Amazon FreeTime Unlimited Bulks Up Audible, Seasonal Content

Amazon is beefing up its kid-focused FreeTime Unlimited service with new Audible and seasonal content.

FreeTime Unlimited is a subscription-based content service tailored specifically for kids ages 3 through 12. Starting today, Amazon is expanding FreeTime Unlimited on Fire tablets to include more than 1,000 kid-safe Audible audiobooks. The new audiobooks—including favorites like Peter Pan, Rip Van Winkle, Beauty and the Beast, and Snow Queen—will arrive as part of a free software update rolling out now.

Amazon first announced plans to add Audible audiobooks to FreeTime Unlimited at its big hardware event last month. Until now, parents could only add their own Audible titles into FreeTime using the parental control settings.

The update will also deliver a bunch of new holiday-themed content, including books, videos, apps, and the following Audible books: Bobby Bright Spends Christmas in Spain, Christmas Under the Snow, Corinna the Christmas Elf, Early One Christmas Morning, Holiday Stories for Children, Simon the Snowball, The First Christmas Tree, The Gingerbread Man and Other Children's Favorites, The Great Sled Race, The Happiest Christmas Tree, The Night Before Christmas, The Snow Man, There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow, Tom and Jerry: Santa's Little Helpers, Winter Angels and Magic Snowflakes, and Wintertime Fun: Snow.

All Amazon Fire Kids Edition tablets come with a year of FreeTime Unlimited; after that it costs $2.99 per month for Prime members and $4.99 per month for non-Prime members for a single child. Besides audiobooks, the service includes age-appropriate books, videos, educational apps, and games, all of which are hand-selected by Amazon's FreeTime team.

Meanwhile, Amazon's Kids Edition tablets also come with a two-year, no-questions-asked replacement warranty plus a blue, pink, or yellow rubbery case. The Fire HD 10 Kids Edition tablet earned a "good" rating in PCMag's review; we said it's "a very simple way to give children lots of guaranteed-safe apps and videos, but it won't easily grow with them."

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade.

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes.

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app.

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth.

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light.

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

Read the latest from Angela Moscaritolo

Read full bio