Netflix for books?
I heard a commercial the other day for Paperspine.com that made it sound like Netflix for books. Rent books online, they show up at your house, plans start at $10 a month, no late fees, yadda yadda yadda.
And all I could think is… haven’t they heard of the library?
You know.. place where you can rent books… for free?
Of course I realize there are differences, especially that whole late fee thing. And the library will often not have the book you want, particularly if it’s somewhat specialized. So far in Seattle, that interlibrary loan concept works particularly well, and they’ve had almost everything I wanted. Of course they don’t send it to your house, but still. Something about this sits wrong with me.. I mean.. can’t we just use the library?
Maybe it’s just me.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
No, it’s not just you. I read about it awhile ago and had the same reaction. And library users can select books to have the library hold, all you have to do is go pick them up when they’re ready. Why would I pay for a book I’m not going to keep? I don’t get it.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I haven’t heard of Paperspine until now, but yeah, that strikes me as funny. The library! Free! And you can renew books and not pay late fines!
January 8th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Ok I’ll be the voice of dissention here! This is awesome for people on bedrest or who have a million kids and have trouble getting in the car. Here in CA there is this crappy system where you have to pay $.75 A BOOK in order for them to send it to the library closest to you. So guess what I end up doing, driving around to 3 libraries to get the 4 books of the series I am wanting to read. Plus, late fees here on hardcovers are $.25 a day. Having them come to the door is definitely a plus! Ok so I am lazy and haven’t been to the library in over 2 mo.
January 8th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Ok, I’ll give you that one. What a way to discourage people from using the library!! I never realized how lucky I am that my closest library is so accessible and friendly :)