On Wednesday, Amazon introduced Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, exclusively for the Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, and Kindle Fire HD 8.9″.
When Amazon says that FreeTime is Unlimited, they really mean it. As with Amazon Prime, content can be downloaded instantly.
There are thousands of books, games, movies, TV shows, and educational apps that are approved specifically for kids – all for one low monthly price.
The cost for Kindle FreeTime Unlimited has a monthly fee $4.99 per child, or $9.99 for a family.
Amazon Prime members pay a discounted monthly rate of $2.99 per child or $6.99 per family.
Parental controls are included as part of the Kindle FreeTime Unlimited service. A password is issued for parents that allows them to choose the content their child views.
Ads, social media, and in-app purchases are disabled, and content is strictly limited to content chosen for a specific profile.
Also, all of the content available has been pre-approved to ensure that it is age appropriate.
New content that is bound to be popular includes 25 episodes of Reading Rainbow; Sesame Street episodes, apps, and eBooks; and several of HIT Entertanment’s brands – Bob the Builder, Barney, Thomas and Friends, and more!
Kids have the ability to explore the content and choose what they would like to view. They can search for their favorite subjects (such as “cowboys”) and choose from a variety of different media about cowboys easily.
With Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, you can have up to 6 different profiles for kids per device. This allows each child to have complete access to their content – no more sharing the home screen with parents or siblings, and losing a stopping point in a TV show or movie.
Billing is monthly and includes all the covered content – no more arguments or temper tantrums about what to rent or buy!
Amazon is offering free one month trials to owners of the new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HDs.
There are some drawbacks to FreeTime Unlimited. The service is geared toward kids between the ages of 3 and 8. This will be monitored by Amazon because you are required to enter your child’s birthday when creating a profile for them.
Also, Kindle Freetime Unlimited is not available for those that own the first generation Kindle Fire – or to those that have earlier models from the Kindle family.
There has been talk about expanding this service to earlier models (specifically the first generation of Kindle Fire), but that is still up in the air.
Parents – what do you think about Kindle FreeTime Unlimited? Is it going to be useful to you? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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