally, authors have the option to include more eligible audiobooks in Kindle+, even AI-narrated titles. Amazon hopes this enhancement will allow users to continue their ebooks with virtual narration as they go about their day after putting down their Kindle.
The Amazon KDP program, which enables authors to self-publish their ebooks on Kindle and join Kindle+, will offer AI narration at no cost, potentially reaching a wider audience. However, some readers and professionals in the audiobook industry may view this as a potential threat to the human dimension of audiobooks and jobs for narrators.
Despite these changes, the reading experience remains largely unchanged, with users still able to borrow books from Kindle+, listening to text read aloud using accessibility features like Assistive Reader and VoiceView, and using Audible and other platforms for human-narrated and dramatized audiobooks.
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