Amazon has included parental controls called FreeTime, which is a mode where parents can “whitelist” any content on the device designed for kids for it’s Kindle Fire tablets. There will now be paid version of this service as well, with a large amount of pre-curated content called FreeTime Unlimited.
With major children’s media providers chipping in, like Disney, HIT Entertainment, Nickelodeon, Marvel and DC Comics, there will be full books, videos, games and apps available in FreeTime Unlimited. The service is easy to use and everything can be downloaded with a simple tap.
All of the content for the pre-selected titles is designed for kids between the ages of three and eight. The idea of the program is to offer content that parents don’t have to continually vet for their kids.
“We’re trying to solve the problem for parents that, there’s so much content out there — half of which I don’t know if my kid is going to like or not like — and quite frankly is very expensive,” said Peter Larsen, Amazon’s vice president of Kindle products. “So for a very low price per month, you can get access to thousands of books, thousands of apps, thousands of games — all the really big brands.”
FreeTime Unlimited content is not included with Amazon Prime, but subscribers to Prime can purchase FreeTime for $2.99 a month (without, it’s $4.99). Multiple accounts can be had with a family plan for $6.99 ($9.99 for non-Prime), where kids will be able to custom their stream to their own preferences.
“We made the decision — and it was kind of a tough one — to not take away content,” says Larsen. “We thought if you’re paying the subscription, you should get it all. And who knows Your four-year-old kid might be reading at a seven-year level. But we filter it based on age and gender. If your kid is three, he shouldn’t be seeing content that’s appropriate an eight-year-old, which will be way down. Unless they use it.”
Source: Mashable.com
