Amazon has become synonymous with online shopping, but the brand offers far more than the most popular online shopping platform in the world.
The retail giant also provides seemingly unlimited digital content, including movies, music, books, and video games, through a program known as Amazon Digital.
We cover everything you need to know about Amazon Digital so that you can take advantage of everything it has to offer.
What Is Amazon Digital?
Amazon Digital refers to charges for digital content you subscribed to through Amazon.
It includes television, movies, music, books, games, software, and more.
Different offerings through Amazon Digital include:
- Prime Video
- Kindle Unlimited
- Amazon Music
- Software Subscription
- Amazon Audible
- Kids+
- Amazon Drive
Amazon makes it easy to access your favorite digital content whether you like movies or books or need storage space for all of your content.
They even include a lot of digital content with a Prime membership.
However, you can upgrade to get additional subscriptions, such as subscriptions to television channels or audiobooks.
Not only does Amazon make it easy to access the content, but they also make it easy to manage the content through their website.
Instead of having a physical game cartridge or DVD, you will stream the information online.
You can’t lose or break the content as you might do with a physical copy.
You can also access it from anywhere as long as you have a device connected to the internet.
Amazon categorizes the content based on type and grants subscribers access to the content as long as they pay the monthly fee.
Some of the content is available with an Amazon Prime subscription, but you can order the services separately or upgrade for additional content.
1. Prime Video
Prime Video offers television and movies and comes as part of your Amazon Prime membership.
Alternatively, you can get Prime Video by itself, but you may as well get the benefits included with Prime for just a couple of more dollars a month.
Prime Video has both original content and crowd favorites.
Many people suggest it’s lacking in comparison to Netflix and Hulu, but there are some gems you can’t find anywhere else, such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Unlike other streaming services, Amazon Video allows users to rent or purchase content that is not available for free.
Even if you have to pay a small fee to rent the movie you want to watch, you are sure to find it.
You can also subscribe to different channels so that you can watch content from your favorite channels through the convenient Amazon Video Platform.
Channels offered through Amazon Video include:
- AMC+:
- Boomerang:
- Cinemax:
- Discovery+:
- Epix:
- Hallmark Movies Now:
- Lifetime Movie Club:
- MLB TV:
- NBA TV:
- NBA League Pass:
- Paramount+:
- PBS Kids:
- Showtime:
- Shudder:
- Starz:
One channel noticeably missing is HBO Max.
As of September 2021, you will need to pay for your HBO Max subscription outside of Amazon.
2. Kindle Unlimited
Some suggest that people don’t read anymore.
While radio and television have dominated since they burst onto the scene, people do still enjoy reading.
Amazon helps readers get access to a number of different books and audiobooks through their Kindle Unlimited subscription for $9.99/month.
Kindle Unlimited provides access to more than a million ebooks.
Since you don’t have to pay for books individually, it gives you the ability to read books you might not have read otherwise.
However, you’ll also find a lot of your favorites.
It may be a bit of an adjustment to switch from reading physical books to digital books, but many people see the advantages of the transition, including saving a lot of space storing books.
You can still buy your favorite books for your bookshelf, but you won’t need to buy a physical copy of every book you want.
3. Audible
Some people prefer to listen to books as opposed to reading them.
Audible is a subscription program specifically for audiobooks and podcasts at only $7.95/month.
You’ll find best sellers as well as classics.
A lot of celebrities put out audiobooks, too, or read them, adding a bit of personality to your favorite stories.
Put a book on when driving or in the background while you work or clean your home.
Audible also offers podcasts.
Podcasts refer to digital talk radio shows, and they cover just about every topic under the sun, including true crime, celebrity gossip, and news.
4. Amazon Music
Music is an important part of life.
Listen to your music through Amazon Music.
You get a limited number of titles for free with your Amazon Prime subscription, but you can upgrade the membership to increase the titles available to you (two million songs to 75 million songs).
Amazon Music Unlimited is a cheaper price for Prime members.
Amazon makes listening to music easy with the Amazon Alexa home assistant.
You can request your favorite music with a simple voice command.
Request general music by saying something like, “Alexa, play contemporary hits,” or, “Alexa, play classic rock,” to have music play in the background.
You can also request more specific music, such as, “Alexa, play Hank Williams,” or, “Alexa, play Only the Good Die Young.”
Once the song is done, you can set it up so that it stops paying or continues with similar music.
5. Software Subscription
The best digital software for personal or professional use costs money.
You can always buy software outright, but what happens if you want to use an updated subscription a year down the road?
You can pay for software as a monthly, or more often, a yearly subscription.
Once the subscription is up, you have the choice to pay for the subscription again or choose new software.
Just some software subscriptions available include:
- Microsoft 365 personal
- Microsoft 365 family
- Adobe Acrobat Pro
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- McAfee Total Protection
- Norton 360
Keep in mind that most subscriptions automatically renew at the end of the subscription.
Amazon offers a free Amazon Business account option if you plan to purchase software subscriptions for your business.
It’s similar to a regular account but designed to make business operations, such as going through your Amazon purchases, easy.
6. Kids+
With all of the content available today, many parents look for ways to provide children with content designed specifically for them.
Kids+ is content for kids: books, movies, and educational games.
You won’t have to worry about your child watching an inappropriate movie or listening to an inappropriate song since the content is all kid-friendly.
7. Amazon Drive
What about the content that you make yourself?
You need a place to store the content.
Amazon Drive is cloud-based storage for you to store all of your digital content.
Cost depends on how much storage space you need:
As you see, after a certain point, you only have the option to pay for the entire year.
Most people only need 100 GB or 1 TB for personal use.
Start small and move up in space as needed.
Extra storage may be required for professional purposes.
Once you end your subscription, you will no longer have access to the content in your drive.
Back up all content or move it to a different storage platform before canceling.
8. Amazon Prime
When talking about Amazon Digital, it’s hard not to mention Amazon Prime.
Amazon Prime is Amazon’s primary subscription service with millions of subscribers all over the world.
In fact, it’s the largest subscription service in the world.
Known for its delivery services, such as fast, free delivery, Prime subscriptions also come with some digital content as well.
Below are some of the services included with your Prime subscription:
- Delivery Benefits
- Free one-day delivery on more than 15 million items
- Free same-day delivery on more than 3 million items
- Two-hour grocery delivery
- Amazon Day
- Amazon Key
- Streaming and Digital Benefits
- Prime Video
- Amazon Music (2 million songs)
- Prime Gaming
- Amazon Photos
- Amazon Kids+
- Prime Reading
- Shopping Benefits
- Prime-exclusive deals
- Prime Day
- Prime early access
- Try before you buy
Prime is extremely useful for people who like online shopping.
Many of the other benefits are realized as an afterthought.
Is Amazon Prime worth it?
We think so, but it’s up to you to take advantage of everything the service has to offer.