Is Prime Worth It? 9 Amazon Prime Benefits You’re Probably Not Fully Using
Free 2-day shipping via Amazon Prime is pretty dang awesome, but in all actuality, are the Amazon Prime benefits worth the money? When it comes to Prime, free shipping is just the tip of the iceberg when you start digging into some of the cool “other” Prime benefits that are included with your $139 Prime membership fee. Features you probably had no idea existed, or know very little about, especially if you signed up for Prime over a year ago when many didn’t exist yet.
If you’re on the fence about joining, these Prime benefits just might sway you into signing up, or at the very least trying a 30-day trial membership. If you’re already a member, start using these Amazon Prime benefits today, I think you’ll love what you discover.
1. Amazon Fresh
As of November 2019, the 2-hour grocery delivery service known as Amazon Fresh is completely free to Prime Members.
The service did cost $14.99/month, but alas, no more.
Order at least $35 worth of grocery items and Amazon will deliver them usually within 2 hours.
The service is currently available in 19 major markets with new cities being added often.
2. Amazon Prime Reading
Amazon Prime members can now pick from 1,000’s of books, magazines, Kindle singles and more, and read them all for FREE via Prime Reading.
And the best part is you don’t need a Kindle device to make it happen.
Just download the Kindle app for iOS or Android and start reading anytime, anywhere.
See Also: 6 Brilliantly Slick Ways to Get Amazon Prime for Free
3. Students, Get Prime Free for 6 Months
Did you know that students with a .edu email address can get Amazon Prime free 2-day shipping for 6 months at NO charge? Here are the details:
- Click Here to sign-up for your free 6 months of Amazon Student.
- You’ll get free 2-day shipping, but won’t be eligible for Prime Instant Video, Prime Music or the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
- After your free 6 months expires, you’ll have the option to upgrade to a full Amazon Prime membership for 50% off and can cancel at anytime.
- Great way to stock up for college and dorm room supplies, on the cheap, without incurring shipping charges.
If you’re a student and can get rid of services like Netflix and Spotify and use Amazon Student instead, you can save significant money.
4. Amazon Audible Channels
Another newish Amazon Prime benefit is unlimited access to podcasts and audio from Amazon-owned Audible.
The service previously costs $5 per month and is now completely free. All that Prime members need to do is download the Android or iOS app and start tuning into Audible Channels right away at no additional cost.
Some of the top audio content includes cool stuff from The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Charlie Rose, and The Onion, among others. The best part is that you’ll listen ad-free forever.
5. Prime Music Streaming Service
If you’re the main Amazon Prime account holder, and not an invited guest, you now have “unlimited, ad-free access to Prime Playlists and more than a million songs and albums at no additional cost.” The service is simply called Prime Music and can be accessed via the Prime Music app (Free for iOS and Android) or the Amazon website.
Once you log-in to Prime Music, all of the songs you have ever purchased from Amazon will automatically be added to your music library.
Next, you’ll have the ability to search, find, and add over 1 million songs to your library as well. Most songs will be free, and some by the same artist will only be available if you pay for them.
I was very happily surprised that many new albums and singles are available to listen to for free. Once you’ve added music in your library, you can play songs whenever you want and aren’t bound to a shuffle feature like the free version of Spotify.
It also beats the free version of Pandora as you have an unlimited number of skips and can play any song in your playlist, including songs you just listened to.
The ad-free feature is a huge plus and something that makes Prime Music a no-brainer for existing members. Amazon clearly makes zero money directly off their music service, currently anyways.
What they plan to do with it in the future remains to be seen. But for now, enjoy the free music.
6. Amazon Twitch Prime
With Twitch Prime, Amazon Prime members now have an online community where gamers can get together.
Twitch is considered a social video platform designed specifically for “gamers, video game culture, and the creative arts.” All ad-free which is cool.
Also, when you use Twitch you’ll get access to cool monthly freebies. For example, as of this writing they were giving away an “Overwatch Golden Loot Box” along with five free loot boxes.
7. 2-Day Delivery Not Fast Enough?
Whole Foods and Amazon have teamed up to bring you over 1-million items currently available for 1-day delivery with a service called Amazon Prime Now that is included in the cost of a Prime membership.
Same-day delivery is available seven days a week in the following markets: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Indianapolis, the Los Angeles metro area, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle, Washington, DC, as well as San Diego and Tampa Bay.
In most of these areas, you also have access to tens of thousands items that are available for delivery in 2 hours which is pretty amazing.
Need it faster? You can pay $7.99 to have it delivered in one hour.
According to CNET, the items that Amazon is focusing on for Prime Now are items that “consumers tended to need more urgently, including HDMI cables, batteries, water filters, baby wipes, deodorant and last-minute travel items such as sunscreen and towels.”
