Amazon is discontinuing Kindle Newsstand, which centralized a customer’s magazine and newspaper subscriptions as well as single-issue purchases through an Amazon account.
Magazine and newspaper issues already received by customers will still be available in their Amazon library. Customers were informed of the change on March 9, while publishers received notice in December.
Users now can’t buy Kindle Newsstand subscriptions or print magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Amazon.
Until June 5, customers can still manage their print magazine subscriptions through Amazon. After then, customer service and subscription management will go through individual publishers.
Until Sept. 4, customers with monthly and annual Newsstand subscriptions will still receive new issues of their magazines, but thereafter those plans will end and Kindle Newsstand will be defunct.
A pro-rated refund will be offered for any undelivered issues that would have otherwise been available after Sept. 4. The same refunds will go to those who cancel their Kindle Newsstand subscriptions.
Some magazines, as well as the USA Today newspaper, will still be available through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program, which allows unlimited access to a selection of Kindle ebooks and audiobooks. Kindle Unlimited costs $9.99 monthly.
The move to cut Kindle Newsstand was due to a lack of single-issue purchases and magazine and newspaper subscription sales.