To start using this Prime feature you can either use the Amazon website or download the free Amazon Prime Now app (free for iOS and Android).
8. Unlimited Photo Storage
Another Amazon Prime benefit is unlimited cloud storage with a service called Amazon Prime Photos.
This means you can start uploading your pictures straight to the Amazon cloud when your memory is close to full, or whenever you want for that matter. Great for vacations or when you run out of storage options.
When comparing to Google’s free storage option, Amazon Prime Photos lets you store unlimited RAW file formats for free, which Google does not. But…Google let’s you store unlimited 1080p video while Amazon limits you to 5GB.
If you’re interested in taking Amazon’s photo service for a test-drive you have 3 options:
- Web: Sign-in to your Amazon account from your web browser to start adding your photos from any PC or Mac.
- Mobile: Get the free mobile app to add photos from your iOS or Android device.
- Desktop: Install the Cloud Drive application for PC and Mac to add photos from your computer. Download Here.
See Also: 4 Ways to Get Free Shipping at Amazon (Without Paying for Prime)
9. “Prime Only” Early Access Deals
Are you aware that Amazon owns a website called MyHabit.com which specializes in limited time discounts on apparel (for the entire family), shoes, jewelry, handbags, and home items? Yeah, me neither.
Talking really big discounts too, in the neighborhood of 60% off the original price.
You have to sign-in to this “members only” website with your Amazon account information to gain access to the deals.
BUT, if you’re a Prime member, you’ll get access to the deals 30 minutes earlier than everyone else.
This is a fairly significant thing as many of the really popular deals go quickly.
Unfortunately, you won’t get free 2-day shipping like you would on the Amazon website, but orders over $99 will ship for free via standard shipping.
10. Free Streaming Video
While probably the most popular side Amazon Prime benefit, I had my membership for over a year before I knew about the Prime Streaming option and it’s definitely worth using.
Thousands of TV shows and movies are available for viewing, at no extra cost, with new titles being added all the time.
You can instantly stream Prime Instant Video titles from your computer’s web browser, Fire phone, Fire TV, Fire Tablets, Apple devices, Android phones, Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players, and even gaming consoles.
The best way to view on Apple devices is to download the iOS app. If you’re an Android person, then download this app.
Try Prime For Free: Click Here to get a free 30-day trial and test out all of these Amazon Prime benefits for yourself.
By Kyle James
I started Rather-Be-Shopping.com in 2000 and have become a consumer expert and advocate writing about out-of-the-box ways to save at stores like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco to name a few. I’ve been featured on FOX News, Good Morning America, and the NY Times talking about my savings tips. (Learn more)
Hmm… these are perks that are hardly hidden. I guess this is helpful for those who don’t read, but then they’re probably not reading this too.
I never claimed they were hidden. But if you signed up for Prime a while back, when these were not around, you probably have no idea they exist. I have talked to many Prime users that fall into this category.
Don’t be a dick when they are trying to help people
Most people consider Prime Video just a throw-in service, but it has the quality of shows and movies of Netflix, if not the quantity. The shows made for Amazon are definitely worth the watch, especially Alpha House and Bosch. Haven’t tried Mozart in the Jungle yet. They also have a lot of HBO shows like The Sopranos and Eastbound and Down.
This might be helpful if you could read the whole thing. The Dodge add covers the article. And you can’t get by it. So maybe less advertising, if you really want to be a good blog
Thanks for letting me know Chris. I’ll look into it and get if fixed ASAP.
The Feb 2018 update of this article needs to clarify Prime shipping… it is two day shipping and not two day delivery. Delivery takes an additional 2-3 days. And now that Prime is increasing to $119 annually, it is no longer a good investment.
Hi, great content. Ive been a prime user for a long time now and didnt know about some of these perks. Thamks. Also want to add that I tried using the book app and the prime store link is not working. Thanks again and keep up the good work.
Some of these services now have a monthly fee. You no longer get free kindle books with prime and they start charging without asking. Same applies for movies. If you don’t order enough to make the free shipping worth while it’s not worth it anymore. And the “2 days shipping” is not guaranteed anymore.
2 day shipping is guaranteed and many items are received next day. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that a recent purchase wasn’t on time while I was inquiring about something else and the representative gave me a 5 dollar gift card.
Yes, you do!
Almost nothing is free on amazon prime video they are charging for everything even shows from the 90s they are clearly price gouging because in the Pandemic we don’t have much of a choice of entertainment not like we can go to the movies or out for various and we have opened up here pretty much but they still are gouging. I had to pay for the waltons and little house on the praire (from the 70s) Bezo’s gets a divorce and we all have to payfor it